Blues goaltender Joel Hofer makes a save on a shot by Bruins left wing Brad Marchand during the first period Monday in Boston. St. Louis won, 5-1. Charles Krupa/Associated Press
BOSTON — Kasperi Kapanen and Robert Thomas each scored in the first period, Joel Hofer stopped 35 shots and the St. Louis Blues beat the Boston Bruins 5-1 on Monday night.
Entering the night eight points out of a wild-card spot and tied for 10th in the Western Conference with two other teams, the Blues snapped a three-game losing streak and completed a five-game road trip (2-3) with a solid win.
Kevin Hayes, Brandon Saad and Alexey Toropchenko also scored for St. Louis, which had just three goals during its losing streak.
It was the Blues’ highest goal total since a 6-3 victory over Edmonton at home on Feb. 15.
David Pastrnak scored his 41st of the season for Boston, which had a two-game winning streak stopped.
The Bruins are in position to finish with the NHL’s best record after recording league records with victories (65) and points (135) last season.
St. Louis improved to 26-3-1 this season when it scores first, and 17-1-1 when leading after one period.
Boston pulled goalie Jeremy Swayman for an extra skater with just under 9 minutes left, giving up Toropchenko’s score with 8:33 left.
Kapanen collected a loose puck in the slot and fired a wrister past Swayman for a 1-0 lead midway into the opening period.
Skating on a two-man power-play advantage, Thomas one-timed a pass from Pavel Buchnevich from the right circle for his 21st of the season with 2:01 left in the first.
Hayes scored at the end of a 3-on-1 break 4:31 into the second, slipping a wrister between Swayman’s pads to make it 3-0.
After Boston had Justin Brazeau’s goal taken off the board because of a coach’s challenge for offside, Saad’s goal came late in the period when he outworked two Bruins’ defenseman, knocking in his own rebound from the edge of the crease for a 4-0 lead.
The Bruins left the ice at the end of the second to a loud chorus of boos.
Buchnevich played his 500th career game.
Boston captain Brad Marchand’s next goal will be the 400th of his NHL career.
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