An injury ravaged St. Louis Blues squad put together a strong 60-minute effort to beat the Washington Capitals 5-2 Tuesday night and snap a three-game skid, but lost defenseman Torey Krug to an apparent left hand or wrist injury.

Krug left the game in the second period after getting slashed by Nick Jensen and did not return. Krug, after getting slashed, skated the rest of the shift holding his stick only in his right hand before going to the bench.

Coach Craig Berube refused to say anything more than Krug left with an upper-body injury. His team was already missing winger Rob Thomas to injury and Vladimir Tarasenko for a second consecutive game because of an illness.

Krug going down looks like just another obstacle for St. Louis to overcome.

Ideally the Blues keep putting in performances like that to keep pace in a tight Central Division playoff race. They left Washington with an important victory thanks to a goal and an assist from Brandon Saad and Brayden Schenn, the game-winner from Nathan Walker hours after he was called up and 19 saves from Ville Husso.

David Perron added an empty-netter to extend his goal-scoring streak to seven games. Every goal but Perron's was scored in tight around the net, which was a point of emphasis going in.

Thanks to a series of turnovers and defensive zone miscues, the Capitals lost a second consecutive game in regulation to fall to 7-2-1 in March. Tom Wilson had a goal and an assist, Evgeny Kuznetsov scored and Vitek Vanecek allowed four goals on 37 shots.

Walker, who won the Cup with the Capitals four years ago after they drafted him in 2014, was only in the Blues lineup because of a combination of injury, illness, the salary cap and a move made before the trade deadline Monday. The only Australian player in league history, Walker scored in the NHL for the first time since Dec. 12 - his fifth goal of the season after a hat trick Dec. 9.

The Blues host the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday night.