ST. LOUIS — Jordan Binnington made 28 saves in his 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs debut, and the St. Louis Blues defeated the Minnesota Wild 5-2 in Game 4 of the Western Conference First Round at Enterprise Center on Sunday.
The series is tied 2-2. Game 5 is in Minnesota on Tuesday.
Binnington entered the game 0-9 with a 4.19 goals-against average and .875 save percentage in the postseason since a 32-save performance in a 4-1 win in Game 7 against the Boston Bruins to win the 2019 Stanley Cup.
“It felt good, I felt prepared,” Binnington said. “We had a good start to the game, a really good first period. Definitely a big win, a hard-fought win. We had guys step in the lineup, but I felt pretty good.
“Definitely I had to be patient. Nothing this morning, wait for the game, just hanging out at home and just prepping.”
[RELATED: Complete Wild vs. Blues series coverage]
David Perron had two goals and an assist, Jordan Kyrou scored twice, and Ryan O’Reilly had a goal and two assists for St. Louis, the No. 3 seed in the Central Division.
“They’re a great team. They’re hard to play against,” Blues coach Craig Berube said of the Wild. “They do a good job, and we’re a good team too, so here we are. We’re tied.”
Kirill Kaprizov scored his fifth goal of the series, Matt Boldy got his first career playoff goal, and Marc-Andre Fleury made 29 saves for Minnesota, the No. 2 seed in the Central.
“Well, the vibe right now, of course, when we lose a game is not the best,” Wild forward Frederick Gaudreau said. “The vibe is, it’s 2-2. Like we said earlier, it’s not going to be easy, it’s the playoffs, and the Blues are a good team.”
Kyrou gave St. Louis a 1-0 lead at 4:19 of the first period, scoring on his own rebound after Fleury could not control the initial shot.
“Yeah, it’s definitely nice to get the first goal,” Kyrou said. “It’s a huge confidence builder for the team, especially here at home. The crowd was unbelievable tonight and it definitely got us going.”
Kaprizov tied it 1-1 at 14:06 on Minnesota’s fourth shot of the game, a one-timer from the left circle off a pass from Jared Spurgeon.
The Wild were outshot 18-5 in the first.
“We just felt we got disrupted a little early in the game, obviously, with [a] four-minute (minor to Kevin Fiala at 8:42 of the first period) and … then another high stick (on Joel Eriksson Ek) and then 4-on-4, so, the first period, we wanted to get to our game, and we weren’t able to get to our game because of that,” Minnesota coach Dean Evason said.
“But having said that, we’ve got to stay out of the box too. It disrupted everything. … It disrupts the flow of the game, disrupts what we want to do, what we want to get to, 5-on-5, right? But having said that, we have to find a way to get to it. We did get momentum from those kills. So, we didn’t do enough to get to our game, but [the penalties] hurt us early as well.”
The Blues were 1-for-4 on the power play; the Wild went 0-for-4.
Perron made it 2-1 at 10:30 of the second period when his backhand shot squeezed through Fleury’s right arm and was inadvertently kicked into the net by forward Marcus Foligno during a scramble in the crease.
Kyrou scored 54 seconds later to extend the lead to 3-1. Minnesota defenseman Matt Dumba turned the puck over to O’Reilly, who fed Kyrou in the slot, and he dangled around two Wild skaters as he played the puck through his own legs before finishing on the backhand.
Boldy cut the score to 3-2 at 2:39 of the third period when the puck squirted between Binnington’s pads he tapped it across the goal line.
Perron scored from his own end into an empty net at 18:02 to make it a 4-2, and O’Reilly’s added a power-play goal at 19:00 for the 5-2 final.
“Obviously, you want to come out hot and come out strong,” Kyrou said. “We did that today and we should continue to do it all series long.”
NOTES: The Blues played with seven defensemen and 11 forwards. … St. Louis defenseman Marco Scandella played 1:34 before leaving with a lower-body injury. Berube said it was the same injury that caused him to miss the regular-season finale and Games 1 and 2 of the series. There was no update on his availability for Game 5. … Blues defenseman Steven Santini was plus-1 in 3:08 of ice time after being recalled from Springfield of the American Hockey League on Friday on an emergency basis. … St. Louis defenseman Scott Perunovich had one assist and one blocked shot in 12:02 of ice time in his first game since sustaining a wrist injury Jan. 15 against the Toronto Maple Leafs. … Blues defensemen Nick Leddy missed his third consecutive game and defenseman Robert Bortuzzo missed his second, each because of an upper-body injury. Berube said there’s a chance they could return for Game 5. … Kaprizov tied Wes Walz and Marian Gaborik for the most goals by a Wild player in one series. Walz and Gaborik each scored five goals in a 4-3 series win in the 2003 Western Conference Semifinal against the Vancouver Canucks. … St. Louis defenseman Justin Faulk had one assist and led all skaters in ice time with 31:10, and defenseman Colton Parayko had one assist in 30:37. …. Binnington tied Mike Liut and Greg Millen for the most playoff wins by a Blues goalie (17).
