Ryan O’Reilly recorded a goal and an assist, leading the St. Louis Blues to a 3-2 victory over the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday night, halting Vegas’ nine-game winning streak.
Ivan Barbashev and Brandon Saad also found the net for St. Louis, securing their second consecutive win after enduring an eight-game losing streak. Jordan Binnington made 35 saves for the Blues.
Trailing 2-1, St. Louis surged ahead with two quick goals late in the second period. Barbashev tied the game with less than four minutes left, and 40 seconds later, O’Reilly scored the go-ahead goal. Celebrating his 300th game with the Blues, O’Reilly received a pass from Josh Leivo and fired a one-timer from the right circle.
“That’s a big one,” O’Reilly said. “Obviously, an excellent team over there. I thought we did some good things. We stuck with it again. They had the momentum at times, but we just kept going.”
The Blues have now scored eight goals in their last two games, significantly improving from the 1.5 goals per game they averaged in their previous nine outings.
Reilly Smith and Phil Kessel scored for Vegas. Adin Hill made 25 saves, suffering his first loss of the season after starting 5-0-0.
The Golden Knights, who had outscored opponents 38-21 during their winning streak, were held to two or fewer goals for the fifth time this season.
“We probably didn’t deserve to win anyway, so back to the drawing board and try to start another streak,” Vegas captain Mark Stone said.
Saad opened the scoring at 9:47 of the first period with a wrist shot that beat Hill. The Golden Knights quickly responded as Chandler Stephenson set up Smith for his eighth goal of the season, an NHL-leading third short-handed goal.
Vegas took the lead early in the second period when Kessel broke free and scored his third goal of the season. However, the Blues capitalized on a tired Golden Knights team, taking control of the game and maintaining pressure in the offensive zone.
“We were all flat. I think we were expecting to be flat,” Stone added.
Despite outshooting St. Louis 22-5 in the third period, the Golden Knights could not find the back of the net.
“I think we had a very, very strong first two periods, and the boys made it pretty easy on me,” Binnington said. “I wasn’t happy with how my play personally was going, so that third period was an opportunity to regroup and give the boys a chance to win, and we did a great job of shutting things down.”
Game Notes
- Smith has 11 short-handed goals in six seasons with Vegas.
- Kessel is two games away from playing in his 1,000th consecutive game.
- Golden Knights points leader Jack Eichel saw his seven-game point streak end. Eichel remains one point shy of 400 for his career.
- St. Louis was 0 for 4 on the power play.
- The Blues are hosting a Mom’s trip, with players’ moms joining the squad in Colorado for Monday’s game and continuing with the team in Chicago.
Up Next
- Blues: At Colorado on Monday night.
- Golden Knights: Host San Jose on Tuesday night.
