Blues send Hurricanes to fifth straight loss

ST. LOUIS --Ryan O'Reilly got his first NHL hat trick for the St. Louis Blues in a 4-1 win against the Carolina Hurricanes at Enterprise Center on Tuesday.

"It feels good," O'Reilly said. "I think my last one was, if we count summer hockey, probably this summer I had a hat trick at some point. But I think we're going back deep to probably playing minor midget. It feels good to have an official one, that's for sure."
Robby Fabbri scored, Vladimir Tarasenko and Tyler Bozak each had two assists, and Chad Johnson made 38 saves for St. Louis (5-5-3), which has won three of its past four.
WATCH: [All Hurricanes vs. Blues highlights]
Jaccob Slavin scored, and Curtis McElhinney made 16 saves for Carolina (6-7-2), which has lost five straight (0-4-1).
Carolina, which ranks first in the NHL in shots per game (41.8) and shots allowed per game (24.3), outshot St. Louis 39-20.

"We should be frustrated," Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour said. "I would hope so, but we've got to park it and come back and show all the stuff we've done well. Do the stuff that we need to clean up. We can't keep giving up goals early, but at some point, these chances are going to go in for us and as long as our game is solid, then we're going to get straight."
O'Reilly gave the Blues a 1-0 lead at 11:57 of the first period, scoring in front on a 2-on-1 following a turnover by Micheal Ferland.
Fabbri scored to make it 2-0 at 14:01, deking McElhinney before finishing with a backhand. The goal was his first since Dec. 28, 2016.

"A long time ago. I forgot how it felt, but it definitely felt good," Fabbri said. "I was just kind of reading off the play, reading off the pressure on my back, going to my backhand there. That was a great pass from [David Perron] there under the stick.
"That play started with [Robert Thomas] there. He made a nice pass to the middle, sucking a couple of guys in. That's what he does well, he reads the ice well and he finds the open guy in."
Slavin cut it to 2-1 with a power-play goal at 19:34, but O'Reilly scored 21 seconds later on the power play to make it 3-1.

"It was a key time for us," O'Reilly said. "That's the result you want to have. When something bad happens, you want to respond well, get momentum or put something in the net. That's always good when we can do that."
O'Reilly completed the hat trick with an empty-net goal at 16:50 of the third period. He has 15 points (seven goals, eight assists) on an eight-game point streak, which ties his longest in his NHL career.
"It's pretty frustrating, but we dug ourselves a pretty big hole in the first period and so we have to be able to play a complete 60 minutes," Slavin said. "When we do that, then the goals will start coming."

They said it

"I'm sick of recycling that same old stuff. We're chasing the game again. At the end of the day, excuses are for losers. We're not going to use them and I'm not searching for them." -- Hurricanes forward Justin Williams
"[Carolina] didn't reach the average that they were at. I think the average is 42, so we got a little lower than that. They were throwing pucks all over the place at net, but they didn't have a lot of second chances." -- Blues goalie Chad Johnson

Need to know

Carolina is 2-7-1 in its past 10 games after starting the season 4-0-1 and has scored two goals or fewer in seven of its past 10. ... Tarasenko has seven points (four goals, three assists) in a five-game point streak. ... St. Louis has scored at least one power-play goal in six straight games, its longest streak since Jan. 31-Feb. 15, 2013 (eight games). ... O'Reilly won 17 of 24 face-offs (71 percent). He came into the game leading the NHL in face-off percentage at 63.2 percent (minimum 50 taken).

What's next

Hurricanes:At the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday (8:30 p.m. ET; NBCSCH, FS-CR, NHL.TV)
Blues: Host the San Jose Sharks on Friday (8 p.m. ET; FS-MW, NBCSCA, NHL.TV)