There were a number of clutch performers in the St. Louis Blues' 2-1 shootout win against the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday at PNC Arena.
Jordan Binnington deserves player of the game recognition, making some timely, key saves in a defensive battle. Nick Leddy played a game-high 27:16 and blocked a game-high seven shots. He was really good as a puck transporter when on his stick, but Colton Parayko again played like ... Colton Parayko.
Leddy's partner played 26:17 and when you look at the stats, the numbers weren't eye-popping, but when the Carolina top line of Andri Svechnikov, Sebastian Aho and Teuvo Teravainen were on the ice, Parayko was there, and with Svechnikov particularly red-hot with a six-game multi-point streak (seven goals, seven assists) coming into the game, Carolina kept that group away from the Robert Thomas line, so it was going to be up to the Blues' top d-pairing to do its job.
Boy did they ever, and it seemed every time Parayko touched the puck, he was breaking up plays, making good puck decisions with it, closing down plays and held that line to just five shots on goal and zero even-strength points.
Teravainen did score a power-play goal, but that line, which came in on a heater, was shut down, and Parayko was a monster on the ice.
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