The Carolina Hurricanes congratulate teammate Jeff Skinner for his second period goal against the St. Louis Blues at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis on January 14, 2016.    Photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI

The Carolina Hurricanes congratulate teammate Jeff Skinner for his second period goal against the St. Louis Blues at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis on January 14, 2016. Photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI

Jeff Skinner, Brett Pesce, Brock McGinn and Riley Nash scored for the Hurricanes (20-18-7), and goalie Eddie Lack made 23 saves to improve to 6-0-0 in his career against the Blues, in a 4-1 win for Carolina at Scottrade Center on Thursday night.  The Blues lost at home to Carolina for the first time since Dec. 11, 2010.

 

Jori Lehtera scored for the Blues (25-15-7), who had a two-game winning streak end. Brian Elliott made 21 saves before he was pulled after allowing McGinn’s goal 7:13 into the third period that made it 3-0. Jordan Binnington made his NHL debut and made three saves.

“We got nothing. We got nothing,” Blues coach Ken Hitchcock said. “We don’t have any energy. We’re running on fumes right now. You could see it five minutes into the game. We’ve got to find some energy. Take Friday off, gas everything, get ten minutes in on Saturday morning and put it all into Saturday night. That’s what we’ve got. There’s no point beating it down.”

The Blues host Montreal on Saturday.

The Blues fell behind first-place Dallas and second-place Chicago by five points in the Central Division, with the Blues having played more games than those teams.  Minnesota is creeping up on third place with four games in hand over the Blues and just five points back.

Dallas–62 points, 44 games played
Chicago–62 points, 46 games played
St. Louis–57 points, 47 games played
Minnesota–52 points, 43 games played