Kyrou rips two goals as Blues rally past Sabres

*Photo from the St. Louis Post Dispatch*

   If this year has proven anything, it's that this is Jordan Kyrou's breakout year. Kyrou scored two goals, Jake Walman scored, and the St. Louis Blues defeated the Buffalo Sabres with a 5-3 victory on Friday night in St. Louis.

   Since the calendar turned to 2022, the Blues have been on a tear. In their most recent winning streak, they've now won 3 straight games, including a 5-0-1 stretch in their last 6 games, good for a 6 game point streak. The Blues record improves to 31-14-6 on the season with the win, sitting in second place in the Central Division.

   Blues head coach Craig Berube said that "The energy was low yesterday I thought, and today a little bit. That fed off into the game. It's pretty normal I would say after a long road trip like that and come home. They know it's one game, then we're back on the road trip again. Guys are a little edgy, which is OK. They found a way to fight through it and win a hockey game, that's all that matters."

   Thanks to Dylan Cozens, the Sabres got on the board just 1:25 into the game, taking an early 1-0 lead on his 12th goal of the season. That stayed until Kyrou scored on the power play at the 7:06 mark, tying the game on his 21st goal of the season. Kyrou scored again at the 14:23 mark of the first, giving the Blues a 2-1 lead on his second goal of the night.

   In the second period, Kyle Okposo was able to re-tie the game for the Sabres, making it a 2-2 game with his 13th goal of the season, 3:27 into the second. With just 35 seconds left in the period, Walman scored his second goal of the season, putting the Blues back in front 3-2 after two periods.

   The 3rd period started with Tage Thompson scoring on the power play for the Sabres, tying the game once again, this time by a 3-3 score 12:34 into the 3rd period. Colton Parayko followed that up by giving the Blues the lead right back less than two minutes later. Brayden Schenn scored on an empty net goal late to seal the 5-3 Blues win.

   Parayko said of his goal that "I was just kind of driving back post, kind of ready for a pass if we had an opening, or else just kind of go backdoor maybe if there was a rebound like there was. Just kind of drive the net and make it hard on that defenseman too, to take away the pass and the shot at the same time, kind of."

   The winning goalie once again for the Blues was Ville Husso, who has seemingly taken over the starting role from Jordan Binnington. Husso turned aside 35 of the 38 shots he faced from the Sabres, saying busy with a .921 save percentage in this one. With the win, Husso improved his record to 13-3-2 this season.

   On the other side of the ice, Dustin Tokarski took the loss for the Sabres. Tokarski saved 18 of 22 Blues shots on goal. That was good for a .818 save percentage, giving him the loss. Tokarski's record drops to a 5-8-4 mark in 18 starts this season.

   Okposo said postgame that "We controlled a lot of the game. That's just a good group over there. They've got a lot of guys who've been around a long time and they just stuck with their plan and they weathered the storm. They bent and didn't break, and we just gave them a couple too many chances and they capitalized on them. But I thought that we were a better team for the majority."

   Both teams hit the road for Sunday matchups, with the Blues travelling to face the Chicago Blackhawks. Husso is projected to start. The Sabres head south for a matchup with the Dallas Stars, with Craig Anderson in line to start for Buffalo.