St. Louis goalie Jordan Binnington faced only 13 shots, stopped 12 of them and ended the Maple Leafs’ mini two-game winning streak as the Blues defeated Toronto 5-1 Saturday night at the Enterprise Center.
After a brief offensive renaissance, scoring four goals against Boston and New York in their two previous games, Toronto was back struggling to put shots on net and unable to put any pressure on their opponents’ defence.
After a non-eventful first period, Jimmy Snuggerud opened the scoring at 5:21 of the second frame. The rookie benefited from Cam Fowler’s slick moves. Fowler danced around the Maple Leafs defence before finding Snuggerud at the side of the net for a tap-in goal.
Former Maple Leaf Justin Holl added to the St. Louis lead, scoring his first goal of the season midway through the second. The veteran blue-liner flung a shot toward a crowded net, and the puck found its way by goaltender Joseph Woll to make it 2-0.
Toronto had nothing going on offensively, managing only eight shots through two periods, but they made things a little interesting when Jake McCabe scored his seventh of this season, wristing a shot by Binnington from just outside the circle.
The Leafs went on the power-play right after, but any hopes of a comeback were dashed when Pius Sutter was left alone in the slot and zipped a shot by Woll. His shorthanded goal made it 3-1 with just over 13 minutes left in the game.
Dylan Holloway added his 17th of the season at 9:10, snapping a shot past Woll from between the circles, and Philip Broberg finished the scoring, adding his 5th of the year, a power-play goal at 18:24 to make the final 5-1.
Next up, Toronto travels to the West Coast to take on the Anaheim Ducks Tuesday night.
