Holloway, Barron Dismantle Vegas as Blues Roll 6-2

Justin Barron put up 4 points and Dylan Holloway scored twice in the third period alone as St. Louis dismantled Vegas 6-2. The Blues turned a one-goal game entering the final frame into a rout, outscoring the Golden Knights 4-0 in the third.

St. Louis set the tone early and never really let go. Pavel Buchnevich opened the scoring at 10:00 of the first with a wrist shot — that first goal, shifting the margin from 0 to 1, was the turning point the Blues never surrendered. Barron added his own wrist shot at 13:49 to push it to 2-0 after one, and the foundation was already poured.

Vegas showed some life in the second. Brett Howden cut it to 2-1 at 5:38, and for a moment it looked like the Golden Knights might have something. They didn't. Mason McTavish tipped one home at 8:30 to restore the two-goal cushion at 3-1, and that appears to have been the moment Vegas's window quietly closed. Jack Eichel opened the third with a backhand at 4:08 to make it 3-2 — his sixth goal of the season — and the game had genuine tension for exactly four minutes and thirteen seconds.

Then St. Louis buried it. Snuggerud wired a wrist shot at 8:21 to make it 4-2, with Holloway and Barron both picking up assists. Holloway then scored himself at 10:29, Robert Thomas and Barron setting him up, and closed it out with a snap shot at 16:05 — his second goal of the night, third of the season — to cap the 6-2 final. The story of the night was Barron, who finished with 1 goal and 3 assists for 4 points, touching the scoresheet on four of St. Louis's six goals. Holloway's two-goal third period looks like the kind of performance that changes how a team gets defended going forward. On the other side, Adin Hill stopped 25 of 31 shots — a night where the goaltender wasn't the problem so much as everything in front of him. Joel Hofer was largely untested, turning aside 27 of 29 shots to earn the win cleanly.