(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.