Graves scores 1st goal of season as Penguins beat Blues
Ryan Graves scores 1st goal of season, Penguins beat Blues 5-3
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Ryan Graves scored 2:17 into the game and the Pittsburgh Penguins never trailed Thursday night in a 5-3 win over the St. Louis Blues.
Graves’ goal was his first of the season, and Conor Timmins flicked a shot over the stick-side shoulder of goaltender Jordan Binnington to give Pittsburgh a 2-0 lead almost 2 1/2 minutes into the second period.
Zack Bolduc scored a power-play goal with 8:25 left in the second period to cut the St. Louis deficit to 2-1.
Connor Dewar redirected a pass from Blake Lizotte into the net with 2:18 left in the second to make it 3-1. Timmins and Dewar were acquired last week in a trade with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Dylan Holloway added another power-play goal for St. Louis less than 90 seconds into the third period, Pittsburgh’s Bryan Rust answered about six minutes later and Alexey Toropchenko’s goal for St. Louis made it 4-3 with about 11 minutes remaining.
Rickard Rakell added and empty-netter in the closing seconds.
Takeaways
Penguins: Dewar became the 27th player to score for the Penguins this season, the most in the NHL.
Blues: Binnington was pulled after Rust’s goal put the Penguins back up by two 7:15 into the third period. With the outcome in doubt, it was a curious move involving the longtime starter and tournament-winning goalie for Canada in the 4 Nations Face-Off.
Key moment
Moments after Dewar’s goal, Tristan Jarry stopped back-to-back shots by Jordan Kyrou in the closing seconds of the period and the Penguins took a 3-1 lead into the third.
Key stat
Jarry had 33 saves for the Penguins and improved to 7-1-0 against St. Louis, including 5-0-0 at at PPG Paints Arena.
Up next
St. Louis plays Saturday at Minnesota. Pittsburgh plays host to New Jersey on Saturday.