Schenn's OT winner enough in 1-0 win over Predators

ST. LOUIS -- It isn't exactly the way they drew it up, but at this point, the Blues will take it.

As long as it leads to wins and points, nobody will care how, only as long as it happens.

Brayden Schenn's goal 2:23 into overtime provided all the scoring, and Jordan Binnington secured his 100th NHL win with 25 saves in a 1-0 win over the Nashville Predators at Enterprise Center on Monday.

Schenn followed up a rebound after Nashville goalie Juuse Saros made an initial save of Jordan Kyrou's shot. Schenn had skated into the zone with speed after taking a pass from defenseman Torey Krug, dropped a pass to Kyrou before the shot and followed up the rebound off Saros' blocker.

"He was driving the net there and luckily enough it bounced on his stick and he tapped it in," Kyrou said of Schenn. "It’s a good ending."

Before the play developed, Schenn had broken his stick after receiving a pass from Kyrou in his zone. He immediately tried to let the bench know he has a broken stick, goalie Jordan Binnington came out to play the puck so Schenn didn't play it with a broken stick and risking a minor penalty. Schenn skated to the bench, got a new stick after assistant coach Steve Ott was yelling from the bench for a new stick and got back in the play.

"It spoke to the night 'Binner' had," defenseman Robert Bortuzzo said. "He was on his toes. He was alert. He realized there could have been some potential danger and a weird play there."

Schenn had lost his voice and couldn't be heard, so he was trying to get the attention of the bench

"He's trying to let everybody know, but I couldn't hear him," coach Craig Berube said. "We saw that his stick was broke. [Ott] yells a lot louder than I do."

"Couldn't be happier for a guy like that," Bortuzzo said of Schenn, playing under the weather. "He's one of our big time leaders for a long time here. A guy who plays hurt, who plays sick, so I couldn't be happier for a teammate like that."

It was one of the lone highlight plays in a game in which the Blues (13-15-1) and Predators (12-11-3) didn't give the other much.

Even an early-to-mid December game has plenty of ramifications on it. Both teams are on the outside looking in right now, and especially after the Blues had frittered away a point in the waning moments of a 3-2 overtime loss to the Colorado Avalanche on Sunday, it had to feel good to come back on the second of back-to-back games.

"Tough game," Berube said. "It's a heavy game, we knew that. It's always a heavy game with them. They're a big team. It was a good hockey game, battled, competed, heavy game all around.

"I thought we played a checking game. We gave up the one odd-man rush, I thought, but overall, we were tight, we were reloading, 'D' were tight. We were heavy around our net, which we had to be."

And it started with Jordan Binnington, who earned his second shutout of the season, second in his career against the Predators and 12th of his NHL career all while earning his 100th NHL win, becoming the third-fastest in Blues history in his 184th regular-season game behind Brian Elliott (175) and Jake Allen (176).

"It's a huge accomplishment," Berube said. "You go back to when he was called up and what he accomplished. Going forward, he's been a solid goalie for us. He's a Blue. He's got a lot of compete in him, a lot of fire in him."

The Blues needed every bit of it, even after Binnington went down for a bit late in the third after he was struck by a Mattias Ekholm shot on the wrist. But he remained in the game and finished what he started, making a start on back-to-back days.

"I thought he was solid in the game against Colorado and we talked to him, he felt good, so I just went with him," Berube said. "He felt good and he felt good the next day, so that was the decision that we made."

There wasn't a ton of room on that sheet of ice, and judging by the shot count (25-24), it was pretty evident, even though there were seven total power-plays in the game (four for Nashville, three for St. Louis).

Oh and by the way, the Blues were 4-for-4 on the kill, now killing off seven straight dating back to Sunday, their best stretch since starting the season 11-for-11.

"Another thing we as a group really take pride in," Bortuzzo said. "It’s not been where we want it to be obviously. But we’ve regrouped. We’ve focused on some things. We’ve tweaked some things. I think we’re tighter as a group. We’re connected more.

"And again, guys are laying their bodies on the line. [Noel] Acciari’s had some huge blocks. [Alexey] Toropchenko's back, he’s always been a beast on the penalty kill. Again, just another thing we need to keep building on."

But it's been more defensive-minded these past two games.

After allowing 46 goals and four or more goals or more in nine consecutive games, they've allowed three the past two games. If they're going to get back into this race, the Blues have to start from the back out.

"One-hundred percent," Berube said. "In this league you've got to check and you've got to have a good penalty kill."

"That’s kind of been the message," Bortuzzo said. "We’re pretty sure goals will follow if we continue to check. I think we’ve been a lot more intense at the puck, offensively, defensively. Just being on the right side of things.

"We've just got to keep building here. Points are huge. But at the same time, you just need to be building your game. It’s always been a stingy group here. Something we need to focus on and take pride in. We did that through this little back-to-back here. It’s going to be a lot of Western Conference opponents (upcoming), so we’re going to need a lot of that."

And on a night of limited chances, Schenn ended it on the right note for the Blues.

"He was driving the net there and luckily enough it bounced on his stick and he tapped it in," Kyrou said of Schenn. "I just turned around and saw him waving his stick in the air and then realized his stick was broken.

"It’s a good ending."