EDMONTON, Alberta – About the last thing you expected when Torey Krug scored a first-period power play goal is that the goal would be the last – of the game.
After all, there was high-powered Edmonton with two of the best players in the world in Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. And the balanced Blues with eight players on their roster who scored 20 goals last season.
But that’s what we had Saturday afternoon at Rogers Place – at least until Justin Faulk’s empty-net goal with 62 seconds. The Blues have yet to lose this season after a 2-0 win over the Oilers. In fact, they’ve yet to trail.
And what a turn of events for Jordan Binnington. Pulled in the first period the last time he was here; and hailed as a hero on Saturday after posting his 11th career shutout.
At 3-0-0 the Blues are off to Winnipeg, where they close out this season-opening road trip Monday against the Jets.
A new year, new time
The last time the Blues played here, on April 1 of the 2021-22 season, Jordan Binnington was pulled 13 minutes 30 seconds into the game after allowing four goals on 13 shots. A terse Berube said afterwards that Binnington simply needed to play better.
Things went better in the first period this time around. Not only did the Blues get a power play goal from Krug, Binnington stopped all five shots he faced to keep the high-powered Oilers off the scoreboard.
His best save may have been on a backhand from in tight by Edmonton defenseman Brett Kulak.
Besides the Krug goal, which came five minutes into the game with Leon Draisaitl off for tripping Vladimir Tarasenko, the Blues had several other chances. Among them, a breakaway by Kyrou that was stopped with a glove save by goalie Jack Campbell.
Krug’s goal made it 108 consecutive games for the Blues without being shut out, the longest active streak in the league.
No second period woes
In their only other games of the season, against Columbus and Seattle, the Blues squandered two goal leads in the second period. In the season opener against the Blue Jackets, Tarasenko’s goal 64 seconds into the second gave St. Louis a 2-0 lead but Columbus rallied to tie things 2-2 after two.
On Wednesday in Seattle, the Blues were up 3-1 after one, but the Kraken tied things up 3-3 after two.
On Saturday in Edmonton, the Blues had a 1-0 lead after one period – but that’s the way it stayed after a scoreless second period. Unlike those first two games, the Blues kept their legs and kept pace with an Edmonton team that had played twice as many games as St. Louis (four to two) entering the contest.
Campbell robbed Kyrou again at the 7:50 mark of the second. After a Ryan O’Reilly steal in front of the net, he passed to Kyrou who had a clear whack in front of Campbell at the opposite side of the net – but Campbell turned him away.
Edmonton amped up the offensive pressure as the period wound down, with Binnington on top of his game. His best stop of the period came when Ryan Nugent-Hopkins had time to tee one up from 25 feet away from the right slot.
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