Blues end homestand with win over Senators

Carl Gunnarsson scored the tie-breaking goal with 8:44 left in the third period Saturday night for the host St. Louis Blues, who hung on to edge the Ottawa Senators, 3-2. Gunnarsson's shot fluttered through a sea of red-and-white and past Senators goalie Craig Anderson, who was surrounded by three teammates.

Vladimir Tarasenko and Vince Dunn also scored for the Blues, who snapped a two-game losing streak in their final home game of the month. St. Louis is scheduled to embark upon a five-game road trip spanning the All-Star Break before returning to Enterprise Center on Feb. 9. Rookie Jordan Binnington recorded 28 saves to improve to 4-0-1 as an NHL starter.

Nick Paul and Magnus Paajarvi scored for the Senators, who had a two-game winning streak snapped. Anderson, who was making his first appearance since suffering a concussion Dec. 21, made 35 saves. The Senators took the lead 4:34 into the first, when Paul took a backhanded pass from Mikkel Boedker, who was behind the net, and fired a shot that Binnington slowed but could not stop from trickling between his legs and beyond the goal line.

The Blues tied the score a little more than three minutes later following a faceoff win by Ryan O'Reilly deep in the Senators' zone. O'Reilly wrangled the puck from Ottawa center Chris Tierney and passed to Tarasenko, who initially lost the puck but corralled it and fired a slapshot over Anderson's glove at the 7:50 mark, The Blues took the lead for the first time late in the second period, when Dunn's shot from the faceoff circle sailed beyond Anderson's glove.

The Senators tied the game on a fluke short-handed goal exactly one minute into the third. Ottawa center Zack Smith raced up the left side of the ice and motioned as if he was going to shoot before he passed across the crease to Paajarvi, who didn't have his stick down and seemed as surprised as anyone by Smith's fake. But the puck ticked off Paajarvi's skate and into the net.

--Field Level Media

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)