Binnington makes 25 saves in first NHL start, Blues shut out Flyers

PHILADELPHIA -- Jordan Binnington made 25 saves for a shutout in his first NHL start, and the St. Louis Blues handed the Philadelphia Flyers their seventh straight loss, 3-0 at Wells Fargo Center on Monday.

It was the first NHL win for Binnington, who played in three previous games for the Blues, including two this season.
"I think I was a little bit nervous, but at the same time calm and just tried to focus on my job and just stop the puck," he said. "Go save by save, minute by minute and just enjoy the experience, and before I knew it, the game was over."
WATCH: [All Blues vs. Flyers highlights]
Brayden Schenn, Vladimir Tarasenko and David Perron scored for St. Louis (17-19-4), which won for the second time in five games.
Carter Hart made 35 saves for Philadelphia (15-21-6). The Flyers have been shut out six times this season, tied with the Vancouver Canucks for most in the NHL.

The Flyers have scored 12 goals during the losing streak, their longest since they lost 10 straight from Nov. 11-Dec. 2, 2017.
"There's no jam to our game, we're one and done every time we get in the zone," Philadelphia forward Scott Laughton said. "I think when you lose this many games in a row, it's tough with this team's confidence and things like that. But it's no excuse, you have to get in and work. We have to be better."
Schenn scored 41 seconds into the second period to make it 1-0. Jaden Schwartz shot off the rush from the right circle. Hart made a pad save, but the rebound kicked into the slot for Schenn.
Tarasenko made it 2-0 at 11:00 of the third period with a shot from the left face-off circle. It was his first goal in six games.
"That's a huge goal," Blues coach Craig Berube said. "That gives you a little extra room. ... He had some really good looks before that that didn't go in. Great for him that he got one."

After Tarasenko scored, the emphasis became getting the win for Binnington, the Blues said.
"Right when we got that second goal, we know they're going to be coming, throwing everything at the net," said forward Ryan O'Reilly, who had two assists. "You could tell on the bench, guys are talking, we got to get this one for him, it's his first one. He played a great game all night. Do whatever you can to keep the puck out of the net."
Binnington was called up from San Antonio of the American Hockey League on Saturday. The 25-year-old, a third-round pick (No. 87) by St. Louis in the 2011 NHL Draft, was named AHL player of the week earlier Monday.
"I was definitely excited to finally get the call, and it was a long road," he said. "I'm happy where I'm at right now and I'm hoping to get some more action and be a part of the solution on the rise of the Blues."
The Flyers had 11 shots on goal in the first period but 14 in the second and third.

"It felt like there was no room out there," coach Scott Gordon said. "When we were in the offensive zone, we didn't have a lot of time and space other than the few mistakes they made. ... It didn't seem like we had time to get shots off. The shots that we did get off didn't seem to get to the net. We talked about putting traffic at the net, obviously the rookie goaltender, and even when we had it, the puck never seemed to get there."
Perron scored an empty-net goal with 1:48 remaining for the 3-0 final score.

They said it

"I would say probably the last 7-8 games we've been playing some good hockey, and a couple of games we felt we should have had a better result than we did. It's nice for us to have a big one here, but we have a couple of big games coming up and we got to keep that going." -- Blues forward Robert Thomas
"It's everything. We've been working hard, but we haven't been working smart. You have to play above the puck. Teams in this league, they're going to send four, five guys, and if you get caught below the puck, you're going to get exploited. We've got to do a better job at that. We've got to do a better job at a lot of things." -- Flyers forward Wayne Simmonds

Need to know

Blues forward Alexander Steen left the game with 10:57 remaining in the first period with an upper-body injury. Berube said he is day to day. St. Louis started the game with 11 forwards and seven defensemen. ... O'Reilly has three goals and five assists during a six-game point streak. ... Perron has three goals and seven assists during a seven-game point streak. ... Tarasenko has scored three goals in his past 15 games.

What's next

Blues: Host the Dallas Stars on Tuesday (8 p.m. ET; FS-MW, FS-SW, NHL.TV)
Flyers: At the Washington Capitals on Tuesday (7:30 p.m. ET; NBCSN, TVAS, NBCSWA, NHL.TV)