Jimmy Snuggerud scored two second-period goals in quick succession and Jonatan Berggren scored the game-winning goal to help the St. Louis Blues halt their three-game slide with a 5-3 home victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday.
The Blues entered the matchup buried in offensive woes during their three-game losing skid, but found their flow as Jake Neighbours and Pavel Buchnevich also found the back of the net and Dylan Holloway picked up three assists.
Jordan Binnington made 20 saves as he recorded his first victory of the season.
Cole Sillinger, Kent Johnson, and Valeri Nichushkin lit the lamp for the Blue Jackets, while Jet Greaves finished with 22 saves.
With a delayed penalty forthcoming, Berggren went hard to the front of the net and found a loose puck to score the eventual game-winning goal with just over 10 minutes remaining.
After a quiet start to the contest, the Blue Jackets broke the deadlock with 3:50 left in the first period as Erik Gudbranson sent a pass that redirected off the side of the net and Sean Monahan’s shot banked in off Nichushkin for his first goal as a Blue Jacket.
Johnson doubled up the lead with 12 seconds left in the opening frame as he cut into the middle and wired a shot off the far post and past Binnington.
Neighbours made it a one-goal game with 13:50 remaining in the middle frame as he found the puck near the Blue Jackets’ net and fired it home.
Snuggerud knotted things up just under three minutes later as Philip Broberg carried the puck in wide and slid a pass across that hit the young forward’s skate and bounced in.
The 2022 first-round pick kept it rolling with his second of the night with 7:28 left in the second as he patiently waited and then perfectly placed a shot under the blocker of Greaves.
Sillinger took advantage of some poor rebound control from Binnington to tie the game back up with 13:09 left in the third period.
Buchnevich put the game to rest with an empty-net goal.
Each team only had one power-play chance on the night and neither was successful.
–Field Level Media
