O'Reilly, Blues cruise past Blackhawks in fourth straight win

CHICAGO -- Ryan O'Reilly scored a short-handed goal and had an assist for the St. Louis Blues in their fourth straight win, 5-2 against the Chicago Blackhawks at United Center on Wednesday.

Jordan Kyrou and Ivan Barbashev each had a goal and an assist, and Jordan Binnington made 25 saves for the Blues (7-8-0), who pulled away with three goals in the second period.
Their four-game winning streak comes after a string of eight consecutive regulation losses.
"It's good," St. Louis coach Craig Berube said. "We've been playing good hockey and finding a way to get some goals. We've been solid all around. I thought [Binnington] was good again. I thought we defended well. At the same time, we're doing some good stuff in the offensive zone and finding some goals."
Andreas Athanasiou scored twice for the Blackhawks (6-7-3), who have lost their past two games. Arvid Soderblom made 30 saves.
"It's definitely frustrating," Chicago coach Luke Richardson said. "I thought we had a pretty good first period. Again, we just couldn't get that first one in there. It'd be nice to be play with the lead and build some confidence and build some momentum off that. We've just got to keep working on that."
Calle Rosen gave the Blues a 1-0 lead at 14:09 of the first period when his shot from the slot deflected off Blackhawks defenseman Alec Regula.

Kyrou made it 2-0 at 5:12 of the second period. Nick Leddy kept the puck in at the left point and passed to Kyrou, who skated through the slot and scored on the forehand.
"I just tried to keep the puck in and create some time, and [Kyrou] did the rest," Leddy said.
Athanasiou cut it to 2-1 at 7:19 when he took a pass from Max Domi and skated in alone on Binnington.
O'Reilly's short-handed goal at 8:08 restored the Blues' two-goal lead. He moved in on a 2-on-1 with Noel Acciari and shot it past Soderblom from the left face-off circle.
"It was a good play by him, picking that pass off and then to go the other way," Berube said. "It's just a great play."
Athanasiou scored his second of the game on the power play to make it 3-2 at 9:35 when he skated up the right wing and snapped a wrist shot from the circle past Binnington. It was his fifth goal of the season.
"Obviously you're always looking to improve," Athanasiou said. "Come in every night and try to help the team, do what I can, whether it's on one end of the ice or the other. Just grow as a player every day and just try to get better.
"When you're down and you get a couple of goals, you kind of get the momentum going. At the end of the day, we gave a little too much up tonight and couldn't fight back."

Tyler Pitlick's first of the season made it 4-2 at 11:37, and Barbashev scored at 6:55 of the third period for the 5-2 final.
"We definitely gave up too many chances to a good team, but at the same time, we also created a lot," Chicago defenseman Jack Johnson said. "We had a lot of chances and we only scored two, which makes it tough. We were right in it. It was 3-2 and then the game got away from us and we gave them too many good looks."
The Blues players had their mothers with them for the last two of a three-game road trip, including a 3-2 win at the Colorado Avalanche on Monday.
"It's definitely a special moment," Barbashev said. "I haven't seen her in two years. There are some other moms on the road too, so it's really special for everyone. To get one today, it's a good feeling."
NOTES: St. Louis defenseman Colton Parayko was scratched because of an undisclosed injury. Defenseman Tyler Tucker made his NHL debut and had one shot on goal in 11:05 of ice time. … O'Reilly's short-handed goal was the Blues' first this season and the 11th of his NHL career. … St. Louis forward Nikita Alexandrov had an assist for his first NHL point. … Blackhawks forward Jason Dickinson returned after missing two games because of an illness. He had one shot in 14:25. ... Chicago defenseman Caleb Jones was minus-5 in 14:39.