The St. Louis Blues beat the Montreal Canadiens 7-2

Daniel Rainbird, The Canadian Press, 11 February 2024.

St. Louis Blues' Jake Neighbors (63) moves to score against Canadiens goaltender Jake Allen in Montreal, Canada's David Savard (58) Joel Armia (40) and Kaiden Goulet defend during the third period of NHL hockey action in Montreal, Sunday, Feb. 11. , 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes

MONTREAL – Jordan Kirou scored twice and Torey Krug had four assists as the St. Louis Blues convincingly defeated the Montreal Canadiens 7-2 in the Super Bowl on Sunday at the Bell Centre.

Robert Thomas had a goal and two assists, Jake Neighbors had a goal and an assist, and Colton Parayko, Alexei Toropchenko and Nathan Walker also scored for St. Louis (28-21-2). Jordan Binnington made 30 saves for the Blues, who also beat Buffalo 3-1 on Saturday.

St. Louis has won seven of its last eight games.

Nick Suzuki and Joel Armia scored for Montreal (21-23-8), while Jake Allen stopped 27 shots. Suzuki extended his point streak to seven games, while teammate Cole Caufield's 11-game streak ended.

The Canadiens dropped to 1-9-0 in their second straight matchup this season after Saturday's 3-2 loss to Dallas.

The Blues were 3-for-5 on the power play. The Canadiens were 0-for-3.

St. Louis took an early lead and never looked back.

With just 25 seconds left in the game, Toropchenko got around Jayden Struble on the right wing, cut to the net and put a dunk between his legs before beating Allen.

Parayko gave the visitors a 2-0 lead 5:05 into the first period.

Seconds later, Blues forward Sammy Blais took a hard hit on defenseman Jordan Harris that appeared to land close to his head as he tumbled down the end boards.

Harris also hit his head on the ice and was unable to get up after the incident and needed help to get off the ice. The Canadiens said he will not return due to an upper body injury.

Blaise, meanwhile, received a five-minute major for boarding and foul play.

The Canadians didn't make the Blues pay until five minutes into the power play, when Juraj Slafkowski cut the lead in half at 10:23 when he set up Suzuki with an open net after a cross-ice pass.

Kiru scored a power play goal at 15:20 of the first to give St. Louis a 3-1 halftime lead.

Despite an even second, Walker scored with 2:11 left to put the Blues up three.

Thomas extended that lead with a power play goal just 31 seconds into the third.

Army was able to get one back on Montreal with a deflection at 3:06, but the Neighbors restored St. Louis' four-goal lead with another power-play marker at 7:14.

Kieru made it 7-2 with a jumper off the backboard and off Allen, who had a forgotten afternoon against his former team.

With a minute left, the Canadians started scoring. However, Neighbors and Jonathan Kovacevic dropped the gloves when the puck crossed the line. Officials decided after an investigation that there would be no purpose.

CHANGES IN COMPOSITION

Forward Joshua Roy, drafted by American Hockey League affiliate Laval, left Saturday's game with a lower-body injury and entered the Canadiens lineup Sunday for Rafael Harvey-Pinard, who was placed on injured reserve. Roy, 20, of St. Georges-De-Bus, Que., has one goal and one assist in seven games this season.

Harris replaced Arber Hekai on the blue line after spending two games as a healthy scratch before being sidelined.

NEXT UP

Blues: Complete a three-game road trip against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday.

Canadiens: Host the Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday to end a three-game homestand.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published on February 11, 2024.