ST. LOUIS -- It's no secret that the first leg of the home-and-home set against the Washington Capitals wasn't up to standard for the St. Louis Blues.
Plenty needed to change for the result to flip itself around, and it certainly did, in most facets of the game that resulted in a 3-0 win by the Blues against the Capitals at Enterprise Center on Saturday.
Jordan Binnington didn't need to be spectacular from start to finish like most nights, but he was effective when needed to be with 18 saves for his second shutout of the season and 14th of his career; defensively the Blues were stout in limiting Washington (22-16-6) much zone time, and puck retrievals and zone exits were crisp; and passing was also on par, which enabled the Blues to skate well, forecheck well and in essence, keep pucks in the o-zone.
And last but not least, they won the special teams battle, something they failed at miserably on Thursday, with a shorthanded goal by Colton Parayko, a 6-on-5 delayed penalty goal by Brayden Schenn and a power-play goal from Jake Neighbours.
Let's address all this and more in three-period takeaways:
* First Period -- Although they had to go on the kill early, the Blues (22-20-2) came out with a purpose.
Adam Gaudette did get whistled for high sticking at 2:15, and it was an early test after the Blues had given up two power-play markers on Thursday.
But they got even more than they bargained for when Parayko tallied a shorthanded goal, the Blues' 10th this season and first of his NHL career for a 1-0 lead at 2:37.
Three Blues were battling for a loose puck along the right wall, and the puck popped out off Robert Thomas' stick, and Parayko alertly picked it off or else it was falling on the stick of Alex Ovechkin, and it could have been going in the net the other way, but Parayko picked the puck off and took off going the other way. He kept it on a 2-on-1 with Thomas and wired a wrister part former teammate Charlie Lindgren on the first shot for the Blues.
The Blues were skating hard and when things appeared dangerous, they were blocking shots. Alexey Toropchenko set the tone with a block of an Ovechkin shot and that seemed to spur more confidence.
Lindgren kept Pavel Buchnevich snake-bitten when he robbed the Blues winger on a one-timer from the right circle, a lunging left pad/blocker save at 5:25 of the period to keep it from becoming 2-0.
The Blues had their first chance at the power play when Washington's Nick Dowd was guilty of a high stick himself at 8:00 of the period.
The Blues had some good looks, some good movement and three shots but no dice.
The Blues finished the period ahead 1-0 but nearly doubled their lead at the end with a flurry of pucks at Lindgren, finishing with a 12-5 edge in shots.
* Second Period -- Gaudette, who was flipped with Toropchenko and was moved to a line with Oskar Sundqvist and Nikita Alexandrov midway through the first, didn't do himself any favors with the coaches when he went to the box again, this time for slashing at 3:38, but the Blues were efficient on that kill in not allowing any shots on goal.
They were going on a second power play themselves but didn't need it when Schenn blasted a one-timer on the short side past Lindgren on a delayed penalty at 7:44 for a 2-0 lead.
They exuded patience in the sequence, working the puck from high to low around the perimeter, with Buchnevich and Faulk doing the honors in getting Schenn, who scored his 10th of the season, in a good position to shoot from the right circle.
"Good patience there by 'Buchy,' good pass by 'Faulker,'" Schenn said. "I had a couple, in the past couple games, a couple one-timers from that side that I really didn't like and wasn't really able to get a hold of, bhut I felt like I got a hold of that one and I was able to beat Lindgren."
The key to the game came after Buchnevich was called for tripping at 16:49.
Binnington didn't have too much work in front of him to this point, but he needed to do his job.
Washington peppered the Blues' goalie with five shots, including a close-range one-timer by Ovechkin with 3:04 left, and two quick chances by Dylan Strome with 2:12 and 2:11 left.
"When you look back at the game, that's a key moment to hold that to a 2-0 lead going into the third period is big," Binnington said. "That's what we talk about is game management and that was an opportunity for the penalty kill to get the job done. It was good."
There was some fireworks at the end of the period when Capitals defenseman Martin Fehervary checked an unsuspecting Buchnevich clean along the boards in the neutral zone at 19:30. Well, Thomas and Matthew Kessel took exception that resulted in a skirmish.
Fehervary and Connor McMichael along with Thomas and Kessel all received minor penalties for unsportsmanlike conduct keeping everything at 5-on-5.
Washington had a shots edge in the period of 9-6, but the Blues maintained their 2-0 lead thanks to Binnington's clutch saves on the kill.
* Third Period -- This is where the Blues managed the puck well and didn't give the Capitals any momentum.
There was little to no sustained zone time for Washington, and the Blues only allowed four shots on goal in the period while continuing their solid forecheck.
"We managed the puck a lot better, so we gave ourselves opportunities to get to the forecheck," Bannister said. "I thought our puck placement gave us an opportunity to take better reps to stall pucks. Overall, I thought it was much better than it has been in previous games."
Dowd took a second minor penalty, this time for interference, and Neighbours put the final nail in the coffin by tipping a Thomas wrister from distance past Lindgren at 15:51 to make it 3-0.
It capped off a complete game effort by everyone involved.
"The guys as a whole were consistent in playing a direct game," Bannister said. "I thought in the first period, we had a very good start. They played a game that is indicative of winning hockey.
"Not one guy stuck out. I thought all of our guys (were good). I can go through the lineup. Everybody contributed here tonight."
