New York Rangers at St. Louis Blues

Kyrou records 3rd career hat trick, Blues defeat Rangers 5-2

Brandon Saad and Pavel Buchnevich also scored for St. Louis.

Adam Fox and Vincent Trocheck scored for the Rangers. Igor Shesterkin stopped 15 shots.

The Blues have gone 8-4-0 since Drew Bannister became interim coach, replacing Craig Berube.

“If I’m being honest, it’s a game I didn’t like our team at all 5-on-5 for the majority of the game,” Bannister said. “If it wasn’t for the performance of Binnington and our power play being able to score the two goals, I don’t know if we get out of here with two points.”

The Rangers have lost three straight (0-2-1) for the first time all season. New York has won just two of its last seven games and is 8-8-1 in its last 17 games after starting the season 18-4-1.

“It’s always good for a team to face some adversity,” Rangers coach Peter Laviolette said. “It’s not always going to go your way. It’s not a bad thing to have to work and get things back on track.”

Binnington continued his trend of solid starts since Christmas. He is 4-1-0 and has won three consecutive starts.

“It was a clean game, fun,” Binnington said. “You know you’re going against a good offensive team over there. I think it’s fair to say that the more work you have, you kind of stay in rhythm and stay in tune with the game. But that’s kind of the fun part about being a goalie, right? Every game’s different and (you) kind of just sort it out.”

Kyrou completed his hat trick when he scored unassisted at 7:01 of the third period. He picked up a cross-ice pass from Zac Jones and scored on a breakaway.

Kyrou previous hat tricks came last March 11 at Columbus and on Dec. 19, 2022, at Vancouver.

"It feels great. I’ve said this before, I love playing here," Kyrou said. “I love the fans. It feels awesome to get one at home.”

The Blues scored their second power-play goal in four chances at 9:26 of the second period when Saad put the puck in the back of the net for a 3-1 lead. It came after the Rangers had killed off back-to-back penalties earlier in the period.

It was the 14th power-play goal this season for St. Louis and the team's first go-ahead power-play goal of the season. The Blues’ power play entered the game ranked last in the NHL.

The Rangers entered the game tied for the fifth best in the NHL in the penalty kill and had enjoyed a perfect PK in its last three games (5 for 5). New York has allowed 19 power-play goals, tied for the second fewest in the NHL.

Two goals put the Blues ahead in the first period after the Rangers opened the scoring.

St. Louis tied it on a goal by Kyrou, who scored on a wrist shot from the right circle, at 4:02

Kyrou got his second goal on the power play at 7:30 to put the Blues ahead 2-1. The goal came on passes from Thomas to Buchnevich to Kyrou.

“I think that was a big goal for us, especially a power-play goal,” Kyrou said.

Fox scored on a loose rebound in front of the net at 1:50 of the first period.

Trocheck scored New York's second goal on the power play at 10:58 of the third period.

“You put up 40-plus shots in three straight games, you want a little better result to show for it,” Fox said. “You would hope to get a few more goals. It’s still a loss and we’re not happy with it.”

UP NEXT:

Rangers: At Washington on Saturday.

Blues: Host Boston on Saturday night.

----

STL leads series 1-0