Nathan Walker scored his first career hat trick and fourth-string goaltender Charlie Lindgren made 29 saves, leading the St. Louis Blues to a 6-2 victory Thursday night over the Detroit Red Wings.
Down nine players due to injuries and COVID-19 issues, St. Louis has been scrambling.
The Blues recalled Walker from their AHL affiliate, the Springfield Thunderbirds, under emergency conditions Wednesday. The 27-year-old Walker, from Wales, had previously dressed in 25 NHL games, recording three goals and two assists.
Lindgren made his first start since March 7, 2020. He is fourth on the Blues' depth chart. The 27-year-old saw his first NHL action in almost two calendar years on Tuesday against Florida and made three saves in 6:25 of relief duty.
Colton Parayko, Ivan Barbashev and Marco Scandella also scored for St. Louis.
Robby Fabbri had both Detroit goals against his former club.
Walker scored twice in the first period, almost matching his career total coming into the game. He added his third goal in the final period.
The Blues have won six straight at home. It's their longest such streak since taking nine in a row from Dec. 12, 2019, through Jan. 13, 2020.
The Blues signed goaltender Jon Gillies to a one-year, two-way contract. Gillies, 27, has appeared in four AHL games overall this season, three with Providence and one with Lehigh Valley. The 6-foot-6, 223-pound New Hampshire native has made 12 career NHL appearances, going 4-5-1 with a 2.71 goals-against average and a .903 save percentage.
Blues G Jordan Binnington, D Justin Faulk and C Tyler Bozak are on the COVID-19 protocol list. They are the seventh, eighth and ninth players on the team to miss games this season for St. Louis under the NHL's protocols. Bozak is due to come off the list Friday and could play Saturday. Binnington and Faulk come off on Sunday.
The Blues were without G Ville Husso (lower-body injury), D Jake Walman (upper-body injury), LW David Perron (upper-body injury), C Robert Thomas (lower-body injury), James Neal (upper-body injury) and Klim Kostin (upper-body injury). Perron took part in the morning skate.
The Blues host Montreal on Saturday.
