ST. LOUIS — If Saturday was a progress report, there is still plenty of work to do for the St. Louis Blues.

Facing the defending Stanley Cup champions and riding two consecutive wins into Saturday, the Blues fell flat in a 4-0 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes at Enterprise Center.

The loss dulled momentum built by the team following wins over Winnipeg and Vegas earlier this week, and prevented the Blues from winning three straight games for the first time this season. Sean Walker, Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Logan Stankoven and Nikolaj Ehlers scored for the Hurricanes.

It was the first time this season the Blues were shut out. Joel Hofer made 35 saves.

Carolina entered Saturday with the most wins, points, goals and shots in the NHL. Before the game, Blues coach Jim Montgomery talked about the "great opportunity" in front of his team.

“We’re really happy with the way we’ve played," Montgomery said. "Can we do it again against the team that plays, whether you want to call them relentless, the most competitive team in the NHL?

"There’s no surprises. They’re coming hard to your net every chance. Any turnover off of o-zone, off the forecheck, off the neutral zone, are you going to beat them back to your net? Offensively, they’re in your face everywhere. You’ll have defensemen down at the goalline. So if you make a good decision with the puck, are you going to beat that guy to their net? One on one loose puck battles, are you going to be first on it?

"This is a real good test for us about being able to do rinse repeat with that same kind of effort and determination, and also do it against the Stanley Cup champs. We did it last game against Vegas, Stanley Cup finalist. I just really like what the schedule happened to be this time of year for how we’re playing.”

The Blues have two more games left on this homestand: Tuesday vs. Montreal and Friday vs. Boston.

Surging ahead

The Hurricanes turned a goalless game into a 3-0 lead during the second period, when they scored three times and had 11 of the first 12 shots on goal. Walker (4:45) and Kotkaniemi (5:05) scored 20 seconds apart, quickly boosting the Hurricanes to a multi-goal lead.

Stankoven's goal at 13:35 of the second period push the Carolina edge to three goals.

Walker's goal came on a delayed penalty, as Cam Fowler was going to be whistled for a tripping call on Jackson Blake in the Blues zone. The Hurricanes got the extra attacker on the ice, and survived a tight play in the slot when officials could have called the play dead since the Blues appeared to possess the puck briefly.

Blake would later find Walker in the middle of the ice for a one-timer, scoring his first goal of the season.

On the next shift, Kotkaniemi capitalized on a Carolina forecheck that forced Adam Jiricek into a turnover. Jordan Martinook poked the puck free from Jiricek, then beat him to the net, pulling Justin Barron away from Kotkaniemi in the slot. Kotkaniemi had two goals all last season, and Saturday's was his third of the young season.

Stankoven's goal came on the rush just as Carolina's penalty for too many men expired. The Hurricanes killed the penalty, then stripped the puck from Barron as he tried to dive deeper into the Carolina zone. As Barron lost possession, Fowler went to the bench for a change. That left Colton Parayko to chase Stankoven, who beat Hofer on the glove side.

The 15 shots against were tied for the most allowed by the Blues in a single period this season.

Ehlers scored at 4:30 of the third period on the power play after Hofer was called for delay of game when he shot a puck out of play.

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