Alex Pietrangelo scored the tiebreaking goal from a sharp angle during the third period, and the visiting St. Louis Blues held on to defeat the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-2 Monday night.
It was the second straight victory for last season's Stanley Cup champions after they lost their season opener in a shootout. The Maple Leafs fell for the first time in regulation after winning their first two games and losing in a shootout.
Oskar Sundqvist and Brayden Schenn also scored for the Blues, who got 32 saves by Jordan Binnington. The goaltender also had an assist -- the first of his career -- on Sundqvist's goal.
Frederik Gauthier and William Nylander scored for the Maple Leafs while Frederik Andersen made 27 saves.
The Blues took the lead on Sundqvist's first goal of the season, a slap shot from the top of the right circle that went underneath Andersen's glove at 8:30 of the second period. Ivan Barbashev's pass set up Sundqvist.
The Maple Leafs scored twice in 24 seconds to take a 2-1 lead. Jason Spezza knocked the puck out of the air to Gauthier, who scored his second goal this season at 11:34 of the second.
Nylander then scored his second of the season, starting and finishing a three-way passing play with Cody Ceci and Andreas Johnsson.
Schenn tied the game with his second goal of the season at 19:12 of the second. He found the five-hole with his shot after he drifted into the slot to accept Jaden Schwartz's pass.
The Blues took a 3-2 lead when Pietrangelo notched his second goal on a shot from low in the right circle at 7:51 of the third period, set up by David Perron.
The Blues went on a power play at 15:03 of the third when Jake Muzzin took a slashing penalty. Binnington was forced to stop a short-handed attempt by Ilya Mikheyev.
Toronto removed Andersen for an extra attacker with more than two minutes remaining but couldn't come up with the tying goal.
--Field Level Media
St. Louis | Toronto | |
Alex Pietrangelo 1 | Points | Frederik Gauthier 1 |
Alex Pietrangelo 1 | Goals | Frederik Gauthier 1 |
Ivan Barbashev 1 | Assists | Cody Ceci 1 |
N/A | Power Play Goals | N/A |
N/A | Short Handed Goals | N/A |
Jordan Binnington .941 | Save Percentage | Frederik Andersen .900 |
Jordan Binnington 32 | Saves | Frederik Andersen 27 |
Team | Shots | Goals | Power Play | Penalty Kill | Penalty Mins | Face Offs Won |
St. Louis | 30 | 3 | 0-3 | 2-2 | 6 | 28 |
Toronto | 34 | 2 | 0-2 | 3-3 | 8 | 28 |