The Blues looked like they were caught in a hurricane during the first period. They were outshot 13–2 and had very little offensive zone time, but another stellar performance from Jordan Binnington kept the Hurricanes to one goal, scored by Mark Jankowski, in the first period. Binnington was exceptional all night. He faced at least three back-door chances, including two in the third period, where he flew across the net to make saves. Jordan Binnington saved 31 of 32 shots, with at least six of those being high-danger shots. Binnington was one of, if not the, main reasons the Blues won against the Hurricanes.
Jimmy Snuggerud is on an impressive streak with the Blues. He scored a goal 3:53 into the second period, tying the game at 1–1. The St. Louis Blues started to gain momentum, slowing down the rush and showing that Jim Montgomery’s late first-period timeout was a smart decision. The second period ended with both teams having 8 shots on goal, and a confident Blues team heading into the locker room. Then, 15:12 into the third period, Snuggerud fired a quick-release shot past three Carolina Hurricanes, making it a 2–1 game.
From this point on, the Blues had most of the momentum. Even when the Hurricanes applied pressure, Binnington was there to make the save. From the start, it felt as though the arena had already fallen silent, despite their early control over the Blues. At one point, the broadcast compared the noise level to that inside a library. I would agree with that. The Hurricanes expected to win, and rightly so, coming into tonight's game with a record of 41–17–6, but the Blues silenced the storm, making it clear that, even though this season has not gone as planned, the Blues will fight until the end. Pavel Buchnevich waved the fans out of the building with an empty-net goal with nearly one minute remaining in the game.