Sundqvist has goal, assist for Blues in victory against Blackhawks

ST. LOUIS -- Oskar Sundqvist had a goal and an assist to help the St. Louis Blues to a 5-1 win against the Chicago Blackhawks at Enterprise Center on Saturday.

Brayden Schenn had two assists for St. Louis (27-14-5), which is 6-0-2 in its past eight games against Chicago. Ville Husso made 15 saves in his sixth start in the past eight games and is 8-1-0 at home this season.
"I think we did a really good job, especially the F1 and F2 [forwards] coming in and getting a stop to the play, getting in quick and getting the puck back," Sundqvist said. "The forecheck was really good today and it's a key for our game to be successful. Our forecheck game is very important. When it works, then we're really dangerous."
Dylan Strome scored, and Marc-Andre Fleury made 26 saves for Chicago (17-24-7), which was held to 16 shots, a season low.
"I felt pretty good coming in here," Blackhawks coach Derek King said. "I thought if we put a solid effort in, we compete with these guys and at least give ourselves an honest chance.
"That's a good hockey team, we know that. We knew it was going to be a challenge, but that's not good enough. I've got to watch my words here, but we just can't do that. You can't put an effort like that out and maybe steal a game from somebody. That's not going to happen."

David Perron's power-play goal at 8:19 of the first period gave the Blues a 1-0 lead. It was his first goal in 11 games since the 2022 Discover NHL Winter Classic on Jan. 1.
Dakota Joshua made it 2-0 at 11:31, following up with a backhand of Torey Krug's one-time slap shot from the point. It was Joshua's third NHL goal.
It was the kind of start the Blues were searching for after a 7-4 home loss to the New Jersey Devils on Thursday.
"We talked before game," Tarasenko said. "The same as New Jersey, a very good rush team. We just have to eliminate the turnovers, work hard, break up the plays. If we defend well, we create offensive chances from it. We did a pretty good job of it tonight."
Strome's power-play goal cut the lead to 2-1 at 2:37 of the second period when he redirected Patrick Kane's pass 13 seconds into a two-man advantage.
Vladimir Tarasenko pushed the lead to 3-1 at 19:19 on a give-and-go with Robert Thomas.
"It was a tight game, both teams played well," Tarasenko said. "'Buchy' [Pavel Buchnevich] made a great forecheck, Robert makes a great pass. Goals before intermission are always important. I'm happy to have that one, and I think it gave us confidence before the third period."
It was a change in momentum for each team.
"I thought we had some good shifts in the second, and we obviously got the goal [to make it 2-1]," Strome said. "We were playing decent and they get that one. It's tough to go into the third down two. It would have been nice to be down one. Either way, it wasn't a good enough effort in the third period to be close in that game."

Sundqvist made it 4-1 at 7:11 of the third period when he followed up a rebound of a Niko Mikkola shot from the slot. Jordan Kyrou extended the lead to 5-1 at 15:38 off a pass from Schenn.
NOTES: With an assist, Kane moved within two of tying Denis Savard (719) for second in Blackhawks history behind Stan Mikita (926). Kane has scored 66 points (26 goals, 40 assists) in 68 games against St. Louis and has scored eight points (two goals, six assists) in his past six games. ... Strome has scored nine points (five goals, four assists) in the past six games. ... Schenn has scored 13 points (seven goals, six assists) in his past eight games. … Tarasenko has scored 18 points (eight goals, 10 assists) in his past 14 games. … Blues defenseman Jake Walman played 10:39 in his first game since Jan. 13. Walman replaced Marco Scandella, who is day to day, possibly week to week, with a lower-body injury.