In St Louis Tuesday, the Blues got a 25-save effort from Carter Hutton who rebounded from a dismal effort against the Arizona Coyotes in his previous match on Saturday.
“We had a locker room full of angry players, frustrated,” Hutton said. “We talked about it.
“It’s one thing to lose; it’s hard to win in this league, and you’re going to lose games, but it’s the way you lose sometimes. We weren’t happy about that, and I think the message is clear. We stepped up to the plate here tonight and played a great hockey game.”
The 25 saves earned Hutton a 3-0 shutout win over the Ottawa Senators.
All the offense Hutton needed was provided in the first period when Vladimir Sobotka struck for a goal.
“I think we were a lot better tonight, I still think we can be better. We knew they played last night, and we went out there and tried to battle and win every race for the puck and that’s what we did. I think we can be better,” Sobotka said after the game.
Vladimir Tarasenko and Brayden Schenn added goals in the third period for a little relief.
The win wiped away the evil taste of the 5-2 loss to the Coyotes over the weekend.
“If you play a bad game it doesn’t mean that they don’t care,” St. Louis coach Mike Yeo said. “I know how much this group cares. Unfortunately, the previous game we fell into what you would call a trap game, but I think we got the response in the two days in between from the players, the work ethic that they showed in practice.
“I was confident we’d get a good response from them. There’s a lot of character and a lot of leadership in that group, and they showed that tonight.”
The Senators dropped to 15-22-9 with the loss, their fourth straight.
“I don’t think it’s frustration,” Ottawa head coach Guy Boucher said. “It’s clear, they were better.”
Despite having four power play chances the Sens could not make a dent in the Blues’ defense.
“I think we could have definitely done better on our power play in the four minutes,” Boucher said. “… They’re big bodies and they defend well. You’ve got to give credit to the opponent, and they’re hard to get through, we know that. I think that’s the biggest thing about their team. Their top defensemen are long arms and lengthy and mobile and very, very good, but by saying that, we can generate more shots and we can generate more traffic and we didn’t do enough of that, and in that regard, that’s not enough.”
[WATCH: All Senators vs. Blues highlights]
Craig Anderson made 38 saves in taking the loss.
“Not good enough. St. Louis played a really good game, and we weren’t able to generate much offense, so we give them some credit. They stymied our offense pretty good, and their goalie played pretty well,” Anderson said after the loss.
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