Kyrou makes play for Blues late to help decide win against 'Yotes

Forward's speed created play that ended with 

Faulk's second goal of the game in 4-1 win over Arizona

By LOU KORAC
Craig Berube spoke Friday morning on Jordan Kyrou and the things he was able to do the past couple days as far as competitive level and speed in practice.

Both were noticeable to the coaching staff, and both were on a high level, which normally translates into the next game, especially when that player's game has leveled off some.

(St. Louis Blues photo)

Jordan Kyrou (left) celebrates with teammate Justin Faulk after Faulk

scored the go-ahead goal Friday night against the Arizona Coyotes.

Kyrou had produced zero points in three straight losses against the Arizona Coyotes, and teams tend to pay attention to players, especially young ones making an impact early in a season.

Berube talked about Kyrou raising his competitiveness and his speed level was high as well, and it was evident in a tight game late in the third period somebody was going to have to make a play.

Enter Kyrou, who used his speed to negate what would have been an icing call by flying past Coyotes forward Johan Larssen, then curled around the boards along the half wall past Barrett Hayton, then he cut back past Hayton towards the middle of the ice and fed Justin Faulk coming in down the slot, and Faulk made no mistake.

Faulk's second goal of the game with 6:55 remaining in the third period broke a tie and fueled the Blues' 4-1 win Friday night at Gila River Arena.

In a game that one had the sense it would take one play, even a simple play like negating an icing call, to have an impact in the outcome, Kyrou stepped up and made it happen.

"I saw the D coming in, so I just made a cutback quick there and Faulker was in a good spot in the slot there and I just hit him and it was a great shot by him," Kyrou said. "I kind of knew that I had a step on the guy, so I just got to it first was playing hard there.

"It was definitely a huge win for us. We lost the last three against these guys, so coming in here in game one in their building, it's a big win for us for sure."

Perhaps last season when he was a rookie, if the coaching staff would have seen Kyrou's play slipping, a night/nights in the press box wouldn't have been out of the question. But it's evident Kyrou has made his impact on this team and will continue to do so, even if there are ebbs and flows to his game at the ripe, young age of 22.

"It was obviously a big goal," Berube said. "Jordan Kyrou did a great job negating the icing with his ability to skate and then made a nice play on a cutback and fed Faulk. We had a couple guys going to the net on the play. Good play all-around, our D getting up in the play and Kyrou using his speed.

"I think he did a great job late in the game using his ability, his skating ability and speed. Obviously he can make plays. He made a great play on the goal."

It helped cap off Faulk's two-goal, one-assist night, and Ivan Barbashev and Brayden Schenn added empty-netters to cap this one off instead of the Blues giving up the tying goal on a last-second shot before losing in a shootout, like they did on Monday.

"We were grinding a bit," Faulk said. "Arizona obviously had our number there at home. We played a pretty good game, the last one, and knew we had to come in here tonight and put together a good 60 minutes and with that, sometimes it's just grinding it out. If it takes a late goal or something like that to kind of get over the hump, that's what it was tonight.

"It was huge. Good speed by (Kyrou) and then a great play along the wall, good patience. He had them pretty fooled that he was going to make the pass early and he cut back, took it hard and it looked like he was even going to take it to the net and maybe get a shot before he passed it over. Just a great play by him and great hustle too."

The fifth of an NHL-record seven straight games against the Coyotes went according to script and much like the first four: tight-checking, grinding, workmanlike efforts all over the ice and a game going down to the wire, which this one did until the Blues put it away with empty-net goals the final two minutes.

"This feels better for sure," said Blues goalie Jordan Binnington, who made 24 saves in the win. "We could feel it coming. We kept working and stayed patient and stuck to our game. It was good to see. It was a hard-fought game. It was tight on both sides and it's a good win by us."

The Blues didn't wilt under pressure in this game. They didn't make the undisciplined mistakes if taking a penalty, they stayed the course. A team that understands road hockey and what it takes to win in enemy territory, stayed patient and made the necessary plays late.

(St. Louis Blues photo)

From left, Ryan O'Reilly, David Perron, Justin Faulk and Mike Hoffman

celebrate a Faulk goal against the Arizona Coyotes on Friday.

"That's Blues hockey," Faulk said. "We're comfortable in those situations. You tell us any night we're going into the third period tied up, especially on the road, we're fine with that, we're happy in that situation. We know if we stick to our game and play the way that we have instilled here as a group, we're going to come out on the right side of things more than not and have a good night."

* NOTES -- Blues forward Oskar Sundqvist left the game late in the third period when he went crashing right shoulder-first into the end boards and needed help to the bench. Berube believes Sundqvist will be fine, but they will see how he feels on Saturday before facing the Coyotes again at 7 p.m.

(2-12-21) Blues-Coyotes Gameday Lineup

By LOU KORAC
There was a special someone that joined the Blues' optional morning skate on Friday, someone they hope becomes more of a regular in the not-too-distant future.

Vladimir Tarasenko made the trip to Glendale, Ariz. for the Blues' three games against the Arizona Coyotes, which will resume a stretch of seven straight games against the Coyotes today at 8 p.m. (FS-MW, ESPN 101.1-FM), and joined his teammates on the ice (https://twitter.com/StLouisBlues/status/1360309679906197504).

"It was awesome," Blues forward Zach Sanford said of Tarasenko skating. "I've been on the ice with him for a while, but he can still rip the puck like he always could. It's good to have him back out on the ice with us and include him as part of those practices again."

The forward was expected to be reevaluated in five months following surgery Sept. 17 but joined the team on the ice Friday. Blues general manager Doug Armstrong gave that reevaluation Feb. 4 and feels Tarasenko is on schedule.

"The mile post that you go through on this stuff is you get the surgery obviously, you start the rehab, you need to get back to the doctors that performed the surgery to check off on the fence posting in your rehabilitation," Armstrong said then. "All those have been checked off. He's on the ice, he's conditioning. His shoulder's certainly not 100 percent right now, but it's at a point where the safety and the mechanisms are in place that we feel he can skate. He can receive passes, make passes, shoot to a level of his comfort. He's still a ways away. We won't see him for a number of weeks, but he's certainly on the right track."

- - -

The Blues, who have dropped the last three against Arizona, including that gut-wrenching 4-3 shootout loss when they allowed the tying goal by Clayton Keller with 0.7 seconds left on the clock, could stand to do a better job against the line of Keller, Nick Schmaltz and Conor Garland.

That trio has combined for 15 points (six goals, nine assists) in the four games played in St. Louis.

Garland has at least a point in all four games (two goals, four assists), while Schmaltz (two goals, three assists) and Keller (two goals, two assists) have also done their damage.

"They've obviously produced on the power play, which we talked about that and worked on that," Blues coach Craig Berube said. "We've got to be better there, we've got to be more disciplined with penalties. I mean 5-on-5, I think we're just allowing them to have too much offensive zone time. We're not killing the plays enough. They're quick and we've got to do a better job of getting numbers on the puck against them and killing more plays against those guys in the d-zone."

The Blues have to be stewing after the way in which they lost Tuesday.

"We had to get over the disappointment of last game," Berube said. "I believe we played a pretty hard game, a pretty solid game and ended up losing a point. It doesn't sit well with you, but we had a couple days to practice and get some good practice time in there and I think that was good for our team just to clear the air a little bit and just working on stuff, trying to get better as a team.

"They came in our rink and they stole points from us. We've got to come here and do the same. We're here to win a hockey game tonight. That's all we're focused on is tonight's game and that's it."

- - -

Defenseman Colton Parayko, who missed Thursday's practice for maintenance purposes while dealing with an undisclosed injury, is "available" to play tonight, but defenseman Marco Scandella (upper-body injury) and Sammy Blais (upper body) will not despite both getting on the ice. Tyler Bozak (upper body) remains on injured reserve and Robert Thomas (broken thumb) is also out up to six weeks.

"No, not today. He's just out there," Berube said of Scandella. "He feels better today to skate. It's important that he gets on the ice whenever he can. We'll see how he feels after today. I can't really give you an answer on that."

- - -

Arizona has done its best job to blanket Blues forward Jordan Kyrou, who got off to a scorching start to the season.

Kyrou had two assists in the 4-3 win against the Coyotes to open this series Feb. 2 but has no points and is a minus-4 in the three games since. This, after starting the season with 10 points (five goals, five assists) the first nine games of the season.

"I think that teams are keying on him obviously and they understand how quick and skilled he is, but I think it's normal for any young player to have inconsistent play at times," Berube said, "but I thought his practice the last two days was excellent, his speed was excellent and his competitiveness was excellent. I think he realized what was missing and we talked to him about it, and I think you're going to see a better player."

- - -

The Blues' projected lineup:

Ivan Barbashev-Ryan O'Reilly-David Perron

Jaden Schwartz-Brayden Schenn-Jordan Kyrou

Zach Sanford-Oskar Sundqvist-Mike Hoffman

Kyle Clifford-Jacob de la Rose-Mackenzie MacEachern

Torey Krug-Justin Faulk

Carl Gunnarsson-Colton Parayko

Vince Dunn-Robert Bortuzzo

Jordan Binnington will start in goal; Ville Husso will be the backup.

The healthy scratch is Niko Mikkola. Vladimir Tarasenko (shoulder), Tyler Bozak (upper body), Marco Scandella (upper body), Robert Thomas (thumb) and Sammy Blais (upper body) are out.

- - - 

The Coyotes' projected lineup:

Clayton Keller-Nick Schmaltz-Conor Garland

Lawson Crouse-Christian Dvorak-Tyler Pitlick

Dryden Hunt-Derick Brassard-Phil Kessel

Barrett Hayton-Johan Larsson-Christian Fischer

Oliver Ekman-Larsson-Ilya Lyubushkin

Alex Goligoski-Niklas Hjalmarsson 

Jakob Chychrun-Jordan Oesterle

Darcy Kuemper will start in goal; Antti Raanta will be the backup.

The healthy scratches include Jason Demers, Hudson Fasching and Adin Hill. Drake Caggiula (lower body) is out. John Hayden was added to the covid-19 protocol list today and is out.

(2-11-21) BLUES NOTEBOOK

Blues glad to be playing hockey, even if it is same opponent seven straight 

times; power play units have better makeup; lineup tweaks could be coming

By LOU KORAC
MARYLAND HEIGHTS, Mo. -- Let's play ... seven?

That's what the Blues and Arizona Coyotes will go. May not sound all that ordinary, if things were beyond the regular season and it was the Stanley Cup Playoffs, but this is in fact the regular season, and these are abnormal times, which makes this, an abnormal situation.

When the league already moved two games Arizona was supposed to play in St. Louis March 29 and 31 to Feb. 6 and 8, it marked four straight games to be played between the teams at Enterprise Center, and there were originally scheduled games slated for Arizona Feb. 13 and 15. But with postponements by the day in the NHL, the league decided to move one of the originally scheduled games April 15 to Friday, it meant the Blues and Coyotes, who took three of the four games played here, would play each other seven straight times.

"It is quite a unique scenario, but it is the situation we're given right now," Blues forward David Perron said Tuesday after practice. "I think the guys are just happy to keep moving forward and keep putting games behind us. You see some situations happening throughout the league and you're kind of crossing your fingers doing everything you can to keep that out of our locker room and I'm sure at times it's just bad luck for some of the teams. It is what it is. It's seven games, we're going to good weather right now in Arizona tomorrow. That'll be nice to get a little bit of sun, but other than that and I think at this point in the year, and honestly it's still early, but it's about our team and it's not so much about the other team. They're giving us trouble and that makes is work on many aspects of our game."

While it's not the perfect scenario to keep playing the same opponent so many times, it does keep the schedule going for the two teams, which means less congestion at the end.

"I'm very in favor of playing these games, not sit back and letting our game rust," Blues defenseman Torey Krug said. "Obviously we're not getting the results we want, so we've got to work our way out of it. The more games we play, the better chance we have. I'd rather have this than sitting at home and letting the games pile up on the back end."

What are the Blues tired of?

"I'm getting tired of losing to them," Blues coach Craig Berube said of the Coyotes.

That's because Arizona has won the last three in the series, including a gut-wrenching 4-3 shootout loss by the Blues on Monday, a game in which they led 3-2 before the city's own Clayton Keller tied the game with 0.7 seconds remaining in regulation, and Arizona went on to claim the shootout.

"They're resilient," Perron said of the Coyotes. "They just keep coming at us and it didn't matter what the situation was. They found a way again. I thought we played, for the most part, a pretty good game. A lot of guys blocked shots, forechecked a lot better and they found a way to get the two points there with a shootout win. We had the game to finish, one second before, we get the two points and everyone's happier over here. I think we've got to take a little bit of a step back, look at what we did good and also what we didn't do so good and rectify that. I think we did that today."

The Blues (7-4-2) haven't taken Arizona (6-5-1) lightly by any means but haven't played their best for long stretches and that needs to be rectified, including the amount of penalties the Blues have taken.

"They're a relentless team, they've got good team speed and they don't give you any time," Berube said. "There's some players that are hard to control in the d- zone. They're quick and they cut back and they're competitive guys. We've got our hands full. There's probably two games where we could have come up with more points in that homestand with them, but they found ways to win and we didn't. Going into Arizona, we've got to be sharper in some areas, our special teams have got to be better against them. We know we're playing a good hockey team over there. I don't think we've taken them lightly. I just think there have been areas of the game where they've been better than us.

"Obviously we've got to clean the penalties up. We keep talking about it, and penalties, we have to keep getting better. We've got to be more disciplined with our penalties."

The fact the Blues get to keep playing and move their schedule along means less travel at the end. The travel for them already is a bit of an inconvenience having to go back and forth between west coach cities on multiple occasions.

"That's the other thing and I think in our division, there's so much travel, so much time zone changes and things like that," Perron said. "If we're going to have to make up so many games at the end of the year right before playoffs and all that stuff, I think that would be just adding miles for no reason. Might as well keep it going, keep playing games, and as teams can't play or whatever, we have to keep adjusting. It doesn't really matter. We've got to keep playing."

The 56-game schedule for all teams could be in jeopardy with all the stoppages because of COVID-19 protocols, and that means the standings could come down to points percentage, something the Blues are familiar with from last season.

"That happened last year. We were first in the West or whatever and then we ended up last four games later," Perron said of the play-in games to determine seeding for the playoffs. "I don't think that was fair last year, but at the same time, I think we're fortunate enough to be playing. We want to keep pushing forward, and regardless of what happens, it happens. We want to get through the season and we're in special times right now. We'll just go with what happens. I'm not Gary Bettman and I do have my opinion, but it doesn't really matter."

* Better looking PP -- The season stats don't tell the picture, but the power play actually had some bit to it Monday.

The coaching staff finally moved some components around and added new layers, including defenseman Justin Faulk and forward Oskar Sundqvist and each unit was able to manufacture some good scoring chances and create momentum in going 1-for-4 with 11 shots.

"I really liked the way it looked," Perron said. "... I just liked the way we were getting pucks to the net. Having Faulker there, just a little bit of a similar look for me, more familiar to come in and put pucks behind my back. There's many things that will open up from there. Either teams back off or they stay aggressive on him a little bit more or maybe the seam opens up or maybe that pull-in shot I do a little bit at times, low plays, we have all kinds of plays from there. At any year when you're at 20 percent, 25 percent, that's great, but the other 80 percent that you don't score, we have to bring momentum and I thought we did that the other night. Tough bounce with 'Schwartzy' taking the penalty there, but other than that, we didn't take momentum away."

Perron, Ryan O'Reilly, Sundqvist, Mike Hoffman and Faulk accounted for one unit, while Krug, Vince Dunn, Brayden Schenn, Jaden Schwartz and Jordan Kyrou accounted for the other.

"It's pretty apparent there that things haven't been clicking for us," Krug said. "Early on, we didn't get too many consistently looks to develop some chemistry, so it wasn't there, but just moving things around, it's just building some excitement back into our game, getting guys excited jumping back over the boards again and try to get our team a goal on the power play or at the very least, momentum. I think it was clicking a little better, more smoother, more shots to the net and converging. I think once we get back to those basics, we can move on from there."

Krug was part of the first unit that once saw him, O'Reilly, Perron, Schenn and Schwartz make it up, but there was just no momentum created with that group. It was a far cry from the years of success Krug had in Boston with the likes of David Pastrnak, Brad Marchand and Patrice Bergeron.

"I was playing with those guys for eight years," Krug said. "That chemistry was there. We knew where each other would be at all times. It's been, what, 12-13 games now, just finding the spot where guys like the puck, what positions they feel comfortable in as opposed to being vulnerable in situations. It just takes some time, and obviously we weren't there but still out there in practice working on it trying to just make sure we know what positions we like and where which ones we don't and where those guys want to feel it."

Berube said there's been more of a direct approach and willingness to shoot pucks and get the netfront presence that helped produce O'Reilly's goal Monday.

"I liked the approach. There was a shooting mentality right away and there's a net presence," Berube said. "We scored on a rebound chance and Sundqvist had another good rebound chance. Both units have go to have more of that approach, just direct, going downhill and shooting pucks and finding some rebounds and then scoring some greasy goals. Then things loosen up and you feel more confident, and then there's probably more plays to be made.
(Faulk's) not afraid to shoot and he's been doing a great job 5-on-5 and creating opportunities to score shooting the puck. He's doing a good job right now. He likes to shoot the puck so that's a good thing, and he's got a good shot."

* Moving parts -- The Blues made a couple of tweaks in their line combinations at practice on Tuesday, including inserting 2014 fourth-round pick Austin Poganski in line rushes with fourth-line forwards Kyle Clifford and Jacob de la Rose.

Poganski, who played in one NHL game Dec. 10, 2019 at Buffalo, could get a look moving forward, "at some point, yes," Berube said.

Also, veteran defenseman Carl Gunnarsson was paired on D with Colton Parayko and Niko Mikkola, who has played in nine games this season including the past eight, could be on the outside looking in on Friday.

"I'm not sure yet," Berube said of potential lineup changes. "I put Gunny with Parayko today and (Vince) Dunn with (Robert) Bortuzzo. We'll see tomorrow how it looks and we'll go from there."

Mikkola doesn't have a point yet this season but has played well.

"I think Mikkola's been pretty solid to be honest with you," Berube said. "I think he's done a good job on the penalty kill, I think he's been closing plays out. I think the other night, a little bit of a tough night for him, a couple goals he was on the ice for. It's not all his fault, I'm not saying that, but he's a young kid yet, still learning, but overall, his game's been pretty good."

Defenseman Marco Scandella (upper body) and forwards Tyler Bozak (upper body) and Sammy Blais (upper body) did not skate and are questionable at best for Friday.

One lapse in judgment cost Blues point in shootout loss to Coyotes

Undisciplined penalties have been problematic in 2020-21; veteran 

Schwartz cost Blues valuable point with poor judgment near end of game 

KORAC'S KORNER

Commentary By LOU KORAC
ST. LOUIS -- Time and time again, coach Craig Berube has had to endure questions regarding penalties from the Blues.

As much as the media members asking questions would rather stay away from the seemingly Groundhog Day questions surrounding the Blues when they lose, it's hard to do that when another bad, inexcusable loss came as a result of an ongoing issue with this version of the Blues: penalties.

(St. Louis Blues/Scott Rovak)

Blues captain Ryan O'Reilly, who had two goals and an assist Monday vs.

Arizona, was critical of team's inability to close out shootout loss.

Their 4-3 shootout loss to the Arizona Coyotes, the third straight loss for the Blues (7-4-2) in this seemingly marathon series came down to one play, one instance that never should have happened.

For one, it came as a result of a poor decision by one of your veteran hard-working, skill guys that should have known better given the situation.

Yes, I'm talking about Jaden Schwartz, who's worked as hard as anyone in my years of covering this team on this beat. But even in what amounted to an inadvertent situation, his boneheaded decision to recklessly momentarily lose control of his stick and get whistled for high-sticking Niklas Hjalmarsson, while on the power play no less, in the waning moments of the third period that likely would have killed the remainder of the time on the clock and secured a 3-2 win, cost the Blues a point and gave a division rival two points, in my opinion.
Let's set the stage here: there's 2:25 on the clock, and our hometown's Clayton Keller -- we'll get to him later in this story -- took a poor penalty of his own, in the offensive zone, and was called for holding Torey Krug at the 17:35 mark.

Game, set, match, right?

Well, probably should have been because even had they not scored with the man-advantage, the Blues would have taken the game clock down to 25 seconds, and for the Coyotes to get goalie Darcy Kuemper off the ice and get any time in the offensive zone, they would have been hard-pressed to get the equalizer.

Now we come to the bad, bad decision by Schwartz. It was an offensive zone face-off, and right off it, Schwartz inexplicably got his stick up in the face of the former Blackhawks nemesis Hjalmarsson 56 seconds into the power play and negated it with a high-sticking penalty.

Say what?

Given the situation, a veteran of Schwartz's ilk should know better, and it's an inexcusable gaffe, one that cost his team the game.

What it did was turn all but the final 25 seconds into a 4-on-4 game, and when the Coyotes pulled Darcy Kuemper from goal, it made it a 5-on-4, and ultimately when Keller came out of the box, a 6-on-4 and just enough time for Arizona to fight for the equalizer.

And when Keller threw the dagger one-timer behind Jordan Binnington for the tying goal with 0.7 seconds left in regulation, it lunged a dagger right into the Blues.

But it all boiled down to taking another silly penalty, and this time, it cost the Blues a precious point while giving Arizona two they likely wouldn't have gotten.

"There were two penalties in the third period and we shouldn't have taken either one," Blues coach Craig Berube said of Schwartz's minor, and an inexplicable cross-checking minor by Zach Sanford midway through the period. "You've got to know the situation and you've got to be smarter there. But our guys battled hard tonight. I thought that we played pretty well, controlled most of the game and really competed hard ... deserved to win, but you can't make those mistakes like that with the penalties."

Sounds like a broken record, eh?

Well, maybe because it is, or has been for Berube. For a team that came into Monday's game 28th in the NHL on the power play but actually looked good going 1-for-4 with 11 shots, and a team that was 28th on the penalty kill, perhaps staying out of the box -- as cliche as it sounds -- might be a good idea.

They're minus-14 in net gain as far as penalties taken and penalties drawn, which is tied for worst in the league with Washington, and the 142 penalty minutes, including the third-worst 58 minors, is fourth-worst in the NHL. and includes 10:55 penalty minutes per game, fifth most in the league. 

It cost them big time Monday.

"Well, 0.1 seconds left, they score," Berube said. "We took a penalty when we had a power play. They pulled their goalie and made it 5-on-4 and then 6-on-4 when they came out. I mean it was almost killed off. They made a play with one second left."

The Blues would go on to lose in a shootout 2-1 and lose the game 4-3, and leave a bitter taste in their mouths.

"I just don't think we played well enough, played hard enough," Blues captain Ryan O'Reilly said. "Again, we didn't out-compete them. It's embarrassing. We just lost three in a row at home to that team (and it) just sparked them to give them that much. Four not-so-great games. It's very disappointing. It's embarrassing."

But let's not kid ourselves. The Blues are simply an undisciplined hockey club. They've taken way too many penalties -- officials making questionable calls or not -- and it's led to a lot of the inconsistent play. And being undisciplined and being near the bottom of the league on the PK doesn't bode well.

There was another silly penalty in the third period tonight by Zach Sanford as well. The 26-year-old, after getting rattled by a good, clean check by Arizona defenseman Alex Goligoski moments before an inexplicable cross-checking minor halfway through the third period, was bailed out by his PK group on that one.

"Well no, I mean you've got to control your emotions," Berube said. "You've got to play with emotion, but you've got to do the right things."

But these are the types of penalties the Blues simply cannot deal with when power-play opportunities seem to wind up in the back of their net.

And when Schwartz gave Arizona life with his stick infringement late in the game, it ultimately gave the Coyotes a small glimmer of hope when all that hope was lost.

"Yeah, it could have gave us a better opportunity, but there's so many other factors that are involved in it too," O'Reilly said, detracting from blaming Schwartz's minor on the loss. "Myself, I have to be aware and bring the group together a bit more to be better in these high-pressure situations."

Now that is something that makes quite a bit of sense from the new captain, but something that shouldn't have to be necessary.

This roster is chock-full of Stanley Cup champions, one that understands the intense pressures of what it takes to win it all, including being disciplined at the most opportune times. But with Arizona scoring two more times with the man advantage on Monday, that's 17 goals allowed by the Blues' PK on 56 attempts, good for 29th place at 69.6 percent. 

That's awful, and when it's that bad, the bad fouls make things even more complex.

"At times we cleaned things up a bit and there was a little bit there and had some good o-zone time, but still, not enough,” O’Reilly said of the overall game Monday after he tallied a pair of goals, including No. 200 in the NHL, and one assist. “I don't really know what to say. It's tough because we keep getting beat and we're disappointed with the way we respond and this is a group in here with guys that have built this culture here where something like this would never happen. Obviously I'm responsible for it and some other guys as well, but it's tough. It's not the culture here. Just too many forced errors and not strong enough. It's not our identity and it stings, it really stings.

“Obviously the 6-on-4 there, they seemed to look to shoot the puck. Center makes a big block, Bortuzzo makes a big block. I've got to find a way, I've got to stay tight there and cover that and at least keep it out of that area. They put it in, they made a nice goal play and put it in. We almost squeaked it out, but we didn't deserve to. We don't deserve to right now and that's the way it's been going.”

(St. Louis Blues/Scott Rovak)

Blues goalie Jordan Binnington (50) makes a save during Monday's 4-3

shootout loss to the Arizona Coyotes

I disagree with O’Reilly in a sense that the Blues did deserve to win Monday. They were, overall, the better team. They changed things up and got some good results from certain people, possessed the puck more often in the offensive zone, which is their staple, and pumped 43 shots on Kuemper. They blocked 28 shots, which shows the commitment to sacrificing the body in the defensive zone, which could still use some work in breaking up plays in zone, but the commitment was there Monday.

But once again, it’s the undisciplined play that will be their undoing at this rate if this continues, because that was a bad point to give away.

(2-8-21) Coyotes-Blues Gameday Lineup

By LOU KORAC
ST. LOUIS -- By his own admission, Ivan Barbashev has more to give.

He'll certainly get the opportunity to provide more when he slots in on the top line with Ryan O'Reilly and David Perron when the Blues (7-4-1) close out a four-game home set with the Arizona Coyotes (5-5-1) at Enterprise Center today (7 p.m.; FS-MW, ESPN 101.1-FM).

Barbashev has two assists in 12 games this season, and although the numbers are low, that's how what he's primarily asked to do. What he is asked to do is provide an efficient forecheck along with his other fourth-line linemates and that just hasn't been the case on a consistent enough level in this young season.

"I think my game's got to be on another level," Barbashev admitted. "It's been a tough start, but it's got to be better. Simple as that. The conversation with Chief was very good for me. It’s as simple as that. We've all got to better. We're not playing the way we should be."

Barbashev was even surprised when he saw his name up the chart when he came in Monday morning.

"Surprised? Yeah, kind of," he said. "I've played the fourth line and it's a big jump to play with O'Reilly and Perron. I'm looking forward to it. We didn't play our best game yet and I think we've got to turn around and play better and it starts I think tonight. We've talked about it the last couple days and I'm real excited."

Blues coach Craig Berube said he's looking for more bite from that line, and adding someone that can get the forecheck going might help produce offense from that group along with getting Barbashev's game going.

"Get in there on the forecheck, being physical," Berube said. "I think that line needs that right now. That's what we talked to Barby about. That's what we're looking for. If you look at the lines, we've got a heavy guy on every line."

As far as Barbashev's concerned, Berube spoke to him about his game and feels there's more to give.

"Not as much as normal. I think that he's kind of looked a little uninspired out there at times and I've talked to him," Berube said. "We had a good conversation yesterday so I'm hoping this inspires him a little bit and get a little bit more life in his game, a little bit more emotion in his game. We'll see what happens."

Perron feels the move can be beneficial despite not playing with Barbashev often.

"He's definitely a guy that can get in there and that's very much a strength of his. I also think he's got more offrense at times people give him credit for," Perron said. "He's shown that in the past. But I think at the end of the day, when our line is successful, we get in on the forecheck. If he does get in there, F1, F2, stops the puck, keeps plays alive. That's definitely what we're looking for as a line. We're excited to play with him.

"No, not many times quite honestly. Just over a few years. Even going back to juniors obviously most of us were offensive players, but his chemistry with 'Sunny' at times and 'Steener', a couple guys even on the PK making plays. As a line, we can't worry too much about scoring. If we worry about our forecheck, getting pucks back, getting stopped pucks on the forecheck, things like that, then the scoring will take care of itself. Definitely I think he's a guy when he's at his best, he really gets in on the forecheck, he does all the little things and we're looking forward to that."

- - -

With Robert Thomas placed on injured reserve Sunday with a broken thumb that will keep the center out of the lineup 4-6 weeks, the Blues did some reshuffling to their forward group and elevated Oskar Sundqvist up to the third line to center Zach Sanford, who missed Saturday with the flu, and Mike Hoffman.

But on the good news front, defenseman Robert Bortuzzo returns after missing the past 10 games with an upper-body injury sustained Jan. 15 against the Colorado Avalanche.

"I'm sure he is (itching to get back in)," Berube said of Bortuzzo, who will be paired with Niko Mikkola. "Borts has worked hard and is ready to go, so he'll be in there tonight."
Bortuzzo's physical presence and penalty kill abilities were sorely missed.

"When he's in there, yeah, his gamesmanship and his physicality, kills penalties," Berube said. "He makes it hard on the other team."

Center Jacob de la Rose will make his season debut tonight after being called up from the taxi squad on Sunday.

With Tyler Bozak (upper body) also going on IR Sunday, it created a roster spot the Blues needed to fill.

"What he always does," Berube said on what he's looking for. "He's a big body, kills penalties, he's got to be good defensively, good in the face-off circle and be physical."

- - -

Along with some tweaks to the regular lineup, the Blues are searching for any sort of life to kickstart a power play that's 28th in the league at 10 percent.

The Blues, who are 4-for-40 on the season, have moved Justin Faulk and Hoffman onto a unit with Perron, O'Reilly and Sundqvist, and Brayden Schenn, Torey Krug, Jordan Kyrou, Vince Dunn and Jaden Schwartz made up the other unit.

When Berube was asked what he's looking for, the answer is simple.

"Goals," he said. "I mean, ultimately, goals, right? That's what we want from our power play, but also create some momentum too. They haven't produced enough against Arizona. Before Arizona, I think we scored three straight games, but it's just got to be more consistent. We need more. The other night against Arizona, I think we had five power plays and we come out of there with no goals. That could have been the difference in the hockey game."

In Faulk, there's a different look with a right-handed shot on the point.

"I like it," Perron said. "I thought it looked decent this morning, definitely some things we can always work on, but I think it does take away a little bit of pressure maybe on one unit too. There's always two units, but you always take pride when you're on the first power play to score and I think it just kind of evens it up, start building it back up and hopefully it's a start that puts the onus on both units equally to get out there and if someone runs with it a little bit, you start with those guys more or even generating momentum. I think for our unit with how it's set up, I like having a righty behind me where I can do a lot of behind-the-back plays like I was doing with 'Petro' last year. I can come in here and pull a shot like I was doing at times last year. I feel like there's all kinds of options. There's the option to go on our one-time side. Every game you'll end up seeing both looks depending on face-offs, the way the night's going, the way the opposition is defending. I can't speak for the other unit, but for my unit, there's definitely more options. I think it's exciting. I've got to take that on my back a little bit too to really generate offense for our team, generate momentum."

- - -

* LATE AFTERNOON UPDATE -- As expected, the Blues' game against the Minnesota Wild in St. Paul on Thursday was postponed by the league late Monday afternoon.

The Blues were originally supposed to face the Wild on Tuesday and Thursday but the Tuesday game was postponed last week due to the Wild's Covid-19 outbreak.

The Blues will not face the Coyotes at least six straight games with games Saturday and Monday in Glendale, Ariz. but there's a possibility of a game in Arizona added on either Thursday or Friday to account for one of the games the Blues have to play there April 15 and 17 to keep the teams from having four off days between games. 

Stay tuned.

- - -

The Blues' projected lineup:

Ivan Barbashev-Ryan O'Reilly-David Perron

Jaden Schwartz-Brayden Schenn-Jordan Kyrou

Zach Sanford-Oskar Sundqvist-Mike Hoffman

Kyle Clifford-Jacob de la Rose-Mackenzie MacEachern

Torey Krug-Justin Faulk

Vince Dunn-Colton Parayko

Niko Mikkola-Robert Bortuzzo

Jordan Binnington will start in goal; Ville Husso will be the backup.

The healthy scratch is Carl Gunnarsson. Vladimir Tarasenko (shoulder), Tyler Bozak (upper body), Marco Scandella (upper body) and Robert Thomas (thumb) are out. Sammy Blais (unknown) was a late scratch.

- - - 

The Coyotes' projected lineup:

Clayton Keller-Nick Schmaltz-Conor Garland

Drake Caggiula-Christian Dvorak-Tyler Pitlick

Derick Brassard-Barrett Hayton-Phil Kessel

Lawson Crouse-Johan Larsson-John Hayden

Jakob Chychrun-Ilya Lyubushkin

Alex Goligoski-Niklas Hjalmarsson 

Jordan Oesterle-Jason Demers

Darcy Kuemper could start in goal; Antti Raanta would be the backup.

Healthy scratches include Adin Hill. Oliver Ekman-Larsson (lower body), Lawson Crouse (undisclosed), Christian Fischer (undisclosed) and Dryden Hunt (lower body) are out.

Thomas out 4-6 weeks with broken thumb

Center was injured in loss to Coyotes Saturday

By LOU KORAC
ST. LOUIS -- The news on Robert Thomas is not great for the Blues.

The third-year center, who left in the first period of Saturday's 3-1 loss to the Arizona Coyotes, suffered a broken thumb -- presumably his left one -- and will be sidelined 4-6 weeks, according to coach Craig Berube.

Robert Thomas

Thomas, who scored his first goal of the season in the game, was tripped by Arizona's Nick Schmaltz along the wall in the defensive zone and replays show his left hand slamming the ice on the play. He played 3:01 in the game and did not return after leaving the ice.

"I feel awful for him and we're going to miss him," Berube said of Thomas, who has a goal and five assists in 12 games this season. "He didn't get off to the start (to the season) that he wanted to, but it was a good start yesterday for him and it's unfortunate what happened. It's something he's going to have to deal with and something the team's going to have to deal with."

The Blues, who were already playing a forward short by going with 11 forwards and even defensemen, were down to 10 forwards when Thomas departed and will now move forward for the time being looking to reconfigure what their third line is going to be comprised of.

"It's obviously unfortunate," Blues center Brayden Schenn said. "Gets his first goal last night and you never know what can happen with that gaining confidence and his ability to help our team. Unfortunate for him, unfortunate for us, but he'll obviously be hungry when he gets back and in saying that, there's other guys that need to step up and fill the void and guys will."

Blues could lose Thomas for a while after injury in 3-1 loss to Coyotes

Center scored early before falling on left wrist in first; Blues once 

again "fighting it, weren't clean" with their game in losing second straight

By LOU KORAC
ST. LOUIS -- It was the kind of game the Blues were looking for from Robert Thomas, one in which he can make an impact in and do the things that have been missing from his game from a complete outlook standpoint.

(St. Louis Blues/Scott Rovak)

Blues captain Ryan O'Reilly (right) looks to make a play as Arizona

defenseman Jordan Oesterle defends the play Saturday afternoon.

Blues coach Craig Berube was wanting Thomas to get around the net more, shoot more pucks and be assertive with the puck, making good decisions with it.

Things were going well, Thomas scored his first goal of the season early in the first period on his third try around Arizona goalie Darcy Kuemper, nearly matching his season output of four shots on goal in 11 games before an abrupt ending in a 3-1 loss to the Coyotes.

Thomas was tripped in the offensive zone by Arizona's Nick Schmaltz and landed on his surgically-repaired left wrist and left the game without returning.

And by the sounds of Blues coach Craig Berube, who would normally give some glimmer of hope for a player returning in a short amount of time, if at all missing any time.
But Berube didn't sound as optimistic about this one.

Thomas played just 3:01 and finished with three shots on four attempts.

"Yeah, he had a great shift there with Barbashev and Sundqvist, and yeah, it's unfortunate," Berube said. "I feel bad for Robert, really bad. He's had a tough start. I was convinced he was going to work his way out of it and now it's an injury ... it's unfortunate."

An injury.

Simple words with big meaning. Perhaps the Blues wake up Sunday and it's not as bad as perhaps feared, but just when you thought there was some hope for Thomas to jumpstart his season, this could derail it for some time.

"It’s unfortunate," Blues captain Ryan O'Reilly said. "I think it’s just kind of a bad bounce. That happens but it’s important to know, you’re going into a chance to get into a rhythm and shorten up your shifts and that’s sometimes a good way to build something and build some o-zone time. Just wasn’t ready for it right away and me personally, always got to be able to bear down and work through it and create something but, that’s just an unfortunate thing."

The Blues lineup Saturday was a mixed bag anyway, and it got worse, but it still doesn't absolve them from the performance they put forth.

Not only was there too much discombobulation, but once again, a disconnect on the ice, and for a better term, lack of confidence throughout the lineup which was missing Zach Sanford because of the flu, Marco Scandella still day-to-day with an upper-body injury, and Tyler Bozak going on injured reserve with his upper-body injury to call up Mackenzie MacEachern and Jake Walman from the taxi squad to free up a roster spot in case Sammy Blais, who also didn't practice on Friday, couldn't play.

But the Blues just looked too broken up, from the defensive end, through the neutral zone, and when they would enter the offensive zone, passes weren't crisp, pucks weren't retrieved with authority and the forecheck was lacking any bite.

It's led to the first losing streak, albeit two games, of the season.

"The biggest thing, we were fighting it," O'Reilly admitted. "You can tell we weren’t clean, especially off the start, starting with myself a bit, little plays didn’t connect on, I think it got in our heads a bit, you can just tell we had the right intention, but it just wasn’t strong. I think we were kind of thinking a bit a little too much and not trusting ourselves. It wasn’t clean, it wasn’t really trusting the plays and such and it killed us. Not what we wanted."

This is a team that shouldn't be fighting anything, let alone lack confidence. They've done too many things, been too many places for that to happen, but here we are after two pretty paltry games against the feisty Coyotes, who took advantage of every Blues blunder, every mistake, even though they could only manage 19 shots on Ville Husso, who started on his 26th birthday.

"I just think we're tight," Berube said. "It looks like we're going out and playing tight. It looks like we're just not playing with much confidence right now. And when you play like that, you don't feel good and it's hard to get going. It just looked like we lacked a little bit of energy and emotion in the game, and that can make the difference."

You bet it did.

And even when teams normally make a third-period push, like the Blues did Thursday despite it being late with the goalie pulled, there was really no push on Saturday in a one-goal game.
Arizona (5-5-1) locked it in on everything the Blues tried, or attempted, to do and made it look relatively easy in doing so.

"Yeah, there were some good looks. But again, maybe you wait a little bit too long to shoot, or again a little bit of squeezing the stick," Berube said. "We've just got to relax and play. We're a good team. We've got good players and I think we've just got to all take a deep breath and relax. You've got to work and we've got to compete hard. We've been scoring lots of goals. Tonight we didn't find the back of the net enough, I understand that, and the power play has got to contribute. Again, they're getting looks too, but it's a hair off here and there and that makes the difference."

On the flip side, Arizona was making its forecheck effective and the Blues had few answers for it. They allowed a close, tight goal to defenseman Jakob Chychrun 2:50 into the game, hometown's own Clayton Keller turned the jets on and raced past Oskar Sundqvist before beating Husso on a break-in from the left in the second and an empty-net power-play goal by Chychrun with 25.5 seconds remaining in the game on what was just a horrendous interference call by Jean Hebert, who drew the ire of multiple players throughout the game on what Berube termed "ticky-tack calls," on Jaden Schwartz with 1:56 to play. 

"They have a good team over there and they play their system well," Blues defenseman Colton Parayko said. "They come hard, they're a hard-working team and we've got to make sure we match that and obviously for us, we've got to make sure that we're coming out of the pucks supporting each other and making sure that we make it easy with the guy with the puck to make a play too. It's on the guy without the puck to make sure he's open and making sure he's talking and communicating a little bit more and make it easy on the guy with the puck to make a play and just supporting each other more."

(St. Louis Blues/Scott Rovak)

Blues defenseman Colton Parayko (55) moves the puck against the

Arizona Coyotes on Saturday at Enterprise Center.

The Blues (7-4-1) will get one more crack at Arizona here on Monday to try and salvage a four-game split, and anything else would be a failure, especially on home ice.

"Overall I didn’t think we generated enough, but we did have a bit of traffic at times, who knows, maybe get a bounce but again, back to that, we were kind of playing when you’re thinking too much, you don’t get the bounces," O'Reilly said. "When you trust your hunger and do the right thing and compete, that’s when you start to get the bounces and we just didn’t do it tonight. We have a few times here and there but not consistently enough and whether it’s traffic or winning the battle on attacking, it’s got to be there to put the puck in the net."