Faulk gets point for Blues in first game against Hurricanes

ST. LOUIS -- Justin Faulk had an assist for the St. Louis Blues in his first game against his former team, a 6-3 win against the Carolina Hurricanes at Enterprise Center on Tuesday.

Faulk, who played eight seasons with the Hurricanes, was acquired by the Blues in a trade for Joel Edmundson on Sept. 24.
Edmundson received his Stanley Cup ring in a pregame ceremony, then embraced Blues captain Alex Pietrangelo and forwards Alexander Steen and Vladimir Tarasenko before going by the Blues bench for fist-bumps with each of his former teammates.
"I didn't expect that], but that was pretty cool," Blues forward Zach Sanford said. "He was here for a while and he was tight with a lot of guys. I think it was cool for him to share that with us."
[WATCH: [All Hurricanes vs. Blues highlights]
Brayden Schenn had two goals and an assist, Sanford scored twice for his first multigoal game in the NHL, and Jordan Binnington made 25 saves to help the Blues (32-14-8) extend their home point streak to 11 games (10-0-1). Their last regulation loss was Dec. 7.
"We played pretty solid from start to finish," Schenn said. "Tonight, obviously a big goal by [Sammy Blais] to get us going. We seem to do pretty well when we get the first one and he was able to get an early one for us. Everyone chipped in tonight. It was nice to get two points."

Petr Mrazek made 20 saves for Carolina (30-20-3), which had won three of four.
"We didn't make it hard enough on them," Hurricanes coach Rod Brind'Amour said. "They didn't even probably really break a sweat in that game. It's pretty easy. Now they get way ahead, so it is what it is, but we've got to be better with the desperation on each guy. We really had to buckle down tonight and it didn't happen."
Blais scored his first goal since Nov. 2 on the rebound of Faulk's one-timer from the blue line to give the Blues a 1-0 lead 2:44 into the first period. Blais was playing his fourth game after missing 28 with an injured right wrist.
Sanford extended his point streak to an NHL career-high six games when he scored 1:27 into the second period on a wraparound to make it 2-0. The initial call was no-goal, but Sanford knew right away it was in, and the call was changed following a video review.
"I think a couple other guys thought [it was a goal] but weren't sure," Sanford said. "I was pretty sure it was in. I think that might be my first wraparound."
Colton Parayko's one-timer from the top of the left circle made it 3-0 at 4:50.

Sebastian Aho's 27th goal cut the lead to 3-1 at 6:05, but Schenn scored two straight power-play goals to make it 4-1 at 7:31 and 5-1 at 11:54.
"So many things missing tonight," Aho said. "[Power play] didn't execute. PK, obviously that was too easy for them, tap-ins, backdoor. Maybe this time of year we should have a high desperation level."
Sanford increased the lead to 6-1 at 10:41 of the third period on a one-timer from the top of the left circle.
Brock McGinn tipped a Jordan Staal shot at 12:31 to pull the Hurricanes within 6-2 before Martin Necas scored on a power play at 16:35 for the 6-3 final.

They said it

"It starts just with our desperation and our work ethic, and all that stuff. We've got to win games. It's just not there. Guys, including myself, all the way through the lineup, we've got to be better just being desperate every shift. Every little play has got to be more and more. We're outside looking in and it wasn't good enough." -- Hurricanes forward Jordan Staal
"I haven't played in, like, three months, so it's nice to get back playing with the boys and win hockey games. I'm just happy to be playing my first game back at home for me in a long time, so I was trying to have a good game and I think it went pretty good." -- Blues forward Sammy Blais

Need to know

Aho has scored in three straight games. ... Hurricanes forward Jordan Martinook left the game at 7:58 of the second period with an upper-body injury. ... Schenn scored three points for the first time in 80 games (Feb. 2, 2019; three assists against the Columbus Blue Jackets). ... Blues center Ryan O'Reilly had three assists to give him eight points (two goals, six assists) the past seven games.

What's next

Hurricanes:At the Arizona Coyotes on Thursday (9 p.m. ET; ESPN+, FS-A, FS-A PLUS, FS-CR, NHL.TV)
Blues: Host the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday (8 p.m. ET; ESPN+, FS-MW, TSN3, NHL.TV)