Hurricanes 4, Blues 1
ST. LOUIS -- Left winger Jeff Skinner scored one goal and assisted on another to lead the Carolina Hurricanes to a 4-1 win Thursday night over the St. Louis Blues.
The win extended the Hurricanes' winning streak to a season-high four games and was their first in St. Louis since Dec. 11, 2010.
After a scoreless first period, Skinner put the Hurricanes ahead just 1:49 into the second period with his team-leading 17th goal of the season. He was in the right place to knock in a rebound after Blues goalie Brian Elliott stopped a shot by right winger Andrej Nestrasil.
Defenseman Brett Pesce increased the lead to 2-0 with a power-play goal at 3:22 of the third period. The goal came with 15 seconds left in a slashing penalty to Blues center Paul Stastny.
Right winger Brock McGinn, with an assist from Skinner, made it a 3-0 lead for Carolina at 7:13 of the third period, chasing Elliott from the game. Jordan Binnington, recalled from Chicago of the AHL last week when goalie Jake Allen was injured, came in to replace Elliott in his NHL debut.
Just 14 seconds later, the Blues spoiled backup goalie Eddie Lack's bid for his first shutout of the season on a goal from center Jori Lehtera, off a rebound, at 7:33.
Right winger Riley Nash scored on a breakaway against Binnington with 3:39 to play for the final goal of the game.
Lask improved his career record against the Blues to 6-0, with the other five wins coming when he was with the Vancouver Canucks the last two seasons.
The loss snapped a five-game point streak for the Blues, who had only 11 shots on goal through the first two periods and were 0-of-3 on the power-play in those two periods and 0-of-4 overall.
NOTES: C Paul Stastny returned to the St. Louis lineup after missing two games because he was hit in the cheek by a deflected puck, causing headaches and "fogginess," according to Stastny. ... Blues RW Ty Rattie, who scored his first NHL goal on Tuesday night, was a healthy scratch. ... Carolina LW Nathan Gerbe and LW Phillip Di Giuseppe were on the trip and are getting closer to getting back in the lineup. Gerbe has missed 25 games because of a lower-body injury and Di Giuseppe has been sidelined for six games with a concussion. ... The game in St. Louis was the annual dad's trip for the Hurricanes, with 19 fathers of players and staff accompanying the team. ... Carolina hosts Vancouver on Friday night and St. Louis hosts Montreal on Saturday night.