ST. LOUIS (AP) — Ryan O'Reilly notched his first NHL hat trick and Robby Fabbri added his first goal in almost two years, lifting the St. Louis Blues to a 4-1 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday night.
St. Louis goalie Chad Johnson, starting his second game of the season, recorded 38 saves. It was his first victory as a member of the Blues and his first since March 31, 2018, when he was playing for Buffalo.
Carolina goalie Curtis McElhinney fell to 1-6-1 against the Blues in his career. He had 15 saves on 18 shots.
The Hurricanes outshot the Blues 39-19. St. Louis had just seven shots after the first period.
The Blues scored three goals in the first period for a 3-1 lead. O'Reilly scored twice and Vladimir Tarasenko recorded two assists.
O'Reilly gave St. Louis a 1-0 lead at 11:57 of the first period. From the right side of the crease, Tarasenko passed the puck cross ice to O'Reilly, who one-timed it past McElhinney.
Fabbri scored at 16:01 to give St. Louis a 2-0 lead. David Perron fed Fabbri, who deked McElhinney and lifted the puck over the prone goalie. It was Fabbri's first goal since Dec. 28, 2016, when he had a hat trick against Philadelphia.
Fabbri sustained a torn ACL on his left knee in a Feb. 4, 2017, game against the Pittsburgh Penguins and missed the remainder of the 2016-17 regular season and playoffs. During training camp leading up to the 2017-18 season, Fabbri re-injured his left knee, subsequently missing the entire season.
Carolina's Jaccob Slavin scored his first goal of the season on a power play at 19:34. Slavin's slap shot from just inside the blue line zoomed past a screened Johnson, who never saw the puck.
St. Louis came right back with a power-play goal with 4.7 seconds left in the period. O'Reilly scored his second of the game on a slap shot from the left circle off a feed from Tyler Bozak from behind the net.
O'Reilly got the hat trick with an empty-netter at 16:50 of the third period.
It was O'Reilly's fifth goal in the last four games. O'Reilly extended his scoring streak to eight games with seven goals and eight assists.
The Blues have scored a power-play goal in six consecutive games and have had at least one in 11 of their 13 games this season. St. Louis leads the NHL with 16 power-play goals. The team's longest streak for power-play goals is eight, from Jan. 31 to Feb. 15, 2013.
Carolina had five power-play opportunities, scoring on just one.
St. Louis improved to 7-2-0 in its last nine games against Carolina, which has lost five straight after starting the season 4-0-1.
NOTES: Blues C Brayden Schenn, who missed the third period Saturday with an upper-body injury, did not dress. ... D Jay Bouwmeester was a healthy scratch. ... Carolina's G Peter Mrazek missed his second game with a lower body injury.
