Blues fall to Wild, 6-2 in Game 2 but actually didn't play poorly

Team played well in to begin game before bad luck struck, then a deficit, 

then a pushback, only to succumb in the end and even best-of-7 series 1-1 

By LOU KORAC
ST. PAUL, Minn. -- It started with a broken stick.

A play that's been executed countless times, and it resulted in a broken frickin stick.

(St. Louis Blues photo)

The Blues and Robert Thomas (left), trying to evade Wild defenseman

Jonas Brodin Wednesday, ran into some bad luck in Game 2.

A piece of equipment that should be the least of a player's worry. But here we are, talking about something that persistently happens in 2022. 

Again and again and again.

It's not the first time, and unfortunately, certainly won't be the last.

Up to the point when Robert Bortuzzo was trying to make a simple cross ice pass, his stick obliterated in half, like breaking a potato stick. These things cost hundreds of dollars for the players, only to be rendered useless. 

Bortuzzo's broken stick led to Joel Eriksson Ek's fortuitous goal, on Minnesota's first shot of the game, that ultimately led to a three-goal first period in a 6-2 Wild win over the Blues in Game 2 on Wednesday at Xcel Energy Center to even the best-of-7 series 1-1.

Up until that point, at the 9:33 mark of the first period, the Blues, down two of their top six defensemen due to injury (Nick Leddy and Marco Scandella) and down to five defenseman after Bortuzzo took an Eriksson Ek shot to the side of the head blocking a shot with 1:44 left in the period, were playing well. They actually had the kind of jump on the road that led to believe they would go up 2-0 in this series.

They were active, they were playing in the offensive zone with more efficiency than in a 4-0 win in Game 1 but had nothing to show for it.

Then, it happened.

After getting a pass from Calle Rosen, who replaced Leddy in the lineup, Bortuzzo had his head up, was looking for Robert Thomas streaking through the left side in the neutral zone. Instead of a zip pass in stride, Bortuzzo's stick shattered like someone put it through a saw right onto the stick of Jordan Greenway, who happened to be in the right place at the right time. 

Now Bortuzzo is without a stick, and Rosen is left to fend a 2-on-1 in front of Ville Husso. A pass into the right circle resulted on Eriksson Ek's one-timer and Minnesota's first goal of the series on their first shot. 

Now the home side has momentum that gave the crowd a reason to amp up the noise level and energy. Two power-play goals later on netfront presence, and the Wild led 3-0 leaving the Blues a little shell-shocked.

"Yeah, a couple bad breaks," Blues coach Craig Berube said. "That's the way it goes. Our guys competed all 60 minutes, played hard. You've got to try and find a way to get some second and third opportunities around the paint a little bit more, and (Marc-Andre) Fleury made some big saves (for the Wild)."

The Wild actually played a pretty good game in losing Game 1; the Blues had to feel the same, and after outshooting Minnesota 10-7 in the opening period, they had to feel somewhat frustrated.

"I liked our start," said Blues center Robert Thomas, who assisted on both goals Wednesday. "They capitalized on some power plays so that gave them some momentum. You know, a stick broke on the first one, so stuff like that happens. But I like the way we came out, we were flying and playing well."

They were, but a mistake by Vladimir Tarasenko led to Eriksson Ek's second of the game 51 seconds into the second made it 4-0 and made the uphill climb that much more daunting.

But the Blues, who pumped 34 shots on Fleury, pushed back. They got a Jordan Kyrou goal at 12:34 of the second to make it 4-1 and had multiple other chances to inch closer before the period ended. The Blues pretty much had the Wild on their heels for three-fourths of that period.

"I thought we had a lot of good o-zone time tonight," Berube said. "I just think we were a little bit on the outside too much and they did a good job against us too. We've got to get on the inside, we've got to get to the net. We've got to get traffic on him."

"I liked our push even throughout the whole game," Thomas said. "I thought 5-on-5, we played pretty well. I think we're pretty happy with (that). I mean it felt like we were coming on, coming on. And a couple posts, a couple crossbars -- and (Fleury) made some big saves over there, so you've got to give him some credit. But I think we ought to be happy with our push and clean up a couple areas. We're happy with our game."

Another push came in the third period, and Tarasenko's goal, a one-timer from the right circle, at 4:14 made it 4-2 and made some behinds pucker among the 19,376 in attendance. And the Blues pushed really, really hard for that third goal and nearly had it on several occasions, including a Brayden Schenn one-timer from the right circle that was kicked out by Fleury's left pad, one of a number of key saves the veteran goalie made.

The Blues kept pushing but couldn't quite get that third goal to make things really interesting.

"Yeah, and (Tarasenko) hit the cross bar soon after that," Berube said. "He had some looks and we pulled the goalie and we botched our in-zone on the breakout. Got to do a better job there, which is a good opportunity for us. It's 4-on-4, we get the goalie out, it's a 5-on-4 situation, we get one, but we didn't execute it."

The Blues kept pushing, and eventually that would lead to some vulnerabilities, and the one fatal, final pill came in the form of an odd-man rush that Kirill Kaprizov finished off for the second of his three goals and a 5-2 lead at 11:47; he would add an empty-netter 1:05 later.
But the Blues go home doing what they needed to at least do, gain a split and wrestle away home ice advantage.

"Yeah, you come here, you get a split and you go home and you're satisfied with that, but we in our minds, I think we came out that way to win two," Berube said. "I thought we had a real good start to the game, but it is what it is. Like I told you, it's a hard-fought series, it's going to be a long series and you've just got to battle and stay with it."

(St. Louis Blues photo)

Blues defenseman Calle Rosen (43) moves the puck past Wild forward

Joel Eriksson Ek in Game 2 on Wednesday at Xcel Energy Center.

"Yeah, obviously big win (in Game 1)," defenseman Colton Parayko said. "Like I said, it’s a long series. Very good team over there. It’s going to be a grind, but nice to obviously get the one, go back home, can’t get too high, can’t get too low. That’s the beauty of a series, you’re going to win some, you’re probably going to lose a couple and you just have to hope you’re on the right side of it."

Now the big question for the Blues is can they get some of their wounded defensemen back for Games 3 and/or 4 at Enterprise Center?

"Yeah, there's always expectation or belief. We'll see how they are," Berube said. "That's playoffs, there's injuries, things happen. You've got to just battle, you've got to get different guys in there to do the job."

"Yeah, I think we’ve just got to come in day by day and just focus on the task at hand," Parayko said. "They’re obviously big guys in our lineup, but at the end of the day, on game day, we’ve just got to go with what we have in the lineup and we’ve got to make sure we’re ready. I touched on it earlier, we’ve got some good depth back there and we’ve done it all year long, so looking forward to just pushing through in this series."