ST. LOUIS — Jordan Binnington made 34 saves for the St. Louis Blues in a 4-2 win against the New Jersey Devils at Enterprise Center on Thursday.
Brayden Schenn and Jordan Kyrou each had a goal and an assist, and Robert Thomas had two assists for the Blues (26-25-3), who have won three straight.
“Everybody understands every game is like elimination,” St. Louis forward Alexey Toropchenko said. “We’re just trying to focus on the next game. We need wins to make the playoffs because everyone wants to make the playoffs. We’re just a hard-working team, physical, and we’re doing what our coaches are saying to us … we’re just working hard.”
Dawson Mercer and Erik Haula scored, and Mackenzie Blackwood made 31 saves for the Devils (35-14-5), who were 4-0-1 in their past five games.
“I thought we had a terrible night in our own end,” New Jersey coach Lindy Ruff said. “I thought we got beat to pucks. Some of our puck play led to our goals against, turned over pucks, and I think when you turn over pucks, especially against their top line a couple of times, you put yourself in a lot of trouble.
“It wasn’t a night where we got consistent hockey out of all four lines. It was probably one of our poorest nights when it came to a four-line performance and being on the same page.”
It was the Devils’ fourth regulation loss on the road this season. They lead the NHL with 20 road wins.
“It’s tough. That’s hockey,” Devils defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler said. “It goes quick. After a situation like that, you’ve just got to focus back on your game and do the right thing and push for a goal. I think a couple times we were pretty close, but not quite there.”
Pavel Buchnevich put the Blues ahead 1-0 at 16:32 of the first period, finishing off a backdoor tap-in from Ivan Barbashev.
Mercer tied it 1-1 at 17:30, roofing a rebound to the right of Jesper Boqvist‘s shot that an outstretched Binnington kicked out.
Toropchenko and Kyrou scored 1:35 apart in the second period to give St. Louis a two-goal lead.
Toropchenko made it 2-1 at 4:00 by tapping in a loose puck at the right post, and Kyrou extended the lead to 3-1 at 5:35 on a wrist shot from the right hash marks after Schenn and Thomas won a forecheck battle in the corner behind the net.
“Actually, it was a long shift and we just outworked them, and we were strong on our forecheck and pretty tight altogether,” Toropchenko said. “Great play by everyone, especially [Nathan Walker]. He just gave me like a present at the net.”
Haula cut it to 3-2 at 8:32 on a shot high stick side.
Schenn pushed the lead to 4-2 with a power-play goal at 11:42 of the third period, following up a rebound of Kyrou’s shot from the left face-off circle.
“It was a weird little situation there,” Kyrou said. “I happened to be pretty open. Good thing I fanned on it. I was trying to go top glove, but it worked out.”
The Blues swept the season series with the Devils, winning 5-3 on Jan. 5 in New Jersey.
“They don’t give you any easy ice. Real fast team,” St. Louis coach Craig Berube said. “You get pressure everywhere … very good transition team, but we did a good job getting back, protecting the middle of the ice in our zone. We handled the rush attack pretty well tonight, I thought.”
NOTES: St. Louis is 14-2-1 in its past 17 games against New Jersey. … It was Binnington’s 200th NHL start. He is 111-64-23 in 204 games. … Schenn (three goals, three assists) and Kyrou (two goals, four assists) each has six points in a three-game point streak. … Thomas has nine points (five goals, four assists) in eight games against the Devils, and five points (one goal, four assists) in a three-game point streak. … Blues forward Jake Neighbours had one shot and one hit in 12:08 after being recalled from Springfield of the American Hockey League on Thursday. … The Blues placed forward Brandon Saad (upper body) on injured reserve Thursday. … Devils forward Jack Hughes missed his fourth straight game with an upper-body injury. … New Jersey forward Yegor Sharangovich had an assist for his 100th NHL point.
