(St. Louis) Jordan Kyrou scored twice, including a spectacular one, as the St. Louis Blues held on to defeat the Minnesota Wild 5-2 on Sunday.
Posted at 7:27 p.m.
Updated at 8:21 p.m.
Kyrou’s second goal of the game, and the Blues’ third, came on a turnover in Wild territory in the second period. The 24-year-old forward accepted a pass from Ryan O’Reilly and flicked the puck between his legs before hitting the backhand target.
The St. Louis troops saw the Wild cut the deficit to 3-2 in the third period, but David Perron allowed his team to distance himself by scoring in an empty net.
The Blues tied the series 2-2, which now moves to Minnesota. The fifth matchup will take place on Tuesday evening.
Perron finished the game with two goals and an assist, while O’Reilly had a goal and two assists. Jordan Binnington made his first start in this series and he made 28 saves in front of the Blues net.
Kirill Kaprizov and Matt Boldy scored for the Wild, which saw Marc-André Fleury allow four goals on 33 shots.
With the two teams tied at 1-1, Perron gave the Blues the lead when his shot slipped through Fleury’s pads. Wild forward Marcus Foligno tried to stop the puck from crossing the red line, but he sent it over his keeper and eventually into the back of the net.
Kyrou took just 54 seconds to extend the lead to 3-1. He got rid of Wild defender Matt Dumba, the author of the turnover, and lodged the disc behind Fleury, who had moved to his right.
At 2:39 of the third period, Boldy made it 3-2 after a scramble in front of Binnington’s net. Perron and O’Reilly completed the scoring for the Blues.
Binnington, who has lost his last nine playoff starts, won his first playoff game since Game 7 of the 2019 Stanley Cup Final.
Binnington made two saves at important times. He stopped a point-blank shot from Kaprizov late in the second period and got past Mats Zuccarello on a two-on-one climb midway through the third period.
Ville Husso had supplanted Binnington, but allowed nine goals on 59 shots in the last two games against the Wild.