Sanford, Binnington lead Blues past Golden Knights

[March 26, 2019]  Zach Sanford had a goal and an assist, and Jordan Binnington had 24 saves to lead the St. Louis Blues to their fourth straight victory, 3-1, over the visiting Vegas Golden Knights on Monday night.

Ryan O'Reilly and Ivan Barbashev also scored goals for St. Louis, which improved to 26-9-4 since Jan. 1, the best record in the Western Conference during that span.

It was the fifth straight victory for Binnington, who improved to 21-4-1 in his rookie season, with all the wins coming since Jan. 7. The Blues also completed a three-game sweep of the Golden Knights in their regular-season series, improving to 4-0-2 all-time against the defending Western Conference champions.

William Karlsson scored for Vegas, which suffered its second consecutive loss. Malcolm Subban, making his fifth straight start in place of injured Marc-Andre Fleury, finished with 19 saves.

Barbashev gave the Blues a 1-0 lead late in the first period thanks to a misplay by Subban. The Vegas goaltender sent the puck behind his net directly to Sanford, who quickly passed to Barbashev to the right of the goal, where he fired a wrist shot under Subban's left arm for his 13th marker of the season.

Karlsson tied it in the second period with a power-play goal, driving a rebound of a Colin Miller shot over Binnington's glove and inside the right post for his 23rd goal of the season.

Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington (50) defends the net against Vegas Golden Knights right wing Mark Stone (61) during the first period at Enterprise Center. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports

O'Reilly put the Blues back in front just three minutes later, taking a stretch pass from Jay Bouwmeester and then breaking in on the left side and beating Subban with a wrist shot into the top right corner for his 27th goal of the season.

Sanford made it 3-1 early in the third period off a rebound, after Robert Bortuzzo's shot from the right circle ricocheted off Subban's stick straight into Sanford's chest and then into the left side of the net.

--Field Level Media

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