Things change over the course of time, even if the amount of time is brief. While things change all the time, for the immediate future, the St. Louis Blues look like a team on the rise, and the Toronto Maple Leafs look like they’ll be in the dumps for quite some time.

The first period, and really every period in this game, belonged to the Blues. While the dominance got bigger as the game went on, even in the first, St. Louis was just the better team.

They created more. They earned more chances and just looked more capable in all phases.

The Blues outshot Toronto 10-4 in the first period. Even with that disparity, neither team truly felt like they were about to score until they traded chances in the final two minutes.

St. Louis looked even better in the second. Their form in the second period after the Olympic break, but especially in this game, has been night and day from the team that was the league’s worst second-period performer earlier in the season.

The Blues outshot the Leafs 15-4. They also outscored Toronto 2-0 in the period.

St. Louis got things going at the 5:21 mark. The play got set up when Dylan Holloway intercepted a puck near the blue line. As things got filtered around, they eventually found Jimmy Snuggerud for a backside deflection and a 1-0 lead.

A little over five minutes later, it was a two-goal lead. With roles reversed, Jordan Kyrou took the shot from near the blue line, and Justin Holl was crossing the middle to act as a screen and got the deflection.

The Blues felt in firm control, holding that two-goal lead into the third period, but despite the lack of chances, all it took to upend things was Toronto scoring first in the third. After coming close on a couple of tricklers, the Leafs finally broke their barrier when Jake McCabe scored from the right wall. It looked as though it may have gone off a Blues stick on the way through, but either way, it was a 2-1 game.

Things appeared on the brink of swinging the other way when the Blues took a bad holding call. But, instead of a tie game, the two-goal lead was restored. St. Louis picked off a puck and then had most of the possession for about 20 seconds.

Robert Thomas got the puck into the offensive zone and created some havoc. Then, he managed to chop it in front of a wide-open Pius Suter, who smacked it just past the glove and gave the Blues a 3-1 lead.

That came 6:46 into the third, and the game unraveled from there. St. Louis got another one about three minutes later. This time Holloway got the goal when Kyrou fed him from the right circle, and Holloway snapped it in from the slot.

The Blues got the icing on the cake with a power play goal with 1:36 left. Philip Broberg outwaited the defender to get him out of position and then took the shooting lane from just outside the slot to make it 5-1.

Pro: Binnington

This wasn’t a goaltending show, by any means. I won’t say Binnington won the game for the Blues either.

This was more the kind of game Binnington needed to continue picking up his confidence. It was a relatively easy win, without a ton of pressure against.

Binnington was mainly just called on to make the saves he needed. The only time he was really tested was when it was close right at the end of the first period.

Still, it was a good result where the team stood up for him, and he stood up for them. There wasn’t a lot he could do, but he still got a nice .923 save percentage and just a solid game for him.

Con: A little dull

If we’re honest, there was a little dullness in this game. I don’t expect barn burners every time out, and the Blues did finish the game with five goals, with none being empty net goals.

Still, for parts of the first and second, this had the feeling of an old-school East vs West game. As I mentioned after the Washington game, that game was much more testy and physical than a normal inter-conference game. This one was much more reminiscent of a mid-season game between teams from opposite conferences.

There were stretches where it seemed like everyone was just kind of going through the motions. It was a game, as opposed to a practice, but I think there was just so little pushback from the Leafs that it lacked a little something.

Pro: Special teams

While the Blues have still had plenty of miscues during their resurgence, the special teams in this game were right where you needed them to be. They got things done, including a big turn of events.

Things started off very well when the Blues killed off a double minor in the first period. You have the potential to be down 1-0, or even 2-0 if you allow a goal early enough. Instead, the Blues calmly killed off the first two minutes and then just continued with a strong, defensive kill during the second two minutes.

Then you take the penalty shortly after Toronto makes it 2-1. The Blues kill that off too, but even score the shorthanded goal. That’s a complete reversal of fortune by your special teams, where you take a two-goal lead instead of possibly having a tie game.

Last, but not least, the Blues got a power-play goal too. It may have been in junk time as far as the Leafs were concerned, but the PP could barely get zone time on their first chance, so getting the goal is important for momentum.

Overview:

This is another example of where this was earlier in the season. Toronto is just a bad team right now, but we’ve seen the Blues look like a bad team for plenty of 2025-26.

We’ve also seen the Blues lose to bad teams because they played like they thought they were better than they were. In this game, the Blues played up to their own level instead of playing down.

St. Louis outshot the Leafs 38-13. At least for one game, the Blues morphed from a team looking to just take a couple of chances to getting double-digit shots in each period.

St. Louis played a smart game, but also played calmly and coolly. The Blues had plenty of chances in the first and couldn’t hit the back of the net. It would have been easy to get frustrated, make mistakes, and let the game slip away.

Instead, the Blues just let things come in their own time and didn’t force anything. Making the playoffs is still an uphill battle, mainly because of the number of teams the Blues would have to leapfrog.

But the Blues are doing everything they can so far to give themselves a chance, at least. They more than took care of business against Toronto and now look west to their California trip, where they have more winnable games.