Kyrou, Blues hold off Sabres for third straight win

ST. LOUIS-- The St. Louis Blues extended their point streak to six games with a 5-3 win against the Buffalo Sabres at Enterprise Center on Friday.

Jordan Kyrou scored twice and had an assist, Ivan Barbashev had three assists, and Ville Husso made 35 saves for the Blues (31-14-6), who have won three in a row and are 5-0-1 during their streak.
The Blues returned from a four-game road trip to play this home game and go back on the road for four starting Sunday at the Chicago Blackhawks.
"The long road trip coming home, it takes a lot out of you," St. Louis coach Craig Berube said. "The energy was low yesterday I thought, and today a little bit. That fed off into the game. It's pretty normal I would say after a long road trip like that and come home. They know it's one game, then we're back on the road trip again. Guys are a little edgy, which is OK. They found a way to fight through it and win a hockey game, that's all that matters.
"We've got it going pretty good, I think. But in the end, you've just got to take every game by game. This one's over with, we've moved on to Chicago and we're going to focus on that game starting tomorrow."

Dylan Cozens and Kyle Okposo each had a goal and an assist, and Dustin Tokarski made 18 saves for the Sabres (16-29-8), who have lost five in a row outscored 24-10.
"We controlled a lot of the game," Okposo said. "That's just a good group over there. They've got a lot of guys who've been around a long time and they just stuck with their plan and they weathered the storm. They bent and didn't break, and we just gave them a couple too many chances and they capitalized on them. But I thought that we were a better team for the majority of [the game]."
Tage Thompson's power-play goal for Buffalo tied it 3-3 at 12:34 of the third period. His wrist shot from the slot beat Husso high glove.
"It's always nice to score," Thompson said, "but I think the main thing is winning. I really wanted to win this one, and everyone in the room did too, and it stings a little bit more, especially when you play well like that. And that's a tough one as well."
Colton Parayko gave the Blues a 4-3 lead at 13:57 when he followed Kyrou's shot off a 2-on-1.
"He's the fastest skater, he's obviously got good speed and obviously good play by him," Parayko said. "Obviously he had a really good game, but he's a fast guy, tough to keep up with for sure.
"I was just kind of driving back post, kind of ready for a pass if we had an opening, or else just kind of go backdoor maybe if there was a rebound like there was. Just kind of drive the net and make it hard on that defenseman too, to take away the pass and the shot at the same time, kind of. Just being a D-man, I know how hard it is. When guys are pushing backdoor, you've got to kind of commit to something. Nothing overly exciting, just making sure I was driving that back post making it tough on that D-man."

Brayden Schenn scored an empty-net goal with 33 seconds remaining for the 5-3 final.
Cozens gave the Sabres a 1-0 lead 1:25 into the first period, poking in a rebound of a right point shot.
Kyrou tied it 1-1 at 7:06, a power-play goal off a one-timer from the slot, and made it 2-1 at 14:23 when he tipped Justin Faulk's wrist shot from the point in the high slot.
Okposo tied it 2-2 at 3:27 of the second period, redirecting a tip from the high slot off a Rasmus Dahlin point shot.
Jake Walman gave St. Louis a 3-2 lead at 19:25, three seconds after a Sabres power play expired, when he followed up a rebound of Brandon Saad's drive to the net that was saved by Tokarski with his right skate.
NOTES:Thompson was selected in the first round (No. 26) of the 2016 NHL Draft by the Blues and was part of the trade for St. Louis captain Ryan O'Reilly on July 1, 2018. His goal was his first point in three games against the Blues. ... With an assist, Buffalo forward Alex Tuch has scored 22 points (seven goals, 15 assists) in 21 games for the Sabres. ... Kyrou has scored 23 points his past 20 games (11 goals, 12 assists). ... Schenn has scored 11 points his past nine games (seven goals, four assists).