But who knew he could fight?

“Usually guys from the Western Hockey League can chuck ‘em,” goalie Jordan Binnington said. “So not surprised. But he did a great job, stepping in for his teammate. Just a great overall scene.”

However, not every Blues player saw this coming, according to Neighbours.

“A couple surprised faces,” Neighbours said. “I don't think anybody knew I could hold my own in there. It was funny seeing the look on some guys' faces … made me smile.” 

Neighbours got in six fights while playing junior hockey for the Edmonton Oilers in the WHL according to HockeyFights.com, but none with Springfield in the AHL, and none with the Blues. Until now.

Just 1:47 into the second period, Neighbours dropped gloves with Ottawa’s Parker Kelly, and man, did he take care of business in this scrap. Neighbours landed several strong punches, and then got Kelly to the ice.

“I just didn't like the way Cookie went down,” said Neighbours, referring to Noel Acciari by his nickname. “I didn't exactly see how the play happened, but he went down awkwardly and I didn't like the play.

“I thought (Kelly) was the man so I went right after him. I played against him in junior, so I know he's not shy to it. I knew I'd get a good answer.”

On this night, the Blues had the answers. Binnington was a stalwart in goal, particularly down the stretch when he made two key net-front stops on wily veteran Claude Giroux of Ottawa in the third period.

Acciari scored the game-winning goal late in the opening period, pouncing on a mishandled puck by Senators goalie Cam Talbot.

And with the game’s first goal, Neighbours, age 20, came close to becoming the youngest player in franchise history to get a Gordie Howe hat trick – you know, goal, assist and fight. All that was missing was the assist.

It all added up to a much-needed 2-1 victory over Ottawa in a game where the Blues seemed in control after taking a 2-0 first-period lead, but turned into a dogfight after Tim Stutzle’s second-period goal for Ottawa.

The victory was No. 2,000 in Blues history. Only eight teams in the NHL have reached that milestone, and outside of the “Original Six” teams, only Philadelphia (2,121) and St. Louis have hit the 2K mark.

“Good home win,” Acciari said. “We came out strong, but after we went up two, we took our foot off the gas a bit and gave them some energy. We bent, but we didn't break. Good for us. Two points were important.”

The Blues thus snapped a two-game skid, improving to 22-20-3 and four points out of wild-card position with 47 points. Ottawa, which put up way more resistance than in Saturday’s 7-0 loss to Colorado, fell to 19-21-3.

Despite the Stutzle goal, which was the result of a Justin Faulk giveaway and dropped coverage by Brandon Saad leaving Stutzle alone in the slot, coach Craig Berube liked what he saw in the second period.

“I thought we had a lot of possession time in the offensive zone, but we got a lot of shots blocked in that period,” Berube said. “We didn’t do a good enough job of getting pucks through. They blocked a ton of shots, I think they had 21 blocks tonight.”

(Close, it was 19 blocked shots for Ottawa.)

“The third period, we didn’t probably go after them enough and play enough in the offensive zone,” Berube said. “I thought our second period was a lot better.”

The highlight of which obviously the Neighbours fight, just the eighth Blues fight of the season and the first since Nathan Walker tussled with Joel Hanley in a Nov. 28 game against Dallas.

“He did great,” Berube said. “I couldn’t really tell on the play, but obviously he thought that (Kelly) did something there to Acciari. That’s nice. Good teamwork, step in and take care of your teammate.”

“He handled himself really well,” Acciari said. “I was happy for him and I owe him a nice little dinner.”

Neighbours, you may recall, has spent some time living with Brayden Schenn prior to this season, and said he has gotten some tips from Schenn on the art of fisticuffs.

“A little bit here and there,” Neighbours said. “We've talked about it for sure. He's obviously been in a couple when I'm around and we chatted about them and stuff.”

So Thursday’s fight made Schenn something akin to a proud papa.

“That’s just a proud moment,” Schenn said, grinning. “I didn’t know kids stood up for their teammates like that, but he did.”

Not to be overlooked Monday was that goal by Acciari, his first game-winner as a Blue. Josh Leivo sent the puck down the wall and into the neutral zone where it looked for a moment like Ottawa’s Thomas Chabot had control at center ice.

But no, Chabot couldn’t control it; he knocked it down the ice toward Talbot. With Acciari bearing down on him, Talbot whiffed on his clearing attempt and Acciari was able jam the puck in for his 10th goal of the season.

“He fumbled it and I cashed in,” Acciari said. “Very fortunate there.”

There isn’t a Blue who plays with more effort that Acciari, and this was a vintage hustle play.

“He’s a second-effort guy,” Berube said. “You’re never going to get cheated by him for effort.”

As for Binnington, making his league-high 34th start, he stopped 32 of 33 shots. On another night, perhaps one or both of those Giroux net-front chances goes in. But not on this night.

“You’re not really thinking out there,” Binnington said. “You’re just playing. I felt good tonight. Just trying to hold the lead there in a 2-1 game and just do your job, right?

“I think we did a good job for the most part. And it was big to close that out without having to go to extra time or anything.”