A five-goal first period deficit cost Chicago, which could not recover and fell to St. Louis, 12-0.
St. Louis got the win on the strength of a great game by Alex Werdmuller, who had two goals and three assists. Werdmuller scored the first of his two goals at 6:21 into the first period to make the score 1-0 St. Louis. Frankie Cardinale provided the assist. Werdmuller\’s next tally made the score 8-0 St. Louis with 8:36 left in the second period. Brian Schumacher picked up the assist.
St. Louis forced its penalty killing units to work especially hard during the game, picking up six minors and three majors for 57 minutes in penalty time. St. Louis surpassed its season average of 19.0 penalty minutes per game. St. Louis forced Chicago\’s goaltenders to work between the pipes, getting 58 shots and forcing 46 saves. Alec Paloumpis made 23 stops and Thomas Terance made 23. St. Louis put up an impenetrable defensive front on the penalty kill, and did not allow Chicago to score on any of its four power plays. St. Louis\’ defense was surprisingly good. St. Louis averages 2.7 goals allowed per game. St. Louis bested its season scoring average. St. Louis averages 5.9 goals per game.
St. Louis additionally got points from Schumacher, who also had one goal and two assists, Tomas Loeffelman, who also finished with one goal and one assist, Jake Hanebrink, who also registered one goal and one assist, Sam Maddox, who also racked up one goal and two assists, and Alex Klaesner, who also had one goal and one assist. Others who scored for St. Louis included Eduard Rumyantsev, who had two and Dominic Caito, Alex Calvert, and Frankie Melton, who scored one goal each. Other players who recorded assists for St. Louis were Joe Nolan, who had two and Daniel Dunaway, Sean Griffin, Teddy Cardinale, and Austin Dempski, who contributed one each.
Chicago racked up the penalties in the contest, and ended with nine minors and two majors for 68 minutes in penalty time. The total exceeded the 37.0 minutes per game Chicago had been spending in the box.
Ian Dvorak rejected 18 shots on goal for St. Louis. St. Louis registered two goals on six power play opportunities. St. Louis ran into serious disciplinary problems during the contest, and Arshia Mitchell was ejected from the game.
