Thomas stays hot, Blues score 7 in win against Kraken

ST. LOUIS -- Robert Thomas extended his point streak to seven games with a goal and an assist, and the St. Louis Blues defeated the Seattle Kraken 7-2 at Enterprise Center on Tuesday.

Zack Bolduc scored twice, Cam Fowler and Oskar Sundqvist each had a goal and two assists, and Jake Neighbours had a goal and an assist for the Blues (27-26-6), who are 3-0-1 their past four games and ended a season-long six-game homestand 3-1-2. Jordan Binnington made 25 saves.

“I just liked the way that every line looked the same on the ice,” St. Louis coach Jim Montgomery said. “Checking-wise, but especially offensively, we played hard, offensive hockey whereas if we didn’t have a play to make, we went in and put it behind, we went to work on the forecheck, we were putting it in an area where someone was skating towards that area. I thought the defensemen did a great job in the first period of holding the O-zone, hammering walls, having tight gaps, which allowed our forwards to get more offensive zone time and I think it really paid off.”

Vince Dunn and Jaden Schwartz scored for the Kraken (25-31-4), who lost the final two games of a four-game road trip (2-2-0). Joey Daccord allowed five goals on 21 shots before being pulled for the NHL debut of Nikke Kokko, who allowed two goals on six shots.

When Seattle forward Jared McCann was asked what the Kraken were struggling with tonight, he said, “Take your pick, pretty much everything. D-zone coverage, couldn’t get a forecheck established, made it easy on them. It just looked like we didn’t have our legs tonight. It’s just overall pretty embarrassing.”

Jordan Kyrou made it 1-0 at 8:04 of the first period off a toe drag into the inner right circle and wrister off the short side post.

Sundqvist’s power-play goal at 12:48 made it 2-0, a shot from the slot off a Pavel Buchnevich pass from the goal line.

"I think it was supposed to go to Fowler," Sundqvist said. "I kind of felt that there was a lot of open ice right there and both 'Tommer' and 'Buchy' are such skilled players, they're going to find you if you find open ice.

"The original play was to go over to Fowler, but it worked out in the end."

The Blues scored four times in 6:56 in the second period when Thomas made it 3-0 at 5:10 to give him 11 points (four goals, seven assists) during his point streak when he batted in his own rebound on the backhand.

Bolduc made it 4-0 at 8:23 on a wrist shot from the left circle after Sundqvist sold a shot before making a pass.

"I heard him and I saw him over on that side," Sundqvist said of Bolduc. "Obviously a higher percentage play with him scoring than me scoring from the outside there. He was in the perfect spot."

Fowler’s wrister from the point made it 5-0 at 9:45 and chased Daccord from the game. Neighbours ended a 10-game goal drought when he beat Kokko from the right circle at 11:55 to make it 6-0.

Bolduc's tip in front of Mathieu Joseph's slap shot made it 7-0 20 seconds into the third period.

“The three guys on our line played well and we were skating,” Bolduc said. “Our timing was good. The D-men were just flying out there and made things so much easier for us.”

The line of Sundqvist, Bolduc and Joseph combined for six points (three goals, three assists).

“They were really good,” Montgomery said. “'Sunny' is the glue guy that connects the other guys. He’s kind of like the brains behind the operation. The other two guys can fly.”

Dunn's wrister from the high slot off a giveaway at 5:13 ended Binnington's shutout bid and made it 7-1.

Schwartz made it 7-2 at 12:09, but the Kraken had to use a challenge when the call on the ice was no goal for goalie interference.

“(Played) a more desperate team,” Kraken defenseman Brandon Montour said. “A team that’s still close to us in the standings. They’re a closer team to being in the playoffs, a team that obviously wanted it more. A desperate team that showed it and competed harder than us the whole game. The effort level was there on their end and wasn’t on our side. It trickled throughout the whole, entire game.”

NOTES: It’s the first time in Sundqvist’s NHL career (471 games) he’s had more than two points in a game. ... Buchnevich has 10 points (six goals, four assists) in 10 games against Seattle and extended his point streak to four games (one goal, five assists). … Thomas has 13 points (five goals, eight assists) in 11 games against the Kraken. … Joseph was plus-1 and played 15:54 with four hits in his 400th NHL game. … Binnington improved to 4-0-1 his past five starts.