Jordan Binnington carried a shutout deep into the third period Saturday for the St. Louis Blues, who held on to beat the New York Islanders 2-1 in Elmont, N.Y.
Binnington stopped the first 24 shots he faced and made 28 saves overall for the Blues, whose 81 goals allowed entering Saturday were tied with the Vancouver Canucks for the second-most in the NHL.
St. Louis’ Brayden Schenn scored in the opening minute of the first period, and Pius Suter scored in the second for the Blues, who snapped a four-game losing streak (0-1-3).
Anders Lee scored an extra attacker goal with 3:20 left for the Islanders, who lost for just the second time in eight games. New York tied a 2016 franchise record for most wins on a road trip by going 6-1-0 on a trek that ended Thursday.
On Saturday, the Islanders nearly tied the game with 2:06 remaining, but Blues defenseman Justin Faulk was whistled for high sticking in the crease just before Bo Horvat’s shot sailed past Binnington.
Ilya Sorokin recorded 20 saves for the Islanders, who avoided being blanked for the first time this season.
The Blues scored on the first shot of the game to cap an end-to-end rush 42 seconds after the opening faceoff. Dalibor Dvorsky, at center ice, sent a pass diagonally through the neutral zone to Pavel Buchnevich as Islanders defenseman Scott Mayfield made an unsuccessful stab at the puck. With Mayfield still a step behind, Buchnevich dished to Schenn, who beat Sorokin glove side.
Suter doubled the lead late in the second period. Sorokin deflected Faulk’s shot, which caromed off the left boards to Jordan Kyrou. The right winger passed to Dylan Holloway, whose shot from the high slot glanced off Sorokin’s stick and to Suter, who backhanded home the rebound with 2:09 left.
Lee cleaned up a rebound to begin the late flurry by the Islanders, who recorded four shots on their game-ending power play but couldn’t collect the equalizer. Binnington gloved a point-blank shot by Horvat with 26.8 seconds remaining.
–Field Level Media
