Blues, Blackhawks Pick Up NHL Victories

By ESPN

The St. Louis Blues recognize that they've entered the new NHL season in a precarious position because of injuries to key players.

They're not letting that stop them from finding ways to win.

"Next man up is the mentality we have to have," coach Mike Yeo said after Carter Hutton made 16 of his 32 saves in the third period to help the Blues remain unbeaten with a 3-1 win over the New York Rangers on Tuesday night.

Carl Gunnarsson and Brayden Schenn scored first-period goals for St. Louis, which improved to 4-0. Jaden Schwartz added an empty-netter with 1:47 left.

"The guys battled really hard," Yeo said. "Our veteran players have really raised their game and stepped up."

After the Rangers dropped to 1-3, left wing Rick Nash was asked if the team was concerned about its start to the season.

"There has to be," Nash said. "With all these home games early on, these are the games that when you get to March and April, that really mean something.

"There's definitely an urgency to fix this and start winning some games."

Trailing 2-1, the Rangers pressured an injury-depleted Blues squad in the third period, outshooting St. Louis 16-8.

New York outshot the Blues 32-23 overall.

"There's no doubt that in the first two periods we didn't generate a lot," New York coach Alain Vigneault said. "In the third I thought we brought a lot more energy and willpower. We spent a lot more time in their end and we finally got some pretty good looks but we weren't able to score."

Hutton, in his first start of the season, was a significant reason why the Rangers were stymied. His three biggest stops occurred in the third period, beginning with Michael Grabner's short-handed semi-breakaway, later followed by Jimmy Vesey's stuff-in attempt during a goalmouth scrum, and Pavel Buchnevich's try from the low slot.

Buchnevich slammed his stick against the ice in frustration a moment after the whistle blew to stop play.

"I felt really comfortable," Hutton said. "In the third we hung on."

Even though the Rangers held an 11-7 advantage in shots, it was the Blues who went into the first intermission enjoying a 2-1 advantage. Gunnarsson opened the scoring at 15 seconds with his second of the season, a wide-open wrist shot from the slot.

Mika Zibanejad tied the game 2:07 later with his fifth of the season on the power play.

New York was credited with six of the nine shots on goal following Zibanejad's goal, but it was the Blues who went ahead on Schenn's second of the season at 13:30 when the center banked Paul Stastny's rebound off goalie Henrik Lundqvist.

"I went top shelf," Schenn said. "Sometimes you are lucky."

Benefiting a team that has started the season without Patrik Berglund (left shoulder), Jay Bouwmeester (left ankle), Robby Fabbri (left knee), Zach Sanford (left shoulder) and Alexander Steen (left hand) due to injuries, the Blues employed a tighter brand of hockey in a second period in which neither team scored and St. Louis had the two best opportunities.

The first was Scottie Upshall's short-handed semi-breakaway eight minutes into the second, and the other was Schwartz's drive from the left circle with 8:51 left, both of which were stopped by Lundqvist.

Lundqvist also was credited with a goalmouth stop on Stastny during a St. Louis power play in the third. New York's goalie finished with 20 saves.

"I think I played a pretty solid game," Lundqvist said. "But it's not the start you're looking for."

Blackhawks 3, Canadiens 1

It was only a matter of time before Alex DeBrincat scored his first NHL goal.

The 5-foot-7 right winger, who was a scoring machine for the Erie Otters in junior hockey, got his first as a Blackhawk and set up one for Artem Anisimov as Chicago spoiled the Montreal Canadiens' home opener with a 3-1 victory on Tuesday night.

And tallying his first against a Vezina Trophy winner like Carey Price made it that much better.

"It's pretty cool," said DeBrincat. "He's a great goalie. I was lucky enough to get one past him."

The 19-year-old DeBrincat was drafted 39th overall by Chicago in 2016, on a pick obtained in a trade from Montreal, in the midst of a junior career that saw him score 167 goals in 193 games over three seasons for Erie.

Last season, he was voted top player in the Ontario Hockey League after a 65-goal season.

So it was no surprise for him to find the net at the next level of hockey.

"You want to score your first goal but you know it's not going to be easy," the Michigan native said. "I tried to keep it out of my mind. It was bound to come sooner or later."

Brandon Saad also scored for Chicago (3-0-1), which was coming off an overtime loss Monday night in Toronto.

Tomas Plekanec scored for Montreal (1-3-0) when he picked off a Ryan Hartman pass in the Blackhawks zone, wheeled and scored on a wrist shot inside the near post 1:15 into the game.

Patrick Sharp intercepted a Jordie Benn clearing attempt and fed DeBrincat for a one-timer goal at 17:53. Only 19 seconds later, Saad got this fifth goal of the season on a tap-in while finishing a three-man rush with Jonathan Toews and Richard Panik.

DeBrincat made the decisive pass in a tic-tac-toe play with Cody Franson that Anisimov finished with a tap-in on a power play 10:44 into the second frame.

The Canadiens, who outshot the Blackhawks 42-25, have lost three in a row and scored only four goals in as many games. They went 0 for 5 on the power play and are now 0 for 14 for the season.

Coach Claude Julien juggled his lines halfway through the game, which produced several good chances but no goals against Corey Crawford, who shut Montreal down after the early Plekanec goal.

"Confidence is low now," said Julien. "We have to fight our way through this.

"We don't want to make excuses, we want to find solutions. That's how you become a mentally hard team. We could use some puck luck, but there are lots of things we can do about it. I see the potential on this team that we are going to turn this around. We don't lack confidence, we're just squeezing the stick a little."

Tuesday, October 10 Scoreboard

St. Louis 3, New York Rangers 1

Columbus 2, Carolina 1 (OT)

Chicago 3, Montreal 1

Nashville 6, Philadelphia 5

Dallas 4, Detroit 2

Ottawa 3, Vancouver 2 (SO)

Vegas 5, Arizona 2

Wednesday, October 11 Schedule (All Times Central)

New Jersey at Toronto, 6:30 p.m.

Pittsburgh at Washington, 6:30 p.m.

Boston at Colorado, 8:30 p.m.

NY Islanders at Anaheim, 9 p.m.

Calgary at Los Angeles, 9:30 p.m.