Blues-Bruins takeaways: Kapanen, Hayes, Saad line fuels St. Louis' 5-1 win against Boston to end three-game losing streak

Blues-Bruins takeaways (3-11-24) (3:16)

The Blues (33-29-3) had slipped down the slope in the race of the Western Conference wild card race, falling eight points behind the Vegas Golden Knights for the second wild card, and nine points in back of the Nashville Predators for the first wild card.

Entering this trip, the Blues were hoping to make some headway and stay relevant in the race but opening the trip with a tough 2-1 shootout win against the Philadelphia Flyers, they followed it up with back-to-back losses against the New York Islanders (4-2) and New Jersey Devils (4-1) heading onto the NHL Trade Deadline that came and went without any locker room changes.

But an un-inspirational 4-0 loss against the New York Rangers on Saturday made the climb even steeper with one more great challenge ahead, but the Blues played arguably one of their better games in some time.

They were sharp, crisp, on the same page, mistakes were minimal and not necessarily in bad spots on the ice, and when called upon, Hofer was the backbone providing the necessary saves.

Let's get into the takeaways from just the Blues' fifth win (5-8-1) the past 14 games:

* First Period -- Brayden Schenn was one of the skaters moved in the lineup, elevated to the line with Robert Thomas and Jordan Kyrou playing left wing. It has been tough of late with Schenn when he matched his career-worst goal drought with 16 games entering Monday, and things seemed to get worse right off the hop when the captain was whistled for interference on Brad Marchand just 53 seconds into the game.

But in a prelude of things to come, the Blues' penalty kill, which was carved up for three goals against by the Rangers on Saturday, came up with a big kill to start the game and it carried throughout the game.

Hofer was tested at the 8:30 mark and he came up with a big save on Jesper Boqvist after Colton Parayko had one of the rare mistakes in the d-zone that turned into a solid scoring chance. Again, it was another prelude of things to come when Hofer was up to the task.

Kapanen could only sing the praises of finally catching a break when he scored his first goal in 21 games dating to Dec. 30, 2023 against the Pittsburgh Penguins and his fifth of the season at 10:13 to give the Blues a 1-0 lead.

The line with Saad and Hayes did a nice job of gaining the zone and working the puck, and after former Bruins defenseman Torey Krug tried throwing the puck back down low around the boards, it hit the stanchion of the zamboni door, off one of the official's skates and caromed into the slot right to Kapanen, who beat Jeremy Swayman blocker side.

Hofer was again called into action making consecutive quick saves on Pavel Zacha and Danton Heinen at 12:53 and 12:54 to keep it a 1-0 game.

Then the Bruins got hit with a rash of penalties, with Jake DeBrusk first sent to the box for holding the stick at 13:55. 

The Blues didn't do anything with their first power play, but they were given another opportunity when Charlie Coyle was called for hooking Robert Thomas at 16:47, then St. Louis native Trent Frederic high-sticked Schenn trying to lift his stick at 17:49 giving the Blues 58 seconds of 5-on-3.

They were just 1-for-7 in those situations but wasted little time on this one when Thomas whistled in his 21st of the season, his career-high to make it 2-0 at 17:59.

Thomas won the face-off, and Justin Faulk worked it to Thomas, who worked a nice high-low play with Pavel Buchnevich before wiring a slap shot from the top of the right circle.

It was a fairly even-played period with the Blues ahead 2-0 but outshot 12-10.

* Second Period -- The Blues had  the chance early to extend the lead when Jordan Kyrou was off to the races on a breakaway but Swayman had the answer with the blocker at 2:06.

But the Hayes line was on it in the second period. Hayes made it 3-0 at 4:31 when the Blues transitioned the puck through the neutral zone and into the offensive cleanly, Kapanen had a mini odd-man, took it to the net and fed Hayes for the finish after former Blues defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk took the backdoor play to Saad and had to vacate Hayes in the middle.

Oskar Sundqvist lost a puck, then hooked Charlie McAvoy at 8:40 to give Boston its second power play but nothing doing on that one either.

The Bruins thought they scored on a wonky bounce by Justin Brazeau at 8:49 to make it a 3-1 game. It came after Kessel's backhand along the wall was picked off, and Brazeau took it hard to the net and the puck caromed up into the air and in off Krug and Hofer's sticks. But the Blues challenged for offside, and it was determined that Brazeau preceded the puck into the zone at 9:06 and the goal was waved off.

The Blues fed off the good fortune and Saad made it 4-0 at 15:25 when he drove hard to the back post after Hayes possessed the puck in the offensive zone, curled to his left and fed Saad, whose initial shot hit the post but he stayed with it and banged home his 19th of the season. 

The Blues only got seven shots in the period and were getting outshot 24-17 but doubled their lead to 4-0 heading into the third period.

* Third Period -- Even down four, the Blues were going to push and had a push early on.

Zacha had just missed an open one-timer at the right post but was able to retrieve the puck, get it to Shattenkirk, who fed David Pastrnak for a wicked one-timer near the blue line that made it 4-1 at 1:48.

Boston was pushing hard, but Hofer, who made 36 saves, had all the answers to keep it 4-1.

Swayman came up with a dandy of his own when he made a stop on Nathan Walker's chance off a 2-on-1 with Scott Perunovich. And then Alexey Toropchenko's drive to the net almost results in a goal when he redirected Jake Neighbours' shot off the post at 8:28.

But knowing he had to do something, Bruins coach and former Blues assistant Jim Montgomery pulled Swayman with roughly nine minutes left and a three-goal deficit, but Toropchenko didn't waste any time in scoring into the empty net to make it 5-1 at 11:27 when he tipped Parayko's flipper from his side of the red line.

The Blues had to kill off one more minor on Kyrou for holding at 13:13 but they limited Boston's ninth-ranked power play to just two shots on three attempts.

It capped off a solid win despite being outshot 37-22.

And along with Hofer's solid performance, the story was the Saad-Hayes-Kapanen line with seven points in much-needed secondary scoring as the Blues head home for a four-game homestand and play 11 of their final 17 games at Enterprise Center.