Recap: Blues Play Stingy Defense, Beat Coyotes

GLENDALE --The St. Louis Blues extended their winning streak to eight games with a 4-0 victory over the Coyotes on Thursday night at Gila River Arena.

Arizona, looking to push its own win streak to three games, couldn't score against a stifling defense that allowed just 21 shots to reach rookie goalie Jordan Binnington. Meanwhile, the Blues scored twice in the first period, forcing the Coyotes to chase the game.
"They defend really well, as we saw tonight," said Darcy Kuemper, who made 20 saves. "Going down 2-0, really tough team to come back on. They did a great job of shutting down. We kept battling, we just couldn't get back into it."
Head Coach Rick Tocchet said not all of the Coyotes came ready to play.
"We were sloppy early and then we gave them the two-goal lead," Tocchet said. "And then they just locked it down. They just kind of sat back and, big team, we didn't really penetrate much ... To beat St. Louis, you've got to be quicker on the puck and early on we were sluggish."

• Brad Richardson returned to Arizona's lineup after missing 13 games because of an upper-body injury he suffered vs. Vancouver on Jan. 10. He skated 13:30, took two shots on goal and won seven of 13 face-offs.
"I've been skating for a month straight, but it's never easy when getting back into game pace this time of year," Richardson said. "You just try to get back in it. After the first, I felt pretty good. I'm still not where I want to be, but hopefully in the next few games I'll get up to speed."

• Trailing 2-0, the Coyotes were awarded a power play when Patrick Maroon was called for cross checking at 7:39 of the second period.
"We got a power play, and had a chance to get back in the game, but couldn't really get anything out of it," captain Oliver Ekman-Larsson said. "I thought we kind of moved the puck around pretty good, but it's hard to score when you don't shoot the puck ... It's kind of disappointing when you look at how our team came out. We knew we had to win this one, so it hurts a little."

• With the loss, Arizona dropped to 10-14-3 at Gila River Arena with 14 home games left on the schedule.
"It's disappointing," Tocchet said. "I honestly don't know why. We've played some good games here, but not enough. If you want to make the playoffs, you've got to have a really good home record."
• Stats that jump off the Event Summary: Lawson Crouse delivered six of Arizona's 40 hits, and Nick Cousins won 9 of 13 face-offs.