Jordan Binnington made 32 saves for the Blues (11-8-1), who have won three of their past four games. Jake Neighbours scored twice, and Torey Krug and Robert Thomas each had two assists. St. Louis had made goaltending changes during each of its previous two games.
“Full 60,” Binnington said. “Just the feel from the beginning to the end. It was a fun game. The rink was loud right from the national anthem, so it was fun, a fun Sunday afternoon.”
Arvid Soderblom made 24 saves for the Blackhawks (6-13-0), who won 4-3 in overtime against Toronto on Friday but have yet to post back-to-back victories this season.
“Disappointed,” said veteran forward Nick Foligno. “I didn’t like our start. We talked about this. It’s building winning habits and understanding what those are. I understand in the sports world, a lot of cliches get thrown around, like words, buzzwords. But there is a definition behind a lot of them. Commitment, that’s what we have to learn here. It’s just how to do it over and over again.
“Sometimes, it’s not fun or exciting, but it’s how you win in this league. We’re not over checks. We’re not reloading, and boom, boom, boom, they’re in the back of the net. We push back, get our game going. We get a goal, but then we just don’t sustain it. So, it’s a disappointing one because we really felt we were understanding of how we had success against Toronto, and we’re right back in the loss column.”
Neighbours put the Blues ahead 1-0 at 3:21 of the first period, shooting a backhand past Soderblom on a breakaway.
“It was just a good play by the fellas to get the puck out of the zone,” Neighbours said. “I just saw that it took a bounce where I had a chance to get to it. We [Neighbours and Chicago defenseman Kevin Korchinski] kind of went neck and neck there. I just tried to shield him with my body and make sure I was protecting the puck at all costs. I just had a lot of speed, so just tried to go side-to-side.”
