Binnington makes 40 saves to lead Blues past Maple Leafs

Jordan Binnington made 40 saves for the St. Louis Blues in a 5-1 win against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena on Thursday.

Dylan Holloway scored twice, and Jordan Kyrou and Pavel Buchnevich each had two assists for the Blues (5-3-0), who are 3-1-0 in their past four games.

“We played hard,” Binnington said. “Obviously, we lost one of our better players (forward Robert Thomas) and it’s really, really good to see everyone not skip a beat, play hard and just play our game and believe in each other to get the job done. That was a great team win tonight.”

Thomas will be out at least six weeks after fracturing his right ankle in a 3-2 loss to the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday.

“This is the mentality we need to have,” Blues captain Brayden Schenn said. “We love Thomas as a player, he’s our star, but unfortunately that’s the business and you just have to have a next-man-up mentality, and guys stepped up and played different roles tonight, different positions and we were able to find a way. It was just a good, hard team win.”

Oliver Ekman-Larsson scored for Toronto (4-4-0), which has lost two straight and three of four. Joseph Woll made 22 saves in his season debut after missing the first seven games with groin tightness.

“We made mistakes, bottom line. Defensive mistakes,” said Maple Leafs coach Craig Berube, who was facing his former team for the first time. “Lack of awareness on some of them. For me, we gave them three goals. Shouldn’t happen.”

Philip Broberg put the Blues ahead 1-0 at 4:07 of the first period with a one-timer from the point that beat Woll through a screen by Buchnevich.

“I’d like to have one or two back, and I think that’s just unfortunately the difference in the game,” Woll said. “A couple goals makes a difference.”

Holloway made it 2-0 at 10:31 on the power play. He was alone in front of the net following a pass from Brandon Saad and made a deke before going five-hole on Woll.

“I was hoping for it to come out. I was calling for it before Saad got the puck,” Holloway said. “He made a heck of a play to slip it over to me. I definitely had that thought. I was like, ‘Oh my god this is great if it gets to me,’ and thankfully it did.”

Ekman-Larsson scored his first goal with the Maple Leafs to cut it to 2-1 at 6:20 of the second period. He buried a one-timer from the top of the right circle off a pass from Morgan Rielly.

Alexandre Texier responded with his first goal for the Blues to put them ahead 3-1 at 7:58. After Buchnevich forced a turnover from Auston Matthews, Kyrou got to the loose puck in the corner and found Texier just inside the right circle for a shot blocker side.

“The third goal is just not doing things right,” Berube said. “It was lazy hockey on the goal. That’s the bottom line.”

Jake Neighbours pushed it to 4-1 at 3:45 of the third period when he beat Woll glove side on a 2-on-1, which was created by a turnover from William Nylander at the offensive blue line.

“No question our guys came to play,” Blues coach Drew Bannister said. “The effort for 60 minutes, the details in our game, willingness to block shots, great sticks. When you come on the road against a team like this, you have to be willing to do those things to have success, and we had 20 guys doing all those things correctly tonight.”

Holloway added an empty-net goal at 16:42 for the 5-1 final.

“They’ve been a big addition, for sure,” Binnington said of Broberg and Holloway. “These guys, they’ve put in good work, and I think it’s kind of rubbing off on everyone, too, just the amount of work they put in on their game and focus and preparation. It’s good to see things connecting with the group on the ice.”

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