Frankie Melton netted a hat trick to lead St. Louis over Chicago, 9-1.
Melton\’s first goal came 6:54 into the second period. He then added goals at 8:23 into the second and at 16:13 into the second.
St. Louis forced Chicago\’s goaltenders to work between the pipes, finishing with 61 shots and forcing 52 saves. Sergey Markelov made 30 stops and Alec Paloumpis made 22. St. Louis surpassed its usual scoring output this season. This season, St. Louis averages 5.6 goals per contest. St. Louis took advantage of Chicago\’s penalties, tallying three goals off of five power play opportunities.
St. Louis additionally got points from Alex Calvert, who also registered one goal and one assist. St. Louis also had goals scored by Alex Klaesner, who had two and Dominic Caito, Alex Werdmuller, and Eduard Rumyantsev, who each put in one. In addition, St. Louis received assists from Joe Nolan, who had three, CJ Nitchen, Teddy Cardinale, and Hayden Smer, who each chipped in one, and Tomas Loeffelman and Daniel Dunaway, who contributed two each.
Chicago did not challenge the opposing netminder, only getting 14 shots on net to force 13 saves.
Chicago was led by Vaughn Clouston, who scored the team\’s only goal. Clouston scored on the power play 37 seconds into the second period to make the score 2-1 St. Louis. Kevin Ely assisted on the tally.
Zach Young recorded 13 saves for St. Louis. St. Louis incurred 12 minutes in penalty time with six minors. Chicago incurred 22 minutes in penalty time with six minors.
