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Blues break losing streak, overcome questionable McNabb hit

Jori Lehtera, Marian Gaborik

St. Louis Blues center Jori Lehtera, top, of Finland, tangles with Los Angeles Kings right wing Marian Gaborik, of Slovakia, during the first period of an NHL hockey game, Saturday, Jan. 9, 2016, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

AP

It hasn’t always been pretty, but the St. Louis Blues are doing what they need to do to survive in the modern NHL.

The standings points are coming even when style points are in low supply. The Blues broke a five-game losing streak on Saturday by edging the Los Angeles Kings 2-1 via a shootout, yet it wasn’t really the type of win you’d do a ton of gloating about.

They couldn’t take advantage of a major penalty stemming from this questionable hit by Kings defenseman Brayden McNabb on Magnus Paajarvi:

That late advantage wasn’t what propelled the Blues to victory, at least directly. St. Louis only managed 16 shots on goal, too, even with a full overtime period thrown in.

As many negatives seem to stack up, the bigger picture is of a team that’s finding ways to stick with it. Injuries have been a season-long issue, and that continued with Jake Allen and Jay Bouwmeester being out of the mix.

Even their losing streak featured traces of resiliency, as St. Louis generated three standings points from those five losses. With other Central Division teams not named the Chicago Blackhawks struggling lately, give the Blues some credit for rolling with the punches.

Now they get a few days to shake off this tough stretch; they begin a four-game homestand on Tuesday.

Maybe they’ll manage a few more impressive moments then?

(H/T to The Score.)