Justin Barron produced four points to guide the St. Louis Blues to a 6-2 victory over the Vegas Golden Knights at Enterprise Center on Thursday.
Pavel Buchnevich opened the scoring for St. Louis at 10:00 of the opening frame with a power-play wrist shot, assisted by Jonatan Berggren and Connor McMichael. Barron followed at 13:49 with his first goal of the season, converting a wrist shot off passes from Aleksanteri Kaskimaki and Otto Stenberg to build a two-goal advantage.
Brett Howden pulled Vegas within one at 5:38 of the second period by scoring on a wrist shot set up by Noah Hanifin and Alexander Holtz. St. Louis responded at 8:30 when Mason McTavish deflected in an Adam Jiricek feed, with Barron collecting another assist to make it 3-1. Jack Eichel brought the Golden Knights back within reach at 4:08 of the third period with a backhand goal assisted by Ivan Barbashev and Brayden McNabb.
The Blues pulled away with three unanswered goals in the final frame. Jimmy Snuggerud scored on a wrist shot at 8:21, set up by Dylan Holloway and Barron. Holloway then tallied his first goal of the night at 10:29 on an even-strength wrist shot from Robert Thomas and Barron, before capping the scoring with a power-play snap shot at 16:05 off feeds from Jake Neighbours and Snuggerud.
Special teams favored St. Louis, which converted both of its power-play chances while taking zero penalties and yielding no opportunities on the man advantage to Vegas. In goal, Joel Hofer earned the victory with 27 saves on 29 shots. Adin Hill took the loss for the Golden Knights after stopping 25 of 31 shots.
With the win, the Blues improved their record to 5-4-1 and have now won two consecutive games. Vegas fell to 8-4-0 on the year and is winless in two straight contests.
Both teams continue their schedules on Saturday, October 24. The Golden Knights visit the Columbus Blue Jackets, while the Blues host the Carolina Hurricanes.
