ST. LOUIS — Jordan Binnington made 40 saves for the St. Louis Blues in a 3-1 win against the Los Angeles Kings at Enterprise Center on Wednesday.
“It comes with the position. It’s a privilege and an honor to be in that position,” Binnington said. “Like I keep saying, I’m enjoying these moments and able to be present and focused on the here and now.”
Alexey Toropchenko and Brandon Saad each scored for the second straight game for the Blues (34-29-3), who have won consecutive games after three straight losses. Jake Neighbours also scored.
“Obviously, we need every point we can get right now,” St. Louis forward Kevin Hayes said. “When you’re playing against teams that are above you, it’s that much more important. I thought right from the start, we came to play. Wish we got ‘Binner’ the shutout, but we’ll take the points.”
Adrian Kempe scored for the Kings (33-21-11), who have alternated wins and losses the past six games (3-2-1). Cam Talbot made 27 saves.
“That was disappointing because we thought we came out ready to play,” Los Angeles coach Jim Hiller said. “We were in and around their net. I don’t know how much we tested them, but we were around, pucks were just kind of rolling past. We felt we’re going pretty good and then yeah, to have to come in down 1-0 (after the first period), that’s not a great feeling. But still, we were calm. We knew we were playing pretty well. We had to get one before we got it and it was too late.”
Toropchenko gave the Blues a 1-0 lead at 17:30 of the first period when his wrist shot through traffic from the right point beat Talbot.
“He’s a hard guy to play against and he gets rewarded putting the puck to the net,” St. Louis coach Drew Bannister said of Toropchenko. “He gets us going when the first 10 minutes of the first period, we were trying to find our legs and seemed after we scored that goal, we started to get to our game.”
LAK@STL: Neighbours scores goal against Cam Talbot
Neighbours made it 2-0 at 1:57 of the second period, putting in a loose puck at the top of the crease.
“I thought both ‘Jakey’ and [Zack] Bolduc did an outstanding job,” Bannister said. “If you look at who they’re playing against, the way they played for young players on the ice and to be able to contribute is impressive.”
Saad pushed it to 3-0 at 10:26 of the third period with a redirection at the right side of the net off Colton Parayko‘s wrist shot from the slot.
“He’s done it on the power play, that little chip shot,” Bannister said. “A (Sidney) ‘Crosby,’ we call it. It’s a skill play, but it’s a dangerous play because it’s hard for goalies to be able to react to it, but it’s a very skilled play.”
Binnington lost his stick while making a sprawling save on a one-timer from Mikey Anderson in the right circle at 10:56, then saved Drew Doughty’s attempt on the rebound to preserve the 3-0 lead.
“Yeah, anything goes,” Binnington said. “It’s fun when you’re out there with the group. Everyone is diving around, trying to find a way to keep the puck out. Those are fun moments.”
LAK@STL: Binnington makes sweet series of saves
Kempe cut it to 3-1 at 13:08 when he put in Doughty’s centering pass at the top of the crease.
“We had lots of pucks in and around their net,” Hiller said. “I think we maybe tried to overpass in that area, and the times that we did shoot there was a deflection that just missed our stick. That’s not execution. That’s just kind of the way the puck bounces sometimes, but there were definitely opportunities to execute a little cleaner around the net that we weren’t able to do but did there.”
NOTES: Hayes had an assist in his 700th NHL game. … Saad reached 20 goals for the seventh time in 13 NHL seasons. … The Kings played with 11 forwards and seven defensemen for the second straight game. … Doughty has an assist in each of his past four games. The defenseman also has a six-game point streak against St. Louis (seven points; one goal, six assists).
