On St Louis, Toronto’s Austen Matthews had a rather pedestrian game on Monday. He scored only once, off the power play, in a 4-2 for the Maples Leafs over the Blues.
Matthews scored with 45 seconds gone in the third period to give the Maple Leafs a 2-1 lead at the time.
Matthews has 49 goals on the campaign.
“We had a really good effort tonight,” Matthews said. “The first period was kind of stagnant, [but] we picked it up in the second and played a really solid game. All four lines played well. [Ilya] Samsonov was really solid for us. It was a good game.”
Ilya Samsonov made 19 saves in the win.
“It was a great game for us,” Samsonov said. “We played smart. We played strong. We did a great job and picked up two points.”
The Maple Leafs moved to 30-16-8 off the3ir fifth win in six matches.
“We got better as the game went along,” Toronto coach Shelton Keefe said. “It was a snoozer of a first period for us.
“All in all, it was a good road game for us. We did enough good things to get the win.”
After a scoreless opening stanza, the Maple Leafs grabbed a 1-0 lead on a goal from Matthew Knies with 22 seconds gone in the middle frame.
“I just saw I had some space in the middle there,” Knies said. “Once that opened up, I just wanted to throw it on the net. Luckily, it went for me.”
Brandon Saad hit off the power for St Louis at 17:14 of the second to send it to the the third period, knotted at 1-1.
“I just tried getting it off quickly,” Saad said. “I think I felt a little pressure on my back. ‘Pary’ made a good play to the middle. I just tried to turn with it and get a shot off.”
The Blues dropped to 29-24-2 off their second straight loss.
“We made three mistakes that cost us,” St. Louis coach Drew Bannister said. “The first goal, we got caught on the wrong side of the puck. If we’re under the puck there, that play probably doesn’t develop. We take the penalty, they score on the power play, but that was missed coverage. The third goal’s a turnover on the power play.
“We made three mistakes, and they made us pay on them.”
Matthews scored for the 2-1 lead, then William Nylander hit for a shorthanded goal at 7:29 for a 3-1 advantage.
“I saw [Pontus] Holmberg driving backside, and I decided to shoot it myself,” Nylander said. “I saw the goalie back and I shot it. It got in.”
The Blues trimmed the deficit to 3-2 when Pavel Buchnevich scored at 18:52 off a tip in of a shot by Torey Krug.
Toronto’s Bobby McMann hit into an empty net with 38 seconds left on the regulation 
clock for the 4-2 final count on the scoreboard.
“The third period, again, we took charge,” Keefe said. ‘We buried our chance there.”
Joel Hofer made 25 saves in the loss.
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