Blues snap three-game skid with 4-2 win over Maple Leafs, but Philip Broberg injured

Matthew DeFranks, St. Louis Post-Dispatch on Nov 2, 2024

Published in Hockey

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ST. LOUIS — The Blues didn’t need one more player to add to the stack of injured players. And they didn’t need it to be this player that joined them.

During a 4-2 Blues win over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday night, defenseman Philip Broberg left the game in the second period and did not return. Broberg suffered a lower-body injury when Maple Leafs forward Mitch Marner fell on his right leg along the boards after Broberg pinched down the wall from the left point.

Broberg was down on the ice for more than 40 seconds before Blues trainer Ray Barile helped him go down the tunnel behind the team's bench. Before the end of the second period, the Blues announced that Broberg would not return for the remainder of the game.

The win ended a three-game losing streak for the Blues, whose last previous win also came against the Maple Leafs. They beat Toronto 5-1 on Oct. 24 to begin the last trip.

Colton Parayko scored twice, Jordan Kyrou ended his 10-game goal drought and Pavel Buchnevich scored an empty-netter to propel the Blues back to a .500 record. Jordan Binnington made 36 saves.

Marner and Steven Lorentz scored for the Maple Leafs.

Broberg entered Saturday night tied for the team lead with nine points, and only seven defensemen in the NHL had more points than Broberg. He was absorbing big minutes alongside Justin Faulk on the second defensive pairing, and was set to run the top power-play unit on Saturday night before he got hurt.

The Blues already were without Robert Thomas (fractured ankle) until the first week of December. Forwards Kasperi Kapanen (upper-body) and Mathieu Joseph (lower-body), and defenseman Nick Leddy (lower-body) missed Saturday’s game because of injuries.

Previously this season, Alexandre Texier (five games), Alexey Toropchenko (two games) and Oskar Sundqvist (seven games) also missed time while hurt.

Colton’s clapper

Parayko cranked two one-timers in the second period that found the back of the net, running his season goal total to three.

His first, at 3:29, came from the right point, hammering a low-to-high pass from Nathan Walker after Ryan Suter kept the puck alive on the far boards with a timely pinch. Parayko’s shot registered 92.9 miles per hour on the in-arena radar gun, and evaded an Oskar Sundqvist screen at the net-front.

After Kyrou scored to give the Blues a 2-1 lead, Parayko extended it to 3-1. With a Blues power play running out, Parayko led Dylan Holloway with a pass through the neutral zone. Holloway checked up along the right wall, and fed Suter at the point, who swung a pass to the top of the left circle for Parayko to blast a 91 mph shot.

Entering Saturday, only nine defensemen in the NHL had more slap shots on goal than Parayko since he entered the league in 2015. Parayko came into Saturday with seven shots on goal of at least 90 mph, which was tied for third among NHL defensemen, according to NHL Edge.

Drought over

Kyrou’s 10-game goal drought ended in the second period when his pass intended for Brayden Schenn banked off the heel of Maple Leafs defenseman Jake McCabe. Kyrou had not scored since he did so twice in the opener, in Seattle.

Kyrou had nine shot attempts (including ringing two posts) on Thursday in Philadelphia, and had 10 attempts a week earlier in Montreal. On Saturday night, Kyrou also drew two penalties to put the Blues on the power play.

Kyrou even had more chances against the Maple Leafs, but couldn’t cash in. In the first period, he tried to feather a pass to Schenn while leading a 2-on-1 rush. A prime Kyrou chance from the slot was deflected out of play. In the second period, Kyrou tried to stuff a backhand on Maple Leafs goaltender and Dardenne Prairie native Joseph Woll, but was right by a right pad save.

In the third period, Kyrou stepped into a one-timer from the slot, and later created a partial chance on the rush when he forced a turnover at his own blue line.

Same old story

For the fourth straight game, the Blues allowed the opponent to score first. In 12 games this season, the Blues have trailed first in eight of them.

On Saturday night, it was Marner scoring for the Leafs at 5:25 of the first period, depositing a rebound of Conor Timmins’ shot from the right point. Timmins got the puck on net after intercepting Suter’s attempted exit along the boards. Suter also had a giveaway at the offensive blue line that gave the Maple Leafs possession initially.

Marner’s goal came less than two minutes after Schenn tried to drive some emotion into his team with a fight against McCabe. Schenn and McCabe fought immediately after an offensive zone faceoff, and Schenn dropped McCabe in the corner.

It was the second fight of the season for the Blues. The first was Alexey Toropchenko and Seattle’s Yanni Gourde in the season opener on Oct. 8.

The third came later in the evening when Buchnevich pummeled Pontus Holmberg during a scrum on a Blues power play, and after Holmberg drew a slashing call on Jake Neighbours.

Alumni focus

Former Blues Tyler Bozak and Brian Elliott were in attendance at Enterprise Center on Saturday night.

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