(1-23-21) BLUES NOTEBOOK

Berube hammers points to players at practice; power play on wrong side of 

team record; Parayko, Scandella skate; Mikkola impresses in season debut

By LOU KORAC
MARYLAND HEIGHTS, Mo. -- There was no mistaking Blues coach Craig Berube's voice on Friday at the Centene Community Ice Center.

It didn't matter which rink the Blues were practicing on, the voice would be stern.

Not happy with his team's compete level and lack of skating following Wednesday's 2-1 shootout loss to the San Jose Sharks, Berube made his feelings known what he wants to see moving forward as they prepare for back-to-back home games against the Los Angeles Kings (1-1-2) beginning Saturday.

"I just think that sometimes after a day off you've got to push them and get them going. I think that's part of it," Berube said after practice Friday. "There's a lot of times after a day off they're not into it yet. I wanted to make sure we got the full practice today and everything was good and we're sharp. Things have got to get better. We've got to keep getting better.

"We always want to get two points, but there's things that we didn't do well enough in that game that we've got to be better. We've got to clean penalties up for sure, power play needs to score or even create momentum for us and we've got to be a harder team to play against. I that game, I didn't see a hard enough forecheck or enough compete on pucks."

The players downplayed Berube's tone, but it was definitely there.

"It's the same as he's always been," forward Zach Sanford said. "It's all business and I think from the coaches down to the players, we know we can do better. I think today was a good work day and we're ready to go for tomorrow."

"He just wants us to be the best we can out there," defenseman Colton Parayko said. "He's motivating us and wants us to push in the right direction and make sure we're not satisfied with the way that we've started. We've gotten points in three of the four is good but not great. He just wants is to make sure we're not satisfied, we keep looking forward and we know how good of a team we are. When we play well, we work hard. Just making sure we're keeping our eyes looking forward and in the right direction."

The Blues are 2-1-1 and have taken five of eight possible points, which is a good clip, but the inconsistencies that have appeared (too many penalties, lack of a power play, compete level) is something they want to get corrected quicker than expected during a shortened season of 56 games.

"I think there's always room to grow and there's going to be throughout the season," Parayko said. "I think we're going to see different things throughout the season whether it be systems or power play or penalty kill that we want to change. That's just how this season's going to go, it's going to be quick, we didn't have a ton of time during training camp and obviously we have some new faces, but so far, we've done fairly well. We're 2-1-1 but we're not satisfied with that in the sense that the season's short, not many games, we want to make sure we get points, as many points as we can early on here and get off to a good start because near the end, it's going to be crazy right on and our division is very good. 2-1-1 is good but there's always room for improvement for sure."

* Power play drought -- The Blues, who were third in the NHL last season with the man advantage at 24.3 percent, have gotten off to a rough 0-for-14 start through four games this season.

It's only the second time in team history that they've gone four games to start the season without a power play goal (1973-74 was the other when they went the first five games without a power-play goal), and on Friday, got some extensive work in on it, and for now, the coaching staff is sticking with the same units with one exception.

Jordan Kyrou, who took a shift on the power play in the third period Wednesday, will stay with the unit of Robert Thomas, Tyler Bozak, Mike Hoffman and Vince Dunn. He replaces Sanford.

"I think that the power play, we're not scoring right now, so he's a very good player for us right now, he's competing hard (and) he's producing," Berube said of Kyrou.

Torey Krug, Brayden Schenn, Ryan O'Reilly, David Perron and Jaden Schwartz remained the top unit, a group that got in some extensive work with assistant coach Jim Montgomery.

"I think they're still finding their way (with) chemistry," Berube said. "We've got some new people on it. That's part of all the process, but I still think we can get more pucks to the net. I don't think we're looking to attack enough and create enough chaos or even momentum for our team."

* Parayko, Scandella skate -- Parayko and fellow defenseman Marco Scandella, who missed Wednesday's game with an upper-body injury stemming from a hit in the defensive zone along the wall by San Jose's Timo Meier, were full participants in practice on Friday and were part of the regular line rotations.

Berube said they, "both feel good. Hopefully they're good to go tomorrow."

Scandella took part in the optional skate Wednesday, but before Friday, Parayko had been a limited participant or not been on the ice at all since the skate on Sunday when he left towards the tail end of it a few minutes early. He hasn't missed a game, however.

"I feel great. It's good," Parayko said. "Obviously anything that's kind of nagging for anybody is going to be something you want to take care of and monitor with the short season."

As for defenseman Robert Bortuzzo, who's missed the past two games with an upper-body injury believed to be concussion-related stemming from a hit from behind by Colorado's Valeri Nichushkin, Berube said, "Not yet, no. He's still out. That's the most information I can give you on that."

* Mikkola impresses -- Defenseman Niko Mikkola, who made his season debut and sixth NHL game Wednesday, impressed the coaching staff once again.

The 2016 fifth-round pick stepped in for the injured Scandella and played 14:25, including 4:59 on the penalty kill when the Blues were 7-for-7.

"We were very happy with him," Berube said. "He's played good hockey for us here, he was good on the penalty kill, he closes plays out, he's hard to play against. We'll see going forward how we're going to use people and he'll get his opportunity."