Hutton, Blues blank potent Penguins
PITTSBURGH -- Carter Hutton made 34 saves for his second shutout of the season and sixth of his career as the St. Louis Blues ended a three-game slide Tuesday by stifling the top offense in the NHL for a 3-0 victory against the Pittsburgh Penguins at PPG Paints Arena.
Not only did Hutton stop all the Penguins shots, but St. Louis (24-19-5) also used its heavier game to play a smothering style against the often volatile Pittsburgh offense, which averages 3.6 goals. It held Pittsburgh to 0 for 6 on the power play.
The Blues, who got a goal in each period, are 7-1-2 in their past 10 games against the Penguins.
Pittsburgh (30-12-5) had won four games in a row, scoring an average of six goals, and seven straight at home, scoring 5.3 goals in those contests.
Hutton (7-6-2) started -- and rookie Phoenix Copley dressed as his backup -- because the Blues wanted to give No. 1 goalie Jake Allen a mental and physical breather after a period of struggling.
Allen, who stayed back in St. Louis for Saturday's loss at Winnipeg and watched in street clothes Tuesday, is scheduled to start Thursday at Minnesota -- unless Hutton's performance changed the plan.
Hutton got all the goal support he needed early.
Colton Parayko gave St. Louis a 1-0 lead at 14:16 of the first with a power-play goal. He blasted a slapshot from the top of the left circle that squeaked between the pads of goaltender Matt Murray.
Ryan Reaves increased the Blues' lead to 2-0 at 15:43 of the second. He swooped in from the left point, shook off defenseman Justin Schultz's attempt to stall him and banked the puck in off Murray's body.
Pittsburgh came back to win seven times this season when trailing after two periods, but that wasn't happening in this game.
St. Louis pushed its lead to 3-0 at 14:33 of the third when Scottie Upshall got a one-timer under Murray's stick.
Murray (17-5-1), the winner in each game of Pittsburgh's four-game winning streak, made 25 saves.
Evgeni Malkin (seven games) and Conor Sheary (four) had point streaks halted, while Penguins teammate Sidney Crosby had nine points in his previous five games. Crosby and Malkin are tied for second in the league with 54 points apiece behind Edmonton's Conor McDavid.
NOTES: Pittsburgh D Kris Letang missed his fifth straight game because of a left leg injury, but he joined his teammates for the morning skate and coach Mike Sullivan said Letang has made "significant progress." ... D Brian Dumoulin returned to the Penguins lineup after being activated from injured reserve. He missed 10 games after surgery for a broken jaw. ... To make room on the roster, Pittsburgh returned D Cameron Gaunce to AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. ... St. Louis D Jay Bouwmeester returned after missing one game because of a lower-body injury. ... Blues coach Ken Hitchcock broke up his top line, moving LW Jaden Schwartz to the second line and elevating C/LW Robbi Fabbri. ... C Patrik Berglund dressed in his 603rd Blues game, tying Larry Patey for 10th on the team's all-time list. ... RW Nail Yakupov played after being a healthy scratch the previous two games. ... Pittsburgh scratched RW Tom Kuhnhackl and D Steve Olesky; the Blues scratched RW Dmitrij Jaskin, D Carl Gunnarsson and G Jake Allen.