Toronto homecoming Blues: Another loss to St. Louis… Read more

Toronto homecoming Blues: Another loss to St. Louis… Read more

The St. Louis Blues may be in a different time zone and conference, but they’ve given the Maple Leafs more trouble recently than rivals like Boston, Florida, or Tampa Bay. Toronto will be relieved to see the last of St. Louis after Saturday’s 4-2 loss, which included an empty-netter at the Enterprise Center. Following last week’s home defeat, the injury-stricken Blues took the season series with a combined score of 9-3. For the second time, the Leafs were unable to secure a win for either their coach, former Blues head Craig Berube, or their Missouri-born goaltender, Joseph Woll.

The first period looked promising for the Leafs, with Conor Timmins’ point shot bouncing to Mitch Marner, who scored to end an eight-game goal drought. Marner, Auston Matthews, Matthew Knies, Morgan Rielly, and John Tavares, who have led the offense recently, all had solid chances as they put pressure on the Blues. Berube received a long-standing ovation during a video tribute for his four years in St. Louis, including the 2019 Stanley Cup win. Meanwhile, Jordan Binnington made 11 saves in the opening period and has stopped 76 of 79 shots in the last two games.

Woll, whose family and friends drove in from Dardenne Prairie for his first local start, was unfortunate in the second period. A fatigued group let in a strange deflection at 3:29, and five minutes later, Woll was partially screened as St. Louis pulled ahead. Colton Parayko used his size to blast a shot as the Leafs were changing lines, followed by Jordan Kyrou’s redirected shot and another screened goal by Parayko, hitting close to 100 mph. The Blues, already down Torey Krug and Robert Thomas, also lost Philip Broberg to a leg injury before this scoring run.

The Blues’ penalty trouble continued, with Berube expressing frustration as his team took multiple penalties, including two from Marner—one nullifying a power play—and another from Matthews, who defended Marner after a big hit. The Leafs struggled on the power play again, failing to convert with the familiar top unit of Matthews, Marner, Tavares, William Nylander, and Rielly. Max Domi missed a chance to score over Binnington’s blocker, extending Toronto’s road power-play drought to three goals on 39 attempts.

Steven Lorentz added a goal for Toronto’s fourth line, narrowing the gap after a period of offensive pressure, but Pavel Buchnevich secured the win for St. Louis with Woll on the bench. The game saw some physical play, including Jake McCabe’s fight with Brayden Schenn and an unlikely bout between Pontus Holmberg and the taller Buchnevich after several heavy hits.

Anthony Stolarz is expected to start Sunday in Minnesota, with the Leafs now holding a record of 6-5-1.