ST. LOUIS (AP) — Kevin Hayes scored a pair of goals and added an assist to help the St. Louis Blues beat the New Jersey Devils 4-1 on Friday night.
Jake Neighbours and Robert Thomas also scored goals, and Jordan Binnington stopped 34 shots, including several from close range, for St. Louis, which had lost its previous two contests.
Curtis Lazar scored for the Devils, who lost centre Jack Hughes to an upper-body injury early in the first period.
Hughes, who entered the game with an NHL-leading 15 assists and 20 points, left the game after awkwardly crashing into the boards after being slightly hooked by Blues defenceman Torey Krug. No penalty was called on the play.
New Jersey was already playing without centre Nico Hischier who missed his third consecutive game with an upper-body injury.
Akira Schmid made 31 saves for the Devils who had won three in a row.
Thomas scored an empty-net goal with nine seconds remaining after Hayes shot wide in an attempt for his third goal of the game.
Hayes scored his second goal of the game with 1:37 remaining after the Devils pulled Schmid.
Lazar scored his first goal of the season with 3:21 remaining in the second period to cut St. Louis’ lead to 2-1.
Hayes put St. Louis on top 2-0 when he pushed a rebound past Schmid for his first goal since being acquired by St. Louis this off-season.
Neighbours scored his second goal of the season when he beat Schmid from the slot on a feed from Sammy Blais 7:12 into the second period to give St. Louis a 1-0 lead.
UP NEXT
Devils: At Chicago Sunday night.
Blues: Host Montreal Saturday night.
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AP NHL: https://www.apnews.com/hub/NHL
David Solomon, The Associated Press
