St. Louis Blues rally for victory amid Holloway's on-ice scare

ST. LOUIS — Much like the previous game, the St. Louis Blues defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning 3-2 at home on Tuesday, Nov. 5, but lost a key player to injury in the process.

Blues forward Dylan Holloway was hit in the neck by a puck shot point blank by Lightning forward Nick Paul in the first period. Despite getting hit, he still skated around momentarily until returning to the bench after a delayed penalty.

Holloway’s teammates were seen motioning and shouting for help as he was getting treated for his injury. He left the bench on a stretcher and was taken to the local hospital. Both teams were sent to their locker rooms for the first intermission even though there was still 1:11 remaining in the first period.

“It’s hard,” Blues captain Brayden Schenn said. “It’s your teammate. Then we got news that he’s going to be fine. And then, you have to wrap your head around it a little bit and go play a hockey game again, right? So that’s just, unfortunately, the reality of the sport, and it took us awhile to get going.”

It was announced that Holloway was alert and stable as he left the bench. The Blues were later told during intermission that he was going to be OK.

“It’s kind of a scary situation at the time for everybody,” Blues forward Alexey Toropchenko said. “We got told that he’s OK and we just need to focus on our game and play for him and get a win. When you step on the ice, just think only about winning.”

The Blues fell behind early after Nick Perbix scored a goal to give the Lightning a 1-0 lead early in the second period. Surprisingly enough, the Blues are 5-4-0 when their opponent scores first.

Toropchenko and Oskar Sundqvist scored their first goals of the season on their way to give St. Louis a 2-1 lead entering the second intermission.

“Sunny’s been great ever since he’s entered the lineup for us,” Schenn said.

Sundqvist was playing in his fifth game of the season after spending the past seven months recovering from knee surgery, which repaired a torn ACL he suffered March 25 against Vegas.

“It’s been a long road,” Sundqvist said. “It’s good to get the first one out of the way but, obviously, more happy with the win.

“It takes a couple of games to get used to, gonna call it the new knee,” he said. “But now it feels better and better, and it’s important to just manage it and keep it moving during games and kind of after games and stuff like that. So, it’s been feeling fantastic.”

Jordan Kyrou scored his fourth goal of the season to give the Blues a 3-1 lead in the third period. It turned out to be a crucial one, as the Lightning kept it close after a goal of their own from Victor Hedman.

Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington made 21 saves for his 149th career win moving him past Jake Allen for second place in franchise history. Allen, who currently plays for the New Jersey Devils, was teammates with Binnington for two years, including the 2018-19 Stanley Cup championship season.

“Jakey is just a tremendous teammate, person and friend,” Binnington said. “I learned so much from him. He really led the way and showed me the ropes early on there.”

Binnington is now just two wins behind Mike Liut’s 151, and with three games left in the current homestand, he just might break the record in front of the hometown fans.

The Blues will host the Utah Hockey Club (formerly the Arizona Coyotes) for the first time Thursday, Nov. 7.