Schwartz, Blues handle Penguins, win third straight

ST. LOUIS -- Justin Faulk and Nathan Walker each scored his first goal with the St. Louis Blues in a 5-2 win against the Pittsburgh Penguins at Enterprise Center on Saturday.

Jaden Schwartz had a goal and an assist, Ryan O'Reilly had two assists, and Jordan Binnington made 29 saves for the Blues (17-5-6), who won their third straight and are 5-1-1 their past seven.
"We had everybody contributing tonight, which is important for sure," Blues coach Craig Berube said. "We need everybody to chip in goals, and we did that tonight."
WATCH: [All Penguins vs. Blues highlights]
Sam Lafferty and Kris Letang scored, and Matt Murray made 22 saves for the Penguins (14-9-4), who lost their second straight after a six-game point streak (4-0-2).
"I think for most of the game, first two periods, we were playing really well," Letang said. "I think we kind of burned ourselves in the third."
Penguins defenseman Brian Dumoulin left less than a minute into the game with a lower-body injury after Blues forward Zach Sanford fell on his left leg. He played 35 seconds.
"I don't have a lot of information for you right now," Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. "All I can tell you is that he's out with a lower-body injury and it happened in [his] first shift of the game. That makes it tough because we had five defensemen all night."
Faulk gave St. Louis a 1-0 lead at 7:52 of the first period with his first goal in 28 games with the Blues, who acquired him in a trade with the Carolina Hurricanes on Sept. 24. His wrist shot from the right point went through traffic and was deflected over Murray's right pad.

"I think I've had some opportunities," Faulk said. "I don't think I've had a ton of them that I'm breaking my stick over the post or something, that I'm trying to switch them thinking something's wrong there. It was a little tough stretch there, and I knew one would go in eventually.
"You've just got to stick with it, keep shooting pucks and try and get pucks through and onto the net."
Walker, called up from San Antonio of the American Hockey League on Sunday, put St. Louis back in front at 2-1 at 14:01 of the second period after Lafferty tied it 1-1 at 6:27.
Walker batted a deflected puck out of the air just before it could hit the ice.
"I wasn't offside this time," said Walker, who had a goal overturned in a 3-1 win against the Dallas Stars on Friday after a coach's challenge for offside. "... That's actually one thing I kind of work on in the summer was batting pucks out of the air like that, trying to meet them when they hit the ice. I think I just got a little lucky there as well. I'm sure a goalie's really not expecting that. I just tried to get it on net, and fortunately it went in the net."

Ivan Barbashev scored off a Robert Thomas pass to make it 3-1 at 2:54 of the third period.
Mackenzie MacEachern's redirection of Jacob de la Rose's pass made it 4-1 at 7:09. It was de la Rose's first point in his nine games with the Blues, who acquired him from the Red Wings in a trade for Fabbri on Nov. 6.
Letang's shot from the right point went in off Blues defenseman Alex Pietrangelo to cut it to 4-2 at 13:03.
Schwartz scored on the power play at 17:05 for the 5-2 final.

They said it

"Coach even said we battled a lot harder tonight. It's hockey, it happens, but if we just keep bringing that kind of effort and clean up a few things, we'll be good." -- Penguins forward Sam Lafferty
"It definitely makes you proud. It's a long way from here for them to make the effort and for them to bring the flag, it obviously means a lot to me." -- Blues forward Nathan Walker, who is from Australia, on seeing its flag in the stands

Need to know

Penguins forward Bryan Rust missed his second straight game with a lower-body injury and was sent back to Pittsburgh to be reevaluated. ... Pittsburgh center Evgeni Malkin had an assist on Letang's goal to give him 15 points (four goals, 11 assists) in his past eight games. ... Penguins forward Jake Guentzel's point streak ended at seven games (seven goals, six assists). ... Pittsburgh was also playing the second of back-to-back games, having lost 5-2 at the Columbus Blue Jackets on Friday. ... Blues forward David Perron (assist) extended his point streak to seven games (three goals, five assists). ... Barbashev has six points (two goals, four assists) in a three-game point streak. … St. Louis defenseman Robert Bortuzzo served the fourth of a four-game suspension for cross-checking Nashville Predators forward Viktor Arvidsson on Nov. 23.

What's next

Penguins: Host the St. Louis Blues on Wednesday (8 p.m. ET; NBCSN)
Blues:At the Chicago Blackhawks on Monday (8:30 p.m. ET; NHLN, NBCSCH, FS-MW, NHL.TV)