Blues use early 5-goal blitz to bury Flyers 7-3

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Alex Pietrangelo had three assists during the Blues‘ five-goal first-period outburst, Alexander Steen finished with two goals and the St. Louis Blues kept their Central Division title hopes alive with a 7-3 win over the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday night.

The Blues scored five times in the first 9 minutes, 41 seconds to set a franchise record for quickest five-goal start to a game, eclipsing the previous mark of five in the opening 13:45 set on Jan. 3, 1970, in a 6-0 win over Pittsburgh.

Ivan Barbashev, Ryan O’Reilly, Steen, Pat Maroon and David Perron all scored during the early outburst as the Blues scored five times on their initial 11 shots.

St. Louis, which improved to 8-1-2 since March 16, remains one point behind Nashville, which beat Vancouver 3-2 on Thursday night.

Claude Giroux, Oskar Lindblom and James Van Riemsdyk scored for the Flyers, who were eliminated from playoff contention with a loss to Carolina on March 30. Philadelphia has lost four in a row and has surrendered 31 goals in its last seven games.

Jordan Binnington made 26 saves and set a team record for wins by a rookie with his 23rd, topping the mark of 22 set by current backup Jake Allen in 2014-15. Binnington, 23-5-1, has won his last six games at home. He shut out Philadelphia 3-0 on Jan. 7 in his first NHL start.

Barbashev got the blitz started at 2:49 by slapping a rebound out of the air and past Brian Elliott, who gave up four goals on five shots before being replaced by Carter Hart. O’Reilly scored a power-play goal 39 seconds later off a pass from Perron. O’Reilly’s goal was his 28th, tying a career high.

Steen pushed the lead to 3-0 with a short-handed goal off a pass from Oskar Sundqvist. Steen added a third-period goal to pump the lead to 7-3.

Maroon and Perron ended the record-setting run by scoring 2:43 apart for a 5-2 lead.

Brayden Schenn scored in the second period, and Steen finished the scoring for the Blues in the third with his second goal of the night.

NOTES: St. Louis D Joel Edmundson returned to the lineup after missing the previous 11 games with a lower-body injury. … The Blues have won six of their last eight at home against the Flyers. … Philadelphia went 22-10-2 from Jan. 10 to March 27 to climb out of last place. … Philadelphia C Claude Giroux has 22 goals and 61 assists through 81 games and will finish as a point-per-game player for the second year in a row.

UP NEXT:

Flyers: Will finish the season by hosting Carolina on Saturday.

Blues: Hosts Vancouver in season finale Saturday.