Blues beat Golden Knights 3-1 to close in on playoff spot

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Ivan Barbashev, Zach Sanford and Ryan O’Reilly scored to help the St. Louis Blues beat the Vegas Golden Knights 3-1 on Monday night.

Jordan Binnington made 24 saves for his 21st victory of the season. He is one win short of matching Jake Allen’s record set in 2014-15 for the most by a Blues rookie goaltender.

William Karlsson scored for Vegas, which could have clinched a playoff berth with a win. The Golden Knights are in third place in the Pacific Division, 11 points ahead of Arizona.

St. Louis sits third in the Central Division and also is closing in on a playoff spot. The Blues remained two points behind second-place Nashville, which beat Minnesota 1-0.

The Blues completed a sweep of their four-game homestand, outscoring the opposition 19-8. They won all three meetings with the Golden Knights this season and outscored them 12-5 overall. St. Louis is 4-0-2 all-time against Vegas, which reached the Stanley Cup Final as an expansion team last year.

St. Louis struck first late in the opening period.

Las Vegas goalie Malcolm Subban, making his fifth straight start, threw the puck behind the net but Sanford was there to control. He skated out and fed Barbashev in the bottom of the right circle. Barbashev threaded his wrist shot between Subban’s arm and body with 1:19 left in the period.

Barbashev has four goals and five points in his last three games.

Alex Tuch got free on a breakaway at 8:20 of the second but Binnington made a solid save.

Jay Bouwmeester was called for slashing at 13:14 and the Golden Knights capitalized. Karlsson scored with 2 seconds left on the power play when he put in a rebound of Colin Miller’s shot at 15:12.

St. Louis regained the lead on O’Reilly’s 27th goal when he snapped a wrist shot from the left circle at 18:14 after taking a pass from Bouwmeester.

O’Reilly had gone eight games without a goal. His career-best total of 28 came in 2013-14 with Colorado.

Sanford scored to make it 3-1 at 6:27 of the third. Robert Bortuzzo fired a shot and Subban blocked it. The loose puck was airborne and hit Sanford in the chest as he was on his knees, but he got his stick on it in time to score. Alex Pietrangelo also got an assist — the 300th of his career.

After a timeout with 1:13 to play, Subban was pulled for an extra skater. He finished with 19 saves.

NOTES: Golden Knights G Marc-Andre Fleury and LW Max Pacioretty remain day-to-day with lower-body injuries. … Vegas D Shea Theodore and C Pierre-Edouard Bellemare were late scratches. … Blues D Carl Gunnarsson returned to the lineup after being out with an upper-body injury since Feb. 5. He missed 24 games. … Ex-Blues player Paul Stastny was back on the ice in St. Louis for the first time since leaving. … Blues RW Vladimir Tarasenko needs one goal for his fifth straight 30-goal season. … The Blues improved to 11-2-0 in their last 13 home games after a 10-13-2 start.

UP NEXT

Golden Knights: At the Colorado Avalanche on Wednesday night.

Blues: At the New York Rangers on Friday night.