Blues score three in third to beat Kraken

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Jordan Kyrou, Brayden Schenn and Nathan Walker scored in the third period, leading the St. Louis Blues to a 4-1 victory over the Seattle Kraken on Sunday.

Kasperi Kapanen also scored for St. Louis. Joel Hofer made 19 saves and hiked his record to 15-12-1.

“For me, it was all about the fans, making sure that we played for the fans tonight, getting the win so the fans can go home obviously happy,” interim Blues coach Drew Bannister said. “I think that was the No. 1 thing for us here was make sure we do the right things for the fans.”

Jared McCann scored for the Kraken and Joey Daccord made 25 saves as his record slipped to 18-18-11.

“I thought we played really well. We generated some good looks,” Daccord said. “Their goalie made some good saves. It was a pretty good effort from our group tonight.”

The Blues, who were eliminated from the postseason on Friday, improved to 43-33-5 with one regular-season game remaining.

“Obviously after last game, when we’re out of the playoffs, it’s tough, right? You can’t really regroup from that in like two days," Kyrou said. "We’ve been working all year trying to make that. It's tough not being able to make the playoffs.”

St. Louis went 7-0-0 in Sunday games this season, the most wins without a loss in Sunday contests. The Blues are 7-2 against Seattle since the expansion team joined the league in 2021-22.

Seattle, which has two games remaining, fell to 33-34-13.

“We had good energy and we started the game well,” Seattle coach Dave Hakstol said. “We gave up that late goal in the first period and that gave them a bit of energy. They got the early one there in the third. That obviously set the tone for the third there.”

Kyrou put St. Louis up 2-1 with his goal 59 seconds into the third period. Daccord made the save on a shot by Matthrew Kessel from the point before a long rebound went to Kyrou in the slot. It was the 31st goal for Kyrou, who has 10 goals and seven assists in his last 12 games.

Schenn added the insurance goal at 16:37, scoring off Daccord’s skate for his 20th this season.

Walker scored an unassisted empty-net goal at 19:00.

Each team scored in the first period.

McCann took the puck from Marco Scandella at the St. Louis blue line, raced down right side and snapped the puck by Hofer, scoring unassisted at 14:24. It was his second goal since March 5, and 29th of the season.

“Scoring 30 goals, it doesn’t mean anything,” McCann said. “It’s obviously great scoring goals, but I want to be in the playoffs. I want to play for something.”

Kapanen scored on a wrist shot from the left faceoff circle at 18:18. His shot hit Daccord’s arm and trickled in for the goal, tying it at 1.

“I feel like throughout the year I probably would have pulled up and tried to make a pass or something else,” Kapanen said. “So I thought I’d try shooting it for a change and it went in.”

UP NEXT:

Kraken: At Winnipeg on Tuesday.

Blues: At Dallas on Wednesday.

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