St. Louis tops Toronto, gets 11th win in row
In the beginning of the season, the 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 Blues beat Toronto 3-2 in St. Louis 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 Toronto chance. The effort created a 2-on-1 break with Vladimir Tarasenko, but O’Reilly took the shot himself.
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, adding that he saw St. Louis goalie Jordan Binnington go down “and he was going to try to 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 goalie.
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.
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 against which he didn’t have a point.
Toronto center Nazem Kadri left the game with a concussion after the first period. Kadri took a big hit from Vince Dunn early in the game.