Brandon Saad's hat trick leads Blues past Senators for fourth win in last five games

Matthew DeFranks, St. Louis Post-Dispatch on Jan 3, 2025

Published in Hockey

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ST. LOUIS — What Winter Classic hangover?

The Blues assuaged any fears of a Wrigley Field letdown on Friday night in beating the Senators, 4-0, on Friday night at Enterprise Center. Brandon Saad had a hat trick to snap a 19-game goalless streak, and Brayden Schenn scored his seventh goal of the season to lead the Blues' offense, while Jordan Binnington made 20 saves. It was Binnington's third shutout of the season.

The hat trick was Saad's third career one, and first as a Blue since joining the club in 2021.

The win was the fourth in the last five games for the Blues (19-17-4), and pushed them two games above .500 for the first time since they were 5-3-0 after winning in Toronto on Oct. 24.

Blues coach Jim Montgomery was worried about the emotions of his club after their 6-2 win over Chicago in the Winter Classic on Tuesday. He spoke about it immediately after that game, again after practice on Thursday morning and again before Friday’s game.

“It’s just making sure you’re reenergized because it’s an emotional toll,” Montgomery said. “It’s a big event. It was a great event. Wrigley Field was awesome. Our fans were awesome. Our players went out and played like they loved it.”

While the Blues are 3-0-0 in Winter Classics, Friday night marked the first time that they won the game after one of them. In 2017, they lost to Carolina in the next game. In 2022, they lost to Pittsburgh in the following contest.

Overall, the last 10 participants in the Winter Classic are 8-3-1 in their games following the Classic after Chicago also won on Friday night.

Streak busters

Schenn and Saad snapped lengthy streaks with their goals on Friday night.

When Schenn scored at 7:26 of the first period, it was just his second 5-on-5 goal of the season and his first since Dec. 12. Schenn flipped a backhander past Senators goaltender Anton Forsberg on the rush, the result of Dylan Holloway’s outlet pass that sprung Schenn on a breakaway. In his own zone, Holloway picked off Thomas Chabot’s intended seam pass and then Schenn split the defense crossing into the neutral zone.

The goal was Schenn’s 21st point of the season in Game No. 40, which would put him on pace for 43 across an entire season, which is down from his 46-point production last year.

Saad, meanwhile, snapped a career-long 19-game goal drought when he scored with 4:10 remaining in the first period to give the Blues a 2-0 lead. Saad won a race to a loose puck, outmuscled Nick Jensen for possession of it and then deposited the puck between Forsberg’s legs.

Saad had not scored since Nov. 14, in Buffalo, a seven-week span that also saw him as a healthy scratch in three games.

Saad notched his second of the game with 5:45 left in the second period, capitalizing on the rush yet again after a nice saucer pass from Pavel Buchnevich found Saad driving towards the near post. Saad again finished between Forsberg’s legs to give the Blues a 3-0 lead.

Saad polished off the hat trick at 18:07 of the third period by picking a corner on a 2-on-1 break with Alexandre Texier.

Saad continued his trend of only scoring goals in bunches. He scored twice on Oct. 22, against Winnipeg, and then twice again on Nov. 14 in Buffalo.

Goal off the board

The Blues erased a would-be Senators goal in the last minute of the second period with a successful challenge for offside. Thomas Chabot seemingly scored with 33.4 seconds left in the period when he wired a shot from the left circle.

But the Blues' coaching staff immediately challenged the goal for offside, claiming Nick Cousins preceded the puck into the offensive zone. After a short review, the officials agreed, taking the goal off the board and resetting the game clock to 38.1 seconds.

It was Montgomery’s first challenge since taking over as the Blues' head coach in November, and he also had a successful one in Boston earlier this season before the Bruins fired him.

Montgomery is now 14 for 14 on offside challenges in his NHL coaching career, dating to when he started with the Stars in 2018-19.

Walker scraps again

Blues forward Nathan Walker had his second fight of the season on Friday night, answering the bell with Ottawa’s Cole Reinhardt after Walker laid a big hit on Senators defenseman Travis Hamonic. As Hamonic was on the ice behind the Ottawa net, Reinhardt approached Walker in the neutral zone to drop the gloves.

Each player was given a fighting major, and no instigator was levied against Reinhardt.

Walker’s first fight of the season was on Dec. 12, against San Jose’s Ty Dellandrea.