Jordan Binnington stopped 35 of the 36 shots he faced Wednesday night as the St. Louis Blues edged the visiting Minnesota Wild 2-1.
Binnington delivered a nice bounce-back performance after allowing four goals Sunday at Detroit. His teammates bailed him out with a 5-4 overtime victory over the Red Wings in that game, but Binnington proved to be the difference Wednesday.
Alex Pietrangelo and Sammy Blais scored for the Blues, who won for the fourth time in five games.
Mats Zuccarello scored for the Wild, who lost for the eighth time in nine road games. Devan Dubnyk made 24 saves before departing for an extra attacker.
Pietrangelo scored the decisive goal 1:39 into the third period off an offensive-zone faceoff. He slipped in from the right point unnoticed and had all the time needed to convert David Perron's deft cross-ice pass. Carl Gunnarsson also got an assist.
The Wild blew a 3-0 lead at Dallas on Tuesday night while falling 6-3 to the Stars. They responded with solid road hockey against the Blues in the scoreless first period, outshooting St. Louis 12-7.
Blais put the Blues up 1-0 at 6:52 of the second period with a snap shot from the right circle, putting the puck over Dubnyk's left shoulder. Ryan O'Reilly and Pietrangelo got assists on the play.
Zuccarello tied the game less than two minutes later, scoring his first goal of the season by jamming a loose puck home in the crease. Eric Staal and Jason Zucker earned assists. Staal has eight points in his past six games, and Zucker has six points in six games.
O'Reilly thought he scored the go-ahead goal later in the second period -- surprising Dubnyk with a quick shot from the left circle -- but the Wild erased that with a successful offside challenge.
--Field Level Media
Minnesota | St. Louis | |
Mats Zuccarello 1 | Points | Alex Pietrangelo 2 |
Mats Zuccarello 1 | Goals | Alex Pietrangelo 1 |
Eric Staal 1 | Assists | Alex Pietrangelo 1 |
N/A | Power Play Goals | N/A |
N/A | Short Handed Goals | N/A |
Devan Dubnyk .923 | Save Percentage | Jordan Binnington .972 |
Devan Dubnyk 24 | Saves | Jordan Binnington 35 |
Team | Shots | Goals | Power Play | Penalty Kill | Penalty Mins | Face Offs Won |
Minnesota | 36 | 1 | 0-3 | 3-3 | 6 | 23 |
St. Louis | 26 | 2 | 0-3 | 3-3 | 6 | 32 |