Blues' early goal barrage overwhelms Blackhawks

Jordan Kyrou scored twice in the first three minutes as the St. Louis Blues dispatched the visiting Chicago Blackhawks 5-2 on Wednesday.

Zack Bolduc and Robert Thomas each had a goal and assist for the Blues (42-32-5, 89 points), who are 3-1-1 in their past five games.

St. Louis' Joel Hofer made 18 saves, Brayden Schenn had two assists and Torey Krug also scored, though Krug later exited the game with an undisclosed injury.

Blackhawks goaltender Petr Mrazek allowed goals on the only three shots he faced before Arvid Soderblom replaced him. Soderblom wound up with 21 saves.

Philipp Kurashev and Landon Slaggert scored for the Blackhawks (23-50-5, 51 points), who lost for the third time in their past four games.

The Blues took a 4-0 lead in the first 6:59 of the game.

Kyrou scored twice off the rush during a 42-second span. He converted a breakaway off Nick Leddy's long outlet pass at the 2:04 mark, then scored on a two-on-one rush with Brandon Saad at the end of the same shift.

He beat Mrazek to his blocker side each time.

Krug scored from the blue line to make it 3-0 and knock Mrazek out of the game at 4:37. After Soderblom took over, the Blues quickly struck again.

Schenn fed Thomas in the left circle, and Thomas fired a cross-ice pass to Bolduc outside the right post for his back-side goal.

St. Louis outshot Chicago 9-1 in the first period.

The Blackhawks cut the deficit to 4-1 when Kurashev scored midway through the second period. After Schenn fired a shot off the left post at one end of the ice, Chicago broke out on a two-on-one rush the other way.

Kevin Korchinski shot wide of the net, but the puck caromed off the end boards to Kurashev, who tucked the puck inside the right post at 8:40.

At 10:01 of the third period, Thomas made it 5-1 by converting the rebound of Schenn's blast from the right circle.

Slaggert, appearing in his 12th game, scored the first goal of his NHL career by burying a breakaway shot with 3:09 to play.