ST. LOUIS — Jordan Binnington made 32 saves, including 16 in the third period, and the St. Louis Blues held on for a 4-2 win against the Philadelphia Flyers at Enterprise Center on Tuesday.
“Sometimes, that’s how it goes,” Binnington said. “You have a comfortable lead and sometimes, we get a little comfortable. Happens to every team and just seems like you can’t get any momentum, but it’s part of it, right? That’s why I think it’s so important to just remember that each shift matters, and just to carry that with us as we finish this season and bring it with us to next season.”
Justin Faulk and Alexey Toropchenko each had a goal and an assist for the Blues (36-35-7), who had lost their past two games, but are 7-2-2 in their past 11.
“‘Binner’ played obviously great and made a lot of big plays for us and kept us in it, especially at the end there when things got a little hairy,” Faulk said. “He battles. When you’re battling in there and you compete like he does, that’s what happens. There’s saves that get made that you really wonder where he stopped it, what he stopped it with and kind of how he got there.”
James van Riemsdyk and Morgan Frost scored, and Samuel Ersson made 28 saves for the Flyers (29-35-13), who have lost four straight (0-3-1) after going 5-0-1 in their previous six games.
Philadelphia assistant Rocky Thompson handled the coaching duties with coach John Tortorella watching from up above with interim general manager Daniel Briere for the third straight game. Assistant coach Brad Shaw handled the bench duties the previous two games.
“It’s really an honor,” Thompson said. “I really appreciate ‘Torts’ letting me do that. As a player, you always want to play in the NHL, and I was fortunate to get that opportunity. After my career was done and I became a coach, it’s something you aspire to do. To experience that is something special and I’ll always remember that. I’m grateful.
“It was a couple of week ago, it was something [Tortorella] wanted to do, to go up and he was saying it’s important for head coaches to develop your assistant coaches, so hopefully one day they become head coaches. That’s the mark of a true leader.”
Jordan Kyrou gave St. Louis a 1-0 lead at 5:53 of the first period with his team-leading 37th goal when his wrist shot from the slot beat Ersson glove side after picking off a backhand pass by Philadelphia forward Noah Cates in the corner. It was Kyrou’s sixth goal in the past six games.
Tyler Pitlick made it 2-0 at 5:04 of the second period on an assist from Toropchenko, scoring with a wrist shot glove side after the Blues broke the puck out of their zone.
Faulk made it 3-0 at 8:26 on a wrist shot from the slot moments after missing from nearly the same spot. He took a feed from Sammy Blais from near the goal line to the slot and beat Ersson to the glove side.
Blais thought he had made it 4-0 at 14:26, but Philadelphia successfully won the offside challenge after video review determined that Blais entered the zone before the puck crossed the blue line.
Cates also thought he scored at 4:06 of the third period, but his goal was waved off for directing the puck in with his hand.
Van Riemsdyk cut it to 3-1 at 5:51 when he tipped Nick Seeler‘s left point shot from the slot.
Frost made it 3-2 at 11:43 when he backhanded in a rebound of a Wade Allison slap shot from the left circle.
“I thought we played better in the third,” Frost said. “I think we started simplifying more. Less turnovers, more time in their zone. In the first two periods, we were spending too much time in our zone. We didn’t have any juice left when we got into their zone early on.”
Binnington’s best save of the period came while the Flyers were short-handed. He was able to get Travis Sanheim‘s shot from the slot underneath his left arm while laying face first on the ice with 5:44 remaining in the third.
“I felt it,” Binnington said. “I thought I squeezed it. Kind of looked at [St. Louis defenseman Torey Krug] there and it looked like it was on me. Sometimes, it just comes to you like that. It was nice, it was a fun one.”
Toropchenko scored an empty-net goal at 19:28 for the 4-2 final.
NOTES: Faulk has 11 points (three goals, eight assists) over the past seven games. … Frost has seven points (five goals, two assists) in a five-game point streak. … Philadelphia defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen played 16:49 after missing one game with an upper-body injury. … Blues forward Robert Thomas missed his third straight game with an upper-body injury after taking part in the morning skate Tuesday. St. Louis forward Pavel Buchnevich (upper body) also missed his third straight game.
