Jordan Binnington stops 25 shots, leads Blues past Canadiens, 2-0

Matthew DeFranks, St. Louis Post-Dispatch on Jan 3, 2026

Published in Hockey

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ST. LOUIS — The Blues swept a back-to-back with a 2-0 win over the Canadiens on Saturday afternoon at Enterprise Center.

Jordan Binnington stopped all 25 shots that he faced in his first shutout of the season, while Jonatan Berggren and Robert Thomas (short-handed) found the back of the net for the Blues.

The win followed Friday's 4-3 win over Vegas and was the third time this season the Blues have won both ends of a back-to-back. It also improved the Blues to 6-0 in games that start before 5 p.m. this season.

The Blues will have a rare extended break early next week before visiting the Blackhawks on Jan. 7.

Killing it

The Blues penalty kill had a masterful second period on Saturday afternoon, going a perfect 3 for 3 against the Canadiens. But they also scored a short-handed goal courtesy of Thomas, and survived another 1:37 of a 5 on 3 advantage for Montreal when Binnington made five saves.

Thomas scored at 10:13 of the second period on a standout individual effort. He pickpocketed Lane Hutson at center ice, setting up a 2 on 2 with Alexey Toropchenko. Thomas dangled around Ivan Demidov, then slid a pass to Toropchenko that went through Hutson's legs.

Toropchenko was searching for his second goal in as many games, but the puck slid off his stick and right to Thomas. Thomas slid in a backhand for his second short-handed goal of the season — his first true shorty as the previous one was an empty-netter in Florida on Dec. 20.

That empty-netter against the Panthers was Thomas' last goal before Saturday afternoon.

The kill came up huge again, with a massive hand from Binnington, just three minutes later after Brayden Schenn was called for tripping in the neutral zone. Binnington stopped Demidov's one-timer from the right circle, but as the puck fluttered in the air, Colton Parayko's whack hit Nick Suzuki in the face, earning a high-sticking penalty and putting the Blues two men down.

On the 5 on 3, the Blues counted on Thomas, Philip Broberg and Justin Faulk to kill the majority of it. Binnington made stops on slap shots from Noah Dobson (twice) and Cole Caufield. He made another save on Caufield and denied Brendan Gallagher's tip.

Finding space

Berggren was back to making plays for the Blues on Saturday afternoon, setting up teammates at the net-front, but also scoring to give the Blues a 1-0 lead at 10:48 of the first period.

After Otto Stenberg found Cam Fowler in the middle of the ice, Fowler picked out Berggren in the near circle for Berggren's third goal as a Blue since arriving off waivers in mid-December.

Earlier in the period, Berggren spotted Dalibor Dvorsky for a chance in front of the crease. In the second, Berggren spun a pass to Schenn on the power play for a chance.

Lineup changes

In addition to Binnington starting, the Blues made two other adjustments to their lineup on Saturday afternoon. Robby Fabbri replaced Oskar Sundqvist on the fourth line, and Logan Mailloux took Matthew Kessel's spot on the third defensive pairing.

Sundqvist had a goal and an assist on Friday against Vegas, but coach Jim Montgomery said the Blues were managing the veteran center on the back-to-back.

"It's just three (games) in four (days), his body is a little banged up," Montgomery said. "We don't love to play him in back-to-backs just because of all the situations. If we needed him to play tonight, he would be available. We just think it's the smartest thing to do long-term."

Fabbri centered the fourth line between Toropchenko and Mathieu Joseph.

Mailloux returned to the Blues lineup after he was a healthy scratch in each of the last two games. He was back in time to face his former team, the club that traded him to St. Louis over the summer in exchange for Zack Bolduc.

"You always like to see what someone's made of when they get to get in against the team that traded them away," Montgomery said. "That's part of it, but also, (Friday) night, I wasn't incredibly happy with our D corps, so making a change back there was, we felt, needed."