ST. LOUIS — In an exciting matchup, the St. Louis Blues secured a convincing 4-0 victory over the Ottawa Senators, highlighted by Brandon Saad’s third career hat trick and goaltender Jordan Binnington’s impressive performance with 20 saves, marking his 18th career shutout.
Brayden Schenn contributed to the scoreboard as well, adding another goal for the Blues, who have been in excellent form, having won four of their last five games.
On the other side, Ottawa’s Anton Forsberg managed to make 21 saves, but faced a daunting challenge as the team stumbled, dropping four of their last five outings following a six-game winning streak.
Saad kicked off the scoring, netting his first goal late in the first period with just 4:10 left on the clock, putting St. Louis up 2-0. It had been a lengthy stretch, spanning 20 games, since Saad last scored, which occurred on November 14 against Buffalo when he scored two goals.
He continued his offensive display with a second goal 5:45 into the second period and completed his hat trick by finding the back of the net again with 1:53 remaining in the third period, marking his seventh goal of the season.
Schenn opened the scoring for St. Louis early in the game, netting his seventh goal of the season just 7:26 into the contest after a slick breakaway set up by Dylan Holloway, giving the Blues a 1-0 lead.
In terms of takeaways from the game, it was evident that the Senators appeared fatigued after their previous night’s contest in Dallas, while the Blues executed their plan effectively, taking advantage of scoring chances right from the start.
A pivotal moment for Ottawa came when Thomas Chabot seemed to score with 34 seconds left in the second period. However, St. Louis successfully challenged the play, resulting in officials ruling that Nick Cousins had entered the zone offside. Earlier, Cousins had narrowly missed a chance to score himself when he lost control of the puck while trying to tap it into an empty net, allowing the opportunity to slip away.
Notably, Saad’s multi-goal performance this evening accounted for all his scoring contributions this season, marking it as his third such game of the year.
Looking ahead, the Senators are set to face the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday as they wrap up a nine-game road trip, while the Blues will be traveling to Columbus on Saturday.
