Binnington backstops Blues over Maple Leafs in Woll’s return to action

Jordan Binnington made 41 saves as the St. Louis Blues downed the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-1 on Thursday night. 

Dylan Holloway, with two, Philip Broberg, Alexandre Texier and Jake Neighbours scored for St. Louis (5-3-0). Jordan Kyrou and Pavel Buchnevich added two assists each.

Oliver Ekman-Larsson replied for Toronto (4-4-0), which got 22 stops from Joseph Woll in his first start of the season after coming off injured reserve (groin) earlier in the day. 

The Blues opened the scoring on their third shot when Broberg fired a puck through traffic before Holloway doubled the visitors’ lead on a power play.

Ekman-Larsson got the Leafs on the board in the second with his first goal for Toronto, but Texier made it 3-1 before the period was out.

Toronto head coach Craig Berube, who led St. Louis to the franchise’s only Stanley Cup victory in 2019, faced his former club for the first time since getting fired in December.

Takeaways 

The Blues played their first game without centre Robert Thomas after he suffered a broken ankle in Tuesday’s 3-2 loss to the Winnipeg Jets. The 25-year-old, who had one goal and five assists in seven games, is expected to miss at least six weeks of action. 

The Leafs got a number of big stops from Woll. Anthony Stolarz was outstanding in his absence, going 3-2-0 with a .938 percentage and 1.83 goals-against average.

Key moment 

Toronto’s power play had an opportunity to get the team within one while down 3-1 in the second, but again fired blanks to drop to 0-for-3 on the night — and 3-for-26 on the season. The Leafs had another fruitless man advantage in the third.

Key stat 

Broberg, who was plucked by the Blues from the Edmonton Oilers in August along with forward Dylan Holloway when the pair signed offer sheets the same day, has seven points in eight games.

Up next 

Toronto opens a two-game road trip Saturday against the Boston Bruins, while St. Louis visits the Montreal Canadiens in the second of four straight contests away from home.