Blues honor Bobby Plager with 5-1 win over Toronto

Mike Yeo and his St. Louis Blues hosted the Toronto Maple Leafs after head coach Ken Hitchcock was released of his duties.

Photo: Jeff Curry/USA Today Sports

Mitchell Marner knocked in a goal 15:24 into the game to put the Leafs on the board first.

About three minutes later, Alexander Steen registered his tenth of the season to knot the game at 1-1. His goal was assisted by Kevin Shattenkirk and David Perron.

In the second, Steen gained puck possession behind the Leafs’ net. He set-up Paul Stastny, who punched it past Frederik Andersen to give the Blues a 2-1 lead.

Vladimir Tarasenko joined the fun just 0:35 later with a snipe of his own. His 23rd goal of the season was assisted by Jori Lehtera.

Midway through the period, Alex Pietrangelo found Colton Parayko open on a power play attack. Parayko’s fourth of the season came with 8:58 to go in the second.

After forty minutes of play, St. Louis outshot Toronto 20 to 18.

With under ten minutes left in regulation, Paul Stastny scored another goal by swatting-in a rebound from Parayko’s shot. His second of the night was his 200th of his career.

On Bobby Plager’s retirement night, the Blues scored 5 goals.

“We were fortunate to get that fifth one, and—more importantly—we were able to honor (Bobby) on an important night,” said Stastny.

Jake Allen stopped 25 of 26 faced shots in the 5-1 victory. St. Louis’ record improved to 25-21-5 as they bump Calgary out of a Wildcard spot.

“We obviously had a big wake-up call yesterday, and today was a game to get back on track. We did a really good job tonight. I thought everybody great from every aspect of the game. It’s a building block and we have a bigger task this weekend.”

Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins come to town this Saturday. They’ll take-on the Blues at 7:00 p.m.

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PJ Cox
​Owner