Kyrou scores again, Blues hold off Rangers

ST. LOUIS -- Jordan Kyrou scored in his fourth straight game, and Robert Thomas had a goal and an assist for the St. Louis Blues, who held on for a 3-2 win against the New York Rangers at Enterprise Center on Sunday.

Pavel Buchnevich also scored, and Joel Hofer made 26 saves to win his fourth straight start for the Blues (15-14-3), who had lost their past two games (0-1-1), including 2-1 in overtime to the Dallas Stars on Saturday.

Blues coach Jim Montgomery said prior to the game the Blues needed to have better checking habits, especially in the defensive zone.

"Significantly better," Montgomery said. "Even in the third. They scored two goals. We hadn't given them that much. I just thought we got loose with our intensity and our checking in the third."

Brett Berard and Will Cuylle scored for the Rangers (15-14-1), who have lost four of five, including 5-1 at home to the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday. Jonathan Quick made 21 saves.

"It's frustrating," New York coach Peter Laviolette said. "It's a loss. We pressed in the third period and we didn't get it done."

New York played without leading scorer Artemi Panarin, who missed his first game this season with an upper-body injury. Forward Kaapo Kakko, the No. 2 pick in the 2019 NHL Draft, was a healthy scratch.

"We were putting fresh legs into the lineup tonight," Laviolette said of Kakko's healthy scratch. "That's based on the decision we made to go with this lineup.

"Those are the things we worked on internally through the day."

Buchnevich made it 1-0 at 18:51 of the first period on a one-timer from the bottom of the right circle off a pass from Jake Neighbours.

"I knew [Neighbours] was there, but that's a hard play for him to make," Thomas said. "He's facing the other way and he's got to spin, saucer pass. ... It's a great play by him."

Kyrou made it 2-0 at 6:33 of the second period after stripping New York defenseman Ryan Lindgren of the puck in the neutral zone and scoring on a breakaway.

"I'm just trying to hit his stick a little bit, whatever I can to make him do what he did there," Kyrou said. "It's one on one there and he's skating back for the puck. I don't know if he sees me coming at him with my speed. I just tried to throw him off balance a little bit."

Thomas made it 3-0 at 10:28, beating Quick short side after Blues defenseman Philip Broberg joined the rush for a 2-on-1.

Berard made it 3-1 at 10:18 of the third period after his shot glanced off Blues defenseman Colton Parayko's stick and in under Hofer's blocker.

Cuylle then scored on a shot from the slot at 11:37 to cut it to 3-2.

"It's just hard work," Cuylle said. "Just keeping it simple. A couple rims behind the net, good pinch by the 'D.' A nice play to the middle there and I was just trying to get it on net.

"We've just got to keep fighting, keep battling. I thought we showed a good push there in the last 10 minutes, but that's not enough to win hockey games. You've got to play a full 60 minutes. We weren't able to do that tonight."

After Cuylle's goal, Montgomery called a timeout to settle things down.

"The message was to get tighter and increase our intensity," Montgomery said. "Nothing comes easy in this League. It's a tough League. It's the best League in the world for a reason. You take your foot off the gas pedal, you can get humbled really quick."

NOTES: Thomas extended his point streak to seven games (four goals, nine assists). ... Buchnevich extended his personal point streak to nine games (three goals, six assists). ... Dating to Nov. 19, the Rangers have lost 10 of 13 (3-10-0) and have allowed three or more goals in 10 of them, including nine of their losses.