Pietrangelo gets 400th NHL point, Blues extend streak against Maple Leafs

TORONTO -- Alex Pietrangelo got his 400th NHL point when he scored the game-winning goal, and the St. Louis Blues won their seventh straight game against the Toronto Maple Leafs, 3-2 at Scotiabank Arena on Monday.

"We play well when we come here; it's a fun place to play, right? There's a lot of energy in the crowd, a lot of energy coming in," said Pietrangelo, a native of King City, Ontario, less than 30 miles from Toronto. "It's always fun getting a win here. Carl Gunnarsson's played here, Alex Steen, Tyler Bozak. There's a lot of connections here and a lot of people have friends and family here, so it's a fun place to play."
Pietrangelo reached the milestone at 7:51 of the third period when he took a cross-crease pass from David Perron and put a shot past Frederik Andersen to break a 2-2 tie.
WATCH: [All Blues vs. Maple Leafs highlights]
"He kind of snuck down pretty far out of my field of vision and obviously got a shot just over the pad that snuck underneath my arm," Andersen said. "Unfortunately, that's it."
Oskar Sundqvist and Brayden Schenn also scored, and Jordan Binnington made 32 saves for St. Louis, which has opened the season with a three-game point streak (2-0-1).
"The boys have been battling through all three games we've played so far, and that was another good comeback victory," Binnington said. "That's a good hockey team over there, so it felt good to get the win."

Frederik Gauthier and William Nylander scored, and Andersen made 27 saves for Toronto (2-1-1), which has not defeated the Blues since Jan. 2, 2016.
"They've got a real good team, I think we've got a good team," Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock said. "I thought there wasn't much to pick, I thought we had real good chances. In the end, though, good teams find a way to win. The game is right there on the line going into the third period and they found a way to get one and we didn't."
Sundqvist gave the Blues a 1-0 lead at 8:30 of the second period with a slap shot from the top of the right face-off circle.
Gauthier tied it 1-1 at 11:34 of the second on a rebound after Jason Spezza swatted the puck out of the air from behind the net into the slot.
Nylander scored 24 seconds later when he outwaited Binnington, who was sprawled in the goal crease, to make it 2-1 at 11:58.

"I kind of laughed to myself that they can come so fast and they've got so much skill," Binnington said. "We just had to stay composed and keep working, which was exactly what we did. We got one before the end of the second, which was huge, and kind of gave us some momentum going into the third."
Schenn tied it with a shot from the slot between Andersen's pads at 19:12 of the second period.
"They get their chances. Binnington was good tonight, but I think we're playing strong defensively," Pietrangelo said. "We're managing the puck the way it needs to be managed. Everybody knows they've got all the skill in the world, but when we tighten up defensively and we're playing with the puck, we seem to have success against them."

They said it

"Lights out. Lot of pressure coming home, right? You guys (the media) have written about 50 stories on him about ice in his veins. Nothing seems to bother him, and tonight is no different." -- Blues captain Alex Pietrangelo on goalie Jordan Binnington playing an NHL game in his native Toronto for the first time
"They obviously did it last year and have shown they know how to win. They're a patient team, and I think overall we did a pretty good job ourselves. We just didn't make enough plays in the third and they had the one that resulted in the victory for them." -- Maple Leafs captain John Tavares

Need to know

Blues forward Vladimir Tarasenko played his 500th NHL game. … Pietrangelo's scored his 23rd game-winning goal and passed Al MacInnis for the most by a defenseman in Blues history. … Spezza's assist on Gauthier's goal was his first point with the Maple Leafs. … Auston Matthews' three-game goal streak to start the season ended.

What's next

Blues: At the Ottawa Senators on Thursday (7:30 p.m. ET; RDSI, TSN5, FS-MW, NHL.TV)
Maple Leafs: Host the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; TVAS, SNO, SUN, NHL.TV)