ST. LOUIS — Robert Thomas and Tyler Bozak each had a goal and two assists, and the St. Louis Blues beat the Buffalo Sabres 5-1 on Thursday night.
Alexander Steen had two goals and an assist and David Perron also scored for the Blues, who won their eighth straight against the Sabres on home ice. Jordan Binnington made 18 saves, running his record to 21-7-4.
Jack Eichel scored and Linus Ullmark made 26 saves for the Sabres, who won their previous two games.
Thomas gave the Blues a 1-0 lead at the 4:47 mark of the first period when he squeezed a wrist shot from the right circle through traffic. Steen got an assist, his 300th with the Blues.
Bozak made it 2-0 with 6:31 left in the first off a one-timer set up by Thomas, who made a nifty move behind the net to start the sequence. Niko Mikkola also got an assist for his first NHL point.
Eichel got the Sabres on the board at 4:22 of the second period. It was his 27th goal of the season and fourth in his last four games against St. Louis.
Perron’s power-play goal midway through the second restored the Blues’ two-goal lead, 3-1. Perron has 15 points (seven goals, eight assists) in his last 11 games, and the St. Louis power play has at least one goal in seven of its last nine games.
The Blues appeared to take a 4-1 lead late in the second on a goal by Jaden Schwartz, but after a Sabres challenge it was waived off when Jordan Kyrou was ruled offside.
Steen did make it 4-1 at 5:36 of the third period, burying Thomas’ feed into an open net after a wild scramble. It was his first goal of the season.
Steen added an empty-netter with 4:42 left.
NOTES
The Blues won their seventh straight home game, tying Dallas for the longest such streak in the NHL this season. … RW Michael Frolik made his Sabres debut. Frolik was acquired in a trade with Calgary on Jan. 2. … The Blues are 20-0-5 when scoring first this season and are the only team in the league without a regulation loss in that scenario. … The Sabres placed forward Victor Olofsson (lower body) on injured reserve Wednesday. Olofsson, who leads NHL rookies with 35 points, is expected to miss five to six weeks.
UP NEXT
Sabres: Host the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday.
Blues: Host the New York Rangers on Saturday.
More AP NHL: https://apnews.com/NHL and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
Joe Harris, The Associated Press
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