The St. Louis Blues, buoyed by 29 saves from goalie Jordan Binnington, held on for a 2-1 victory over the San Jose Sharks on Friday to level the NHL Western Conference finals at two games apiece.
Ivan Barbashev and Tyler Bozak scored first-period goals for St. Louis and the Blues withstood a second-period onslaught to bounce back from a disheartening overtime loss on Wednesday.
The Sharks will try to regain the advantage in the best-of-seven series when it shifts back to San Jose for game five on Sunday.
The winner of the series will take on the Boston Bruins in the Stanley Cup finals. The Bruins swept the Hurricanes in four games in the Eastern Conference finals.
Binnington posted his 10th win in the playoffs to set a Blues record for most wins in one post-season - passing Brian Elliott (2016) and Roman Turek (2001).
“That’s a great honour obviously,” Binnington said. 
“I’m having a lot of fun back here playing with this team. They’re doing a great job.
“They limited their chances tonight. We played a complete game. I just tried to do my job.”
Tomas Hertl scored, and Martin Jones made 20 saves for the Sharks.
“We had some good chances and we can get a little better,” San Jose captain Joe Pavelski said. “If we can get him (Binnington) moving a little bit, some of our opportunities (might go in).
“But he played well, gave up one goal and we gave up two. What are you going to do about it?”
Barbashev’s first playoff goal gave the Blues a 1-0 lead just 35 seconds into the contest.
His shot from the left deflected in after St. Louis forward Alexander Steen forced San Jose defenseman Brent Burns into a turnover.
Bozak made it 2-0 on the power play with 2:07 remaining in the period when Sharks defenseman Justin Braun kicked a loose puck between Jones’ legs.
“Gave up two quick ones but we battled, we had our chances,” Pavelski said.
The Sharks controlled the puck for long stretches of the second period, out-shooting the Blues 11-8.
Hertl scored a power-play goal on a rebound to make it 2-1 at 6:48 of the third period after Binnington made the save on Burns’ one-timer from the left point.
“It irks me when you use words like that, because this team has played four or five elimination games. Not moments - games,” Sharks coach Peter DeBoer said, per ESPN.com. “Twelve to 15 periods of elimination hockey against Vegas, against Colorado in Game 7, so I think it’s a ridiculous statement.
“You know what? We’ve found a way. And we’ve faced a lot of adversity. We’ve had calls go against us, and we’ve had calls go for us, and we’re still standing. For anybody to minimize that, I think is disrespectful to our group and what we’ve done.”
In Game 7 against Vegas, officials gave Knights forward Cody Eakin an excessive five-minute major in the third period; the NHL later apologized to Golden Knights general manager George McPhee for the call. San Jose scored four power-play goals while Eakin was in the penalty box, eventually winning 5-4 in overtime.
In Game 7 against Colorado, a coach’s challenge from San Jose resulted in Colorado’s apparent game-tying goal in the second period being overturned. Officials determined that Gabriel Landeskog was offside on the play while changing at the bench, a rare - if correct - call.
And then officials missed an obvious hand pass from the Sharks’ Timo Meier that led to Erik Karlsson’s game-winning goal in overtime in Wednesday’s 5-4 decision in St. Louis. NHL video policy does not allow for hand passes to be reviewed, unless the puck goes directly into the net.
“I don’t know if there’s ever been a lucky team who’s won,” Sharks forward Evander Kane said, per ESPN.com.