High-flying Blues clip Leafs in OT
ST. LOUIS — In the beginning of the season, the St. Louis Blues were finding ways to lose games. Now, they’re managing to pull out wins.
Ryan O’Reilly scored 34 seconds into overtime and the St. Louis Blues beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-2 on Tuesday night for their franchise-record 11th straight victory.
“It’s fun hockey,” O’Reilly said. “We’re really enjoying it. You see from the start of the year how frustrating it was and how we kept working and working and not getting the result. Now, you see the way we’ve come together and everybody’s invested in each other. Everyone’s trying to make it easier for the next guy. Again, that wasn’t a perfect game.”
O’Reilly started the game-winning sequence with a stellar defensive play to break up a Maple Leafs chance. The effort created a 2-on-1 break with Vladimir Tarasenko, but O’Reilly took the shot himself.
“He [Mitch Marner] was winding up there, I kind of saw that he had me beat already so just went flying — just a desperate play, trying to get back,” O’Reilly said. “Saw [Blues goalie Jordan Binnington] went down and he was going to try and throw it in front, got my stick down and luckily it turned into a 2-on-1 for us.”
Jaden Schwartz and Colton Parayko also scored and Tyler Bozak had two assists for the Blues. Binnington made 29 saves to win his ninth straight, extending the longest winning streak in franchise history for a rookie goaltender.
Zach Hyman and Auston Matthews scored third-period goals as the Maple Leafs erased a 2-0 deficit. Frederik Andersen made 38 saves as Toronto wrapped up a six-game road trip with a 3-2-1 mark.
Hyman scored at 6:34 of the third, snapping the Blues’ shutout streak at 233:50.
Matthews followed just 31 seconds later as the puck deflected off his skate past Binnington. It was Matthews’ first career point in six games against the Blues, who were the only team he didn’t have a point against.
“I would have liked to seen us crawl our way back and win the game, but I thought we did a lot of good things today in the latter half of the game to set us up for success and I was impressed with a lot of our play,” Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock said.
Schwartz gave the Blues a 1-0 lead midway through the first, scoring off a backhand feed from Bozak. Alexander Steen started the play, forcing a turnover in the Maple Leafs’ zone.
Parayko made it 2-0 with a power-play goal with 2:18 left in the first. Parayko’s shot was initially ruled off the post. Once play was stopped nearly 20 seconds later, a review showed the puck hit the bar and went in.
Parayko didn’t think it went in initially.
“I thought it hit the post because I didn’t see anybody react,” Parayko said. MONTREAL — The Montreal Canadiens put an end to a tough losing streak on Tuesday.
Tomas Tatar scored the goahead goal in the third period and the Montreal Canadiens held on to defeat the Columbus Blue Jackets 3-2 to snap a four-game slide and collect their first win since Feb. 4.
Paul Byron and Max Domi also scored for Montreal (32-21-7) and Carey Price made 30 saves.
“We knew, everyone knew, that this was the biggest slump of the year,” Domi said. “That one’s out of the way, now we just got to focus on the next one.”
Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 29 shots and Josh Anderson and Nick Foligno scored for Columbus (33-23-3).
“Worked hard to get back in it. Couldn’t finish,” Blue Jackets head coach John Tortorella said.
The Blue Jackets were playing the second game of a back-to-back after losing to Tampa Bay Monday night. The visitors were also without forward Artemi Panarin, who sat out due to illness.
Byron scored in his return to the lineup after missing the last six games due to a forearm injury.
Domi put the Canadiens on the board 90 seconds in. The forward powered up the wing and tried to feed Jonathan Drouin on a two-onone. The puck instead went off forward Eric Robinson, and Domi batted the puck past Bobrovsky for his 20th of the season.
Byron’s goal came nearly 16 minutes later. After a Jesperi Kotkaniemi shot went wide of the net and off the backboard, Byron was first to the puck and buried it past Bobrovsky for his 11th of the season.
In the second period, Domi and Nick Foligno, both sons of former NHL enforcers, exchanged blows after Foligno hit Canadiens defenceman Mike Reilly from behind.
“When one of your buddies gets hit like that, you got to step in,” Domi said. “That’s part of what being a teammate is.” EDMONTON — Vinnie Hinostroza scored the shootout winner, adding to a goal in regulation, as the Arizona Coyotes came away with a 3-2 victory on Tuesday over an Edmonton Oilers team missing star forward Connor McDavid with the flu.
Josh Archibald also scored for the Coyotes (27-28-5), who have won four of their last six games.
Adam Larsson and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins responded for the Oilers (24-29-6), who have lost five straight. Edmonton has only one win in its last 12 games overall, and just two wins in its last 14 games in Edmonton.