Senators continue hot streak by routing Blues

Tim Stutzle scored twice and earned an assist as the Ottawa Senators routed the visiting St. Louis Blues 7-2 Sunday.

Brady Tkachuk and Alex DeBrincat had a goal and had two assists apiece for the streaking Senators, who are 7-1-1 in their last nine games.

Shane Pinto and Drake Batherson each added a goal and an assist for Ottawa. Ridly Greig scored his first NHL goal, Claude Giroux had two assists and Mads Sogaard made 30 saves.

Colton Parayko and Tyler Pitlick scored for the Blues and goaltender Thomas Greiss made 27 saves in his first start since Jan. 26.

The Blues have lost two games by a combined score of 11-3 since trading captain Ryan O'Reilly and forward Noel Acciari to Toronto Friday night. Adding to their pain Sunday was the loss of winger Jake Neighbours, who suffered an upper-body injury on his first shift of the game.

Pinto started the offensive onslaught for the Senators by scoring off the rush with 4:03 left in the first period. He raced up the ice to convert Batherson's cross-ice pass from the left wing.

DeBrincat doubled Ottawa's lead with a power-play goal 1:51 into the second period. Stutzle fired a seam pass to DeBrincat for a one-time blast from the bottom of the left circle.

Stutzle made it 3-0 by breaking in with a lead pass from Tkachuk off the rush. Tkachuk scored less than 2:30 later by deflecting Giroux's rising shot from the blue line.

The Senators pushed their lead to 5-0 with 7:25 left in the second period with another rush goal. This time Batherson drove to the left post to pound a one-time shot off DeBrincat's seam pass.

Stutzle's breakaway goal off Artem Zub's outlet pass in the third period made it 6-0.

Parayko put the Blues on the board by peeling out of the right corner and converting a backhand shot. Pitlick cut the lead to 6-2 by deflecting Justin Faulk's shot from the blue line, then Greig made it 7-2 for Ottawa during a late goal-mouth scramble.