Robert Thomas had two goals and an assist for the St. Louis Blues in a 5-3 win against the New Jersey Devils at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, on Thursday.
Pavel Buchnevich had three assists, and Jordan Binnington made 36 saves in his sixth consecutive start for the Blues (19-17-3), who are 7-2-2 their past 11 games.
“All in all, ‘Binner’ was great tonight. He was lights out,” St. Louis coach Craig Berube said. “We battled, but we’ve got to be better.”
The Blues have won two straight since losing center Ryan O’Reilly for six weeks (broken foot) and forward Vladimir Tarasenko for four weeks (hand). They defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 6-5 in a shootout Tuesday.
“We’ve got tons of depth; that was our key last year, that’s what made us so successful,” Thomas said. “We’ve got pretty much the same squad back. There’s no excuses for you to not perform when guys are out and injured.
“It obviously [stinks] losing those guys, but other guys have got to step up. So far we’ve done it and we’ve got to keep on going.”
Jack Hughes scored twice, Nico Hischier scored in his fifth straight game, and Akira Schmid, recalled from Utica of the American Hockey League on Thursday, made 14 saves for the Devils (24-12-3), who have lost eight in a row at home (0-7-1).
“We battled, we played a decent back-to-back game, but we just hurt ourselves more than anything,” New Jersey defenseman Damon Severson said. “Teams are going to do a good job and you’ve got to give them credit, but I don’t think it’s necessarily always what they’re doing. We’re sometimes shooting ourselves in the foot a little more.”
Schmid was called up because Mackenzie Blackwood, who was supposed to start, was scratched as a precaution after taking a shot off the hand during the morning skate Wednesday prior to a 5-1 win against the Detroit Red Wings.
“You always have to be ready when the call comes to get in there and compete,” Schmid said. “… Tonight didn’t go the way I wanted. I’ve got to be better.”
Jordan Kyrou gave the Blues a 1-0 lead at 11:47 of the first period when he was able to redirect a Buchnevich spinning whipped pass off the right boards over Schmid’s right shoulder.
Hughes scored in his fourth straight game to tie it 1-1 at 3:51 of the second period when he slammed in a rebound of Severson’s slap shot from the point.
Hughes would score his sixth goal in those four games on a turnover by forward Jake Neighbours to give New Jersey a 2-1 lead at 8:47.
Ivan Barbashev tied it 2-2 at 16:27 when he was able to cut inside Devils defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler and beat Schmid with a quick shot high to the stick side.
Dawson Mercer could have given New Jersey a lead early in the third period with a short-handed breakaway at 1:04 but never got a shot off.
“The turning point really for me momentum-wise was the Mercer breakaway,” Devils coach Lindy Ruff said. “You’ve got to do something better than that. You at least have got to shoot it. You’ve got to find a hole. If you’re deking, that goalie’s going to make a heck of a save. We miss that opportunity and they turn around and go the other way.”
Brandon Saad gave St. Louis a 3-2 lead at 2:27, his fourth goal in four games, when he cut inside of New Jersey defenseman Kevin Bahl and beat Schmid between the pads.
“We talked about a next-man-up mentality,” Saad said. “I think it’s just playing the right way. When you have injuries, I think you can tighten it up, we’re checking better and we’re getting lots of chances and opportunities. We’re capitalizing on them.”
Thomas scored a power-play goal, his 200th NHL point, at 9:53 to make it 4-2, a one-timer from a sharp angle after a Brayden Schenn pass.
Hischier cut it to 4-3 at 12:09, deflecting a Dougie Hamilton shot in front on a 5-on-3 power-play.
Thomas scored an empty-net goal at 19:17 for the 5-3 final.
Binnington shut the door in the third period with 14 saves, including multiple scoring chances when Schmid was pulled with over two minutes remaining.
“He’s our backstop back there,” Saad said of Binnington. “We believe in him and he’s a big reason why we won tonight and why we’re winning hockey games.”
NOTES: Tarasenko and Hughes were named to the 2023 Honda NHL All-Star Game during the game. Hughes has seven points (six goals, one assist) in a four-game point streak and had nine shots on goal (14 attempts). … Devils forward Ondrej Palat had two shots and three hits in 14:24 after missing 32 games with a lower-body injury. He hadn’t played since Oct. 24 against the Washington Capitals. … Kyrou has 16 points (nine goals, seven assists) his past nine games. … Binnington won his 105th game to pass Brian Elliott for fifth in Blues history. … Buchnevich has 12 points (three goals, nine assists) in 10 games after missing four games with a lower-body injury. … Hischier has eight points (five goals, three assists) in a six-game point streak.
