Joel Hofer made 18 saves for his fourth career shutout as the St. Louis Blues blanked the visiting Utah Mammoth 1-0 on Saturday night.
Dylan Holloway scored for the Blues, who have won back-to-back games for the first time since October 11-13.
Karel Vejmelka made 18 saves for the Mammoth, who lost key forward Logan Cooley to a lower-body injury in the third period. Cooley needed help getting off the ice after his knee-to-knee collision with Blues winger Alexey Toropchenko.
The Blues took a 7-1 advantage in shots over the first nine minutes of the game. Vejmelka held down the fort while stopping Holloway’s run from the left wing, Mathieu Joseph’s wraparound shot, Colton Parayko’s shot from the right faceoff dot and Toropchenko’s attempt in the crease.
Utah got going midway through the first half and almost took the lead when Clayton Keller fired a shot off the crossbar.
After outscoring Mammoth 8-4 in the first 20 minutes, the Blues took the same lead in the second period. Vejmelka stopped Pavel Buchnevich’s shot from the right circle, then Dalibor Dvorsky’s wide-open follow-up shot.
Robert Thomas escaped shorthanded, but his shot missed the net.
Mammoth had a few good chances in the second half, including a double tip from Kailer Yamamoto and a chance from Dylan Guenther and Michael Carcone on a 2-on-1 rush.
The Blues finally broke through with 1:50 left in the second period. Philip Broberg ran down the left wing and threw a pass to Holloway, who fired a shot past Vejmelka’s far side to give St. Louis a 1-0 lead.
After Toropchenko was assessed a five-minute major penalty for his collision with Cooley, the Mammoth had a chance to take control with their extended power play.
But the Blues got the best opportunity during this sequence with Nick Bjugstad’s short-handed breakaway that Vejmelka stopped.
The Mammoth pulled Vejmelka for an extra attacker at the end, but they failed to score 6-for-5.
–Field level media
