By Joe Harris
Pavel Buchnevich and Brandon Saad combined for three goals in a 32-second span in the second period, sending the Blues to a 4-0 victory over the New York Islanders on Thursday night.
Buchnevich also scored midway through the third, finishing his fourth career hat trick. Robert Thomas had three assists, and Jordan Kyrou had two.
“We got the two points and that’s important,” Buchnevich said. “Anybody can score. Good for your own confidence.”
Jordan Binnington made 38 saves to earn career win No. 137, moving him into a tie with Curtis Joseph for third on the franchise wins list. It was Binnington’s third shutout of the season and No. 15 for his career.
“It’s one day at a time,” Binnington said. “This league is too hard to get too high. I’ve experienced that. Just got to stay with it and just have that passion every day and remember what you’re working for.”
The Blues had dropped two in a row and three of four overall.
Semyon Varlamov made 21 saves for the Islanders, who fell to 1-2-2 in their last five games.
“Do I feel good because we kept fighting out there?” Islanders coach Patrick Roy said. “Yes, I do. But I mean, there’s one thing we’re going to have is we’re going to have to stop shooting in our own foot, night after night. I mean, we played well enough to win tonight. There’s no doubt in my mind, but I mean, we’re making critical mistakes at the wrong time.”
St. Louis grabbed control with its scoring outburst in the second. It was the fastest three goals in franchise history, surpassing the previous best of 36 seconds against Tampa Bay on April 15, 1993.
Saad scored a power-play goal at 4:38 for his 16th on the season. Buchnevich then got the next two at 4:45 and 5:10 for the fastest two goals by a Blues player since Pavol Demitra in 25 seconds on Nov. 11, 2000.
“It happened pretty quick,” said Thomas, who assisted on all three of Buchnevich’s goals. “I think it’s going to be a tough record to beat. That was pretty special.”
Buchnevich scored his 22nd goal on an empty-netter 9:21 into the third, after New York pulled Varlamov for an extra skater during a two-minute stretch of 4-on-4 following coincidental minors.
“I think the whole line was contributing to that, but it’s good to see him get some bounces,” Binnington said of Buchnevich. “He’s a happy guy, so it’s fun.”
Binnington showed a quick glove on a point-blank chance for Mathew Barzal late in the third. Barzal had his season-long point streak snapped at eight games.
“Binner was outstanding,” Blues interim coach Drew Bannister said. “We made it way more difficult on him and ourselves than it needed to be. He played outstanding.”
Each team killed off a pair of power plays in the first. Kyle Palmieri nearly gave the Islanders the lead when his shot during the second man advantage caromed off the post and skirted across the goal line.
Binnington made a save on an Anders Lee breakaway a minute into the second period.
“You’re going to have nights like that where you’re playing really good hockey and you can’t find a way to get one, but at the same time we had to find three and I think that’s the bigger picture here tonight is we failed to get out of that minute,” Lee said of the Blues’ scoring outburst. “So, you know, our line went out there and didn’t get it done and had two against us in crucial moments. So that’s the part that’s frustrating that we didn’t execute that.”
Zack Bolduc made his NHL debut for St. Louis, playing almost 10 minutes. The forward was selected by the Blues with the No. 17 pick in the 2021 draft.
UP NEXT
Islanders: Host Tampa Bay on Saturday.
Blues: Travel to Detroit on Saturday.
