Jordan Binnington made 25 saves for his 19th career shutout as the St. Louis Blues blanked the visiting Montreal Canadiens 2-0 on Saturday afternoon.
Binnington earned his first victory since Dec. 7. He was named to the Canadian Olympic team despite posting a 1-5-0 record last month with a 4.77 goals-against average and .839 save percentage.
Jonatan Berggren and Robert Thomas scored for the Blues, who won their second game in as many days.
Jacob Fowler made 17 saves for the Canadiens, whose two-game winning streak came to an end.
The Blues got on the board with 9:12 left in the first period. Cam Fowler came down the middle, drew Fowler’s attention, then fed Berggren for his shot into the open side of the net from the right circle.
Montreal’s best scoring opportunity came during Brendan Gallagher’s four-shot burst in the final seconds of the period. Twice, Gallagher redirected a shot on goal, and he also tried to convert a rebound.
The Blues applied pressure from the start of the second period. Fowler stopped Pavel Buchevich on a 2-on-1 rush and Alexey Toropchenko on a slot shot.
St. Louis increased its lead to 2-0 while short-handed. Thomas created a 2-on-1 opportunity, then followed up Toropchenko’s shot attempt with a tap-in.
The Canadiens had multiple power-play scoring chances after the Blues went up 2-0. But Binnington made spectacular stops on Ivan Demidov while Montreal was playing 5-on-4, then on Noah Dobson and Cole Caufield while the Canadiens were playing 5-on-3.
Former Blues winger Zack Bolduc broke in alone in the final seconds of the second period, but Binnington made a sprawling save to deny him.
The Canadiens sustained pressure throughout the third period, but they failed to break through. Gallagher hit the post with a power-play shot, Sammy Blais was denied at the net front, and Caufield was stopped on a wraparound.
–Field Level Media
