Suter, Neighbours, McTavish each scores twice, Blues defeat Senators

OTTAWA -- Pius Suter, Jake Neighbours and Mason McTavish each scored twice, and the St. Louis Blues defeated the Ottawa Senators 7-2 at Canadian Tire Centre on Tuesday.

Suter and McTavish each added an assist, Adam Jiricek scored his first NHL goal, and Pavel Buchnevich had three assists for the Blues (3-2-1), who have won two games in a row and have points in three straight (2-0-1). Joel Hofer made 15 saves.

“It was a great team effort,” Hofer said. “You know, we stuck to our game plan, kept it simple, and yeah, we got rewarded tonight. It was good to see.”

 Claude Giroux and Fabian Zetterlund scored for the Senators (5-2-0), who had won three straight, including a 4-1 victory at the New Jersey Devils on Monday. Samuel Ersson made 19 saves.

“Our execution was really sloppy,” Ottawa coach Travis Green said. “… Our power play (1-for-4) definitely wasn't good enough. When your power play goes minus-1, it doesn't generate a lot of momentum. That's tough, and I think overall our execution wasn't good enough.”

Suter gave St. Louis a 1-0 lead with a short-handed goal at 14:28 of the first period. Colton Parayko delivered a strong check along the wall in the Blues’ defensive zone to force a turnover, then fed Suter on the rush, before he went in alone and beat Ersson from the left hash marks.

“I mean, that's a really good hockey team over there, and they're 5-2 for a reason,” Blues coach Jim Montgomery said. “But getting that short-handed goal was really key. Our penalty kill has been very good. I thought both special teams were good for us tonight, which is a really pleasant sign in our growth as a team.” 

Neighbours extended the lead to 2-0 at 13:20 of the second period with a shot from the high slot.

“This is a good start for our road trip,” Hofer said. “We wanted to get off to a good start; two big games coming up here. So it was a good start for us for sure.”

Giroux cut the deficit to 2-1 at 17:52. Tim Stutzle battled for the puck behind the net before winning possession along the goal line and sending a backhand pass to Giroux in the right face-off circle, where he snapped a wrist shot high to the blocker side.

“You definitely learn (from it),” Giroux said of the loss. “They're not fun. Sadly, I've been a part of these a little too often, and but you do learn from it, and you’ve got to take the feeling that we have right now and make sure that doesn't happen again.”

McTavish restored the two-goal lead 33 seconds later, making it 3-1 at 18:25. On a 3-on-2, Jonatan Berggren found McTavish surrounded by three Senators players just outside the crease, where he backhanded the puck into the open net to finish a give-and-go.

“We made a couple mistakes that led to goals, which are uncharacteristic of our team,” Green said. “I thought after the second period, (it) could have easily been a 1-1 game, 2-2 game if we got another one, but then it just gets away (from) us.”

Suter made it 4-1 at 7:54 of the third period with his second of the game, scoring from a sharp angle with a one-timer that snuck under the right arm of Ersson.

“We made sure we didn't have to play a 200-foot game, and we got the puck deep,” Suter said. “And then really forechecked them hard and got those pucks back, and kept possession. So I think everybody played really well there at the blue line."

Neighbours pushed it to 5-1 with his second of the game at 14:46, tapping in a feed from Buchnevich on the rush.

Less than a minute later, McTavish got his second of the game. His one-timer from the right circle on the power play made it 6-1 at 15:33.

“I don't know if we stopped thinking or what, but you know we didn't help our goaltender," Giroux said. “And you know it wasn't on him in the third. It was on us to play better.”

Jiricek, playing his sixth NHL game, extended it to 7-1 at 16:32, beating Ersson from just above the right circle.

“We're doing the right things and playing, you know, team hockey, so it's good,” Hofer said. 

Zetterlund scored on the power play at 18:33 for the 7-2 final.

“Our execution wasn't great, and a few more details,” Ottawa captain Thomas Chabot said. “But you know what? We're aware of it as a team, as a group, as players, and that's all that matters. And we'll make sure we answer back.”

NOTES: Senators forward Ridly Greig did not play the final 9:09 of the game. “He has a strain, so we thought it was best to keep him out,” Green said. … The Blues scored five goals for the second consecutive game; they defeated the Columbus Blue Jackets 5-3 on Saturday. … St. Louis forward Dylan Peterson was plus-1 and played 8:57 in his NHL debut.