Now that's what you call a response. After a lackluster outing Thursday against Ottawa in a 2-0 loss to the NHL's worst team, the Blues showed urgency, toughness _ and offense _ against one of the NHL's best teams.
Getting a career-high 40 saves from goalie Jordan Binnington and the first two-goal game of Vince Dunn's career, the Blues trounced the Pittsburgh Penguins, 5-1, Saturday at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh.
"We had more desperation and urgency in this game for sure than in the Ottawa game," interim coach Craig Berube said. "We just were in better spots to score goals. We went to the net better. We shot the puck from the middle of the ice. Little things like that."
Binnington improved to 17-4-1 this season and has yet to lose in regulation to an Eastern Conference team. He's 10-0-1 against the East.
For Dunn, he now has 11 goals this season, giving the Blues three defensemen with 10 goals or more for the first time in franchise history. He scored what proved to be the game-winner in the first period, giving St. Louis a 2-0 lead, and ended the scoring at 13:57 of the third period.
"Once we got a couple of goals, we felt good about ourselves again in the scoring department," Berube said. "Because we've been having a tough time scoring, especially 5-on-5."
Pat Maroon added a goal and an assist, and Robert Thomas and Colton Parayko added two assists apiece. Oskar Sundqvist and Jay Bouwmeester had the other goals for St. Louis.
After allowing four power-play goals on four Pittsburgh power plays in a 6-1 loss to the Penguins on Dec. 29 in St. Louis, the Blues killed off all four Pittsburgh power plays Saturday. The Penguins entered the game with the NHL's third-best power play (26.3 percent).
The game marked the return of Blues forward David Perron after missing 24 games with a concussion. Perron had an assist on Dunn's first-period goal, extending his personal scoring streak to 14 games.
"I thought (Perron) had a real good game," Berube said. "He could've had a couple goals himself. He did a really good job of hanging onto that puck in the offensive zone like he does, and kinda set the tone a little bit for us."
Perron told Blues television analyst Darren Pang on the Fox Sports Midwest postgame show that he was so happy to return to action that he cried during pregame warmups.
The Blues (37-27-7), for 81 points, solidified their hold on third place in the Central Division, two points ahead of Dallas in the playoff race. Pittsburgh fell to 39-24-9.
St. Louis closes out a three-game road trip Sunday in Buffalo.
