Blues stay hot, crush Maple Leafs
The St. Louis Blues continued their dominant March with a 5-1 thumping of the visiting Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday night.
The win marked St. Louis' fourth in a row as they improved their March record to an NHL-best 10-1-2.
The Blues (31-30-11, 73 points) scored three in the third after Jake McCabe brought it back within one for the visitors. Dylan Holloway had a two-point game two nights after he scored the overtime winner against San Jose. Jake Neighbours, Jordan Kyrou and Robert Thomas also had multi-point games
Jordan Binnington stopped 12 of just 13 shots for the Blues while Joseph Woll turned away 33 of 38 shots for the Maple Leafs (31-30-13, 75 points).
Jimmy Snuggerud opened the scoring 5:21 into the second period, beating Toronto defenseman Morgan Rielly to Cam Fowler's slick feed through the slot. The goal boosted Snuggerud to second in rookie scoring since the new year. Former Leafs defenseman Justin Holl nabbed his first as a Blues player about five minutes later, tipping Kyrou's point shot past Woll through a high screen to make it 2-0.
McCabe brought it back within one early in the third, flicking a seemingly innocent snap shot from the sideboards past an unsuspecting Binnington. The goal extended an unlikely point streak to three games for the stay-at-home defenseman.
The Leafs had some cause for excitement after Blues defenseman Theo Lindstein took a penalty for holding just over a minute later. Pius Suter was quick to disrupt their momentum with a short-handed goal off a feed from Thomas. Toronto was caught flat-footed on its own power play, with three Leafs opting to challenge Thomas in the corner instead of Suter in the high slot.
Kyrou recorded a second assist two-and-a-half minutes later, sliding a pass under the stick of Jacob Quillan and onto the tape of Holloway, who wristed it past Woll blocker side. Philip Broberg then made it 5-1 late on the power play.
The Maple Leafs were awarded a four-minute power play in the first period when Jack Finley was issued a double minor for high-sticking Quillan. Toronto failed to capitalize on the opportunity and only managed four shots through the first 20 minutes.
Toronto's best chance of the opening frame came off the stick of Matias Maccelli after William Nylander stripped Pavel Buchnevich of the puck to spark a two-on-one. Binnington came across just in time to thwart Maccelli's five-hole tuck.