Krug played 24:29 after the Blues announced Sept. 13 the defenseman had sustained a right foot injury and would be reevaluated Oct. 1.
Boone Jenner, Kirill Marchenko, Johnny Gaudreau, Justin Danforth and Cole Sillinger scored for the Blue Jackets. Ivan Provorov and Damon Severson each had two assists, and Jet Greaves made 36 saves.
Jakub Vrana had two goals and an assist, Sammy Blais scored and Kasperi Kapanen had two assists for St. Louis. Joel Hofer had 34 saves.
Jenner gave Columbus a 1-0 lead at 5:32 of the first period, and Marchenko extended it to 2-0 at 14:51 after scoring on a rebound of his own shot.
Danforth pushed the lead to 3-0 at 17:24 on a wrist shot.
Sillinger made it 4-0 at 4:49 of the second period before Vrana cut it to 4-1 at 11:20.
Blais cut it to 4-2 at 13:56 with a power-play goal.
Vrana cut it to 4-3 at 2:50 of the third period, also scoring on the power play, but Gaudreau scored an empty-net goal at 18:40 for the 5-3 final.
