ST. LOUIS -- It's easy to wonder how things would go for a goalie after receiving accolades in a pregame ceremony. It didn't work out so well for Jacob Markstrom when the New Jersey Devils [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/new-jersey-devils/] honored their goalie Wednesday prior to facing the St. Louis Blues for playing in his 500th game. Blues goalie made number of spectacular saves, including one on Couturier towards end of second period Jordan Binnington was honored with a pregame ceremony that for passing Mike Liut into sole possession of first place for the most goalie wins in Blues history. It involved his wife, son, mother, Blues general manager Doug Armstrong and chairman Tom Stillman. Needless to say, Binnington was on top of his game, but it was unfortunate the Blues couldn't pull out a win in this one, falling to the Philadelphia Flyers [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/philadelphia-flyers/], 3-2 in overtime. The Flyers (12-10-3) had themselves multiple odd-man rushes in the game and multiple breakaway attempts, all ones Binnington thwarted except for the one in the end that Matvei Michkov scored 28 seconds into the extra session. "It's tough. I really wanted that one," Binnington said. "It was a really fun game, chances at both ends. By the end, the rink was so loud. It was fun playing in front of the home crowd there. We really wanted that one, but we fought hard. I think just that third period showing that resiliency to tie that game up late was big for us. We've got to take that with us moving forward and keep working." Binnington, aside from making breakaway saves on Ryan Poehling and Sean Couturier, among others, had the save of the year when he absolutely robbed Couturier of a sure goal with 1:00 left in the second period. He stopped Travis Konecny, who gained an edge on Jake Neighbours, the lunging to his left, gloved Couturier's rebound on the goal line: "That's just kind of a desperation save," Binnington said. "I'm going left to right and then I can't really catch him at the back, so it's kind of just stretch out and hope it hits you. That one worked out nice." Added forward Dylan Holloway, "He's incredible. He's been giving us a chance to win all year. Sometimes I feel bad. Those are the kind of games we need to win for him. Helluva saves all night. "That one glove save he made in the second was probably the best save I've ever seen. He's bee incredible for us. We need to start stringing some wins for him." Blues coach Jim Montgomery, making his home debut as Blues coach, knew his team wasn't at its best but had a chance thanks to his goalie. "Spectacular saves after spectacular saves," Montgomery said. "I wish we didn't have to make him be so good tonight and we played a little better in front of him, but it's a big strength of our team, the depth of our goaltending. Until we clean up and get better in our puck pressure up ice and our tracking back, we're going to need them to be good until we get that down." Image [https://thehockeynews.com/.image/c_fit,h_600,w_600/MjA5MjcwNjk1MDQ0MTI5OTk4/subscribe2024-tag-carousel.jpg]
