Like the team as a whole, this hasn’t been the best of seasons for Jordan Binnington — he’d be the first to tell you so.

But the “compete” level never wavers. If the rest of the roster needs an example of passion, emotion and inspiration — you know, the areas coach Craig Berube said were lacking the other night — they should look Binnington’s way.

In a 3-2 overtime loss Saturday afternoon to the Pittsburgh Penguins, Binnington matched his season high with 45 saves. Twenty-one of them came in the opening period — the fourth-highest number of saves for a Blues goalie in any period this season.

(The high for any period this season came from Thomas Greiss, with 23 saves in the third period of a 3-0 win at Minnesota on Jan. 8.)

As for Binnington, he has 83 saves on 87 shots over about 44 hours’ time in successive 3-2 overtime losses for the Blues.

“I think it’s just fight until the end is kind of how I’m feeling,” Binnington said after Saturday’s game at Enterprise Center.

“I think we showed some good compete tonight and played hard and stood up for our guys in certain areas, certain plays.

“That’s a fun game. Saturday afternoon, rink was good. It was a lot of fun. Obviously, you want to win and that sucks, but I think we’re competing.”

Guess you have to start somewhere, right? Even though the final score was the same and the shot totals similar against Vancouver, there certainly was more bite in the Blues’ game Saturday against a desperate Pittsburgh team that had lost four straight entering the contest while trying to stay in the Eastern Conference playoff race.

“I thought it was more competitive,” defenseman Justin Faulk said. “Second period there, it got … not too chippy but a couple scrums and guys are in it, kind of battling for each other and playing a little bit more physical.

“That’s the style of hockey we like to play. You’ve got to make it hard on teams and just know it’s not going to be an easy night. I think tonight we battled a lot harder.”

Faulk’s eighth goal of the season came on a wild net-front scrum involving seven players, tying the game at 2-2 with 2:27 left in third period.

“We were down and bodies laying down there,” Faulk said. “You just kind of went to the net and hope you can find it on the weak side. It squirted free just enough to get a little bit on it.”

And poke it across the goal line.

But just 1:16 into overtime, Bryan Rust snuck behind the Blues’ defense and scored on a backdoor tap-in to give Pittsburgh (28-21-9) the win.

At first blush, it looked like Jordan Kyrou got caught puck-watching as Rust snuck in. But Kyrou also had Evgeni Malkin skating in toward the net, so it wasn’t an easy read.

“Krugger (Torey Krug) blocked a shot and (Brayden) Schenn was over there trying to poke it, get his stick in there,” Berube said. “The puck went right to Malkin, and it was a tough play. … Tough bounce off the block.”

Malkin dished to Rust and that was that. And so it goes for the Blues — things are tough all over. They remained winless (0-3-2) since the trade of Ryan O’Reilly and Noel Acciari to the Toronto Maple Leafs. They are 26-28-5 overall, for 57 points.

(Hard to imagine this team had 109 points last season.)

In any event, they are 24th in the overall NHL standings — or ninth-worst for those on the Connor Bedard draft lottery watch.

The Blues have been outscored 21-8 in the five games since the O’Reilly trade, and haven’t scored more than two goals in any of those five games.

“Offensively we gotta get more done,” Berube said.

Easier said than done against Penguins goalie Tristan Jarry, who’s now 5-0-0 against St. Louis and has allowed only six goals combined in those five games.

The Blues did take a 1-0 lead 23 seconds into the second period when Pavel Buchnevich deflected a Robert Thomas shot past Jarry for his 17th goal of the season.

But Malkin tied it with a 2-on-1 goal 6 ½ minutes later. With 5 ½ minutes left in regulation, Marcus Pettersson’s first goal of the season gave Pittsburgh a 2-1 lead. The Penguins had three skaters coming down the ice on a rush, but the Blues had three skaters back as well.

However, rookie Tyler Tucker kept backing in, giving Pettersson an open lane for his shot.

“I think we have a good game today, and we deserve a point,” Buchnevich said after the Blues were outshot 48-27. “Shots doesn’t mean anything. They shoot from the wall, from the corners. … Everybody competed hard.”

None more than Binnington.

“He’s been perfect the last two games, gave us a chance both games,” Buchnevich said. “I don’t know how many shots first period, so he kept us in the game. Like last game, he gave us a point. Great job by him.”

Call it a small victory if you want. That’s all the Blues are claiming these days. The real ones are too hard to find. But at least no one called anyone out after this game.

“It’s no secret guys are frustrated,” Faulk said. “We all know where we’re at. … It’s not going well, and if guys aren’t frustrated and guys aren’t upset with mainly themselves, that’s a bigger issue.”