Another slow start irks Berube in Blues' 4-3 loss to Coyotes

Late comeback comes up short, coach 

looking for more compete from certain individuals

By LOU KORAC
ST. LOUIS -- Craig Berube was about as succinct as one can get after a loss on Thursday to the Arizona Coyotes.

Sure, there was a comeback that glossed over the 4-3 setback, but in the grand scheme of things, it was much the same for the Blues (7-3-1) that was evident on Tuesday, and even going back to Sunday: a poor start with a positive ending.

(St. Louis Blues/Scott Rovak)

The Blues (in red) had another slow start in front of Jordan Binnington

(third from left) and it left them in a hole before falling 4-3 Thursday.

Not this time. Not even the reverse retro jerseys, engulfed in red, would save them on this night.

Players said all the right things following the morning skate Thursday knowing the start had to be better against Arizona (4-5-1) but it was anything but, and Berube wasn't having any of it on Thursday.

"I don't have the answer for you," he said. "You'll have to ask the players that, they're the ones that play."

Ah, hah. 

Well, it's quite evident he's irked at something, or somebody. Plenty of bodies in this case.

The Blues were completely dominated and outshot 11-1 in the opening 10 minutes Tuesday and fell behind 1-0 before Berube chewed some heads off and the players got the message.
This shouldn't have to be the case each time out. Sure it will happen over the course of a long season, and in this case, a 56-game sprint to the finish, but to have to try and repeat the same message as Arizona again owned the puck, owned zone time and owned an 11-2 edge on the shot clock to begin the period and walking away from it leading 2-0.

"It’s not consistent," Blues captain Ryan O'Reilly said. "That’s got to be the staple of us. For our depth and our D-corps, how good we are that way. We have to be consistent with how we compete and we’ll have a chance to win pretty much every game. And we’re just not right now. We dig ourselves holes. It’s too frustrating."

"Obviously, I've got to take responsibility for that. I've got to see that and find a way to get more out of guys and such. But yeah, this league’s very tough. There’s a lot of good teams and good players if we’re not consistent with it, teams are going to catch us. We've got to correct it and it’s a good thing we see these guys in a couple (days)."

So ... being  consistent with the compete level is what the captain is saying, and not saying it lightly. Is it one guy, two guys, three? And that has to come from within the player, not coaxed out of the coach, right?

"It does have to come from each individual and I believe there's a bunch of individuals in there that do compete and work and are ready to play, but we have too many that aren't," Berube said. "If that's the case, you're going to have a tough time winning. That's the bottom line."

It's pretty evident who the coach was talking about without naming names. When the Blues made their comeback big, they did so scoring three times in 2:50 and within the game's final 3:15 to do so.

Mike Hoffman, who scored twice and seemingly has found his niche with this team and this system, had a whopping nine shots on goal (13 attempts), played a season-high 19:13 and was a plus-2. David Perron played 23:35, had six shots on goal (11 shot attempts) and was a plus-3 with two assists. O'Reilly played 24:30, was a plus-3 and had a goal on five shots, and Brayden Schenn, even though he would tell you he could have scored a hat trick in the game, had 12 shot attempts (six in goal) and had an assist in 21:00, and Jaden Schwartz had an assist in 21:56 to go with two shots on goal (four attempts). 

These are the veterans who Berube is speaking of that complete, work and are ready to play.
Now on the flip side, there's guys that aren't doing it nearly consistently enough, guys that are expected to and guys that are just not making the grade.

For the fourth time this season, Robert Thomas didn't register a shot on goal and has just four shots on goal in 11 games and just 12 attempts for the season. He was a minus-3 Thursday and simply isn't consistent enough at protecting pucks in the neutral or offensive zone. He's had some dazzling moments and is a terrific player when on his 'A' game, but so far, the consistency just isn't there. It hasn't been there for Ivan Barbashev either, who played just 7:44 Thursday. 

Just look at the players on the ice when Christian Dvorak scored the dagger empty-net goal to make it 4-1 at 17:46 of the third period. It was Thomas, Oskar Sundqvist, Zach Sanford, Jordan Kyrou, Vince Dunn and Justin Faulk on the ice.

Sammy Blais played just 9:22, Kyle Clifford (4:21) and even Sundqvist (11:05) didn't warrant the ice time they normally get, although Clifford is part of the fourth line and won't play much when the Blues are chasing the game.

It's doubtful Berube would be calling out Faulk or even perhaps Kyrou, but the others, well ... 

"Again, we've got a number of guys that are willing to compete and work and they went out there and did that and scored some goals and got us back in the game and we have other guys go out there and it's just lackadaisical and get scored on an empty net," Berube said. "I just don't get it, but whatever. That's the bottom line."

When asked about competition for ice time, Berube scoffed with a smile and said, "I'm not talking about that stuff."

Yes, the Blues have banked 15 of a possible 22 points, which is a nice clip. But the way they've lost their games in regulation this season is reason to have some concerns, and when you see who was on the ice late in the game and those that weren't is a pretty good indicator of who needs to pick his respective game up.

The comeback is great and all, but all it did was cover up what was the glaring focal point.

(St. Louis Blues/Scott Rovak)

Mike Hoffman (right) scored two goals and had nine shots on goal (13

attempts) in the loss against Jordan Oesterle and Arizona Thursday.

"It seemed like they wanted it more than us right from the drop of the puck in the first period," Hoffman said. "They came out hungry, they were better with the puck, they worked harder than us and at the end of the day they deserved the game more than we did.

"(The comeback was) probably just a learning lesson. Not too many times you're going to come back from three goals against any team in this league. You've got to respect your opponent every single night; teams are too good if you're not coming ready to play from the drop of the puck to the end. Teams are going to bury you like they did to us tonight."

* NOTES -- The Blues and Coyotes will get to know one another even better than they have because the league announced that the teams will play each other here in St. Louis on Saturday at 2 p.m. and Monday at 7 p.m.

The Blues were scheduled to face Colorado Saturday and Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. both days, but the Avalanche had their season put on pause at least through Feb. 11 with a Covid outbreak, and the Coyotes were supposed to face Minnesota Saturday and Sunday but those games were also postponed due to the Wild's Covid outbreak.

The Blues were originally scheduled to host Arizona again March 29 and 31 and now those games will be moved up. The teams will meet again in Arizona Feb. 13 and 15.

The Blues were supposed to play at Minnesota Tuesday and Thursday, Feb. 11 but at least Tuesday has been postponed, with Thursday questionable.

"It is what it is," Berube said. "You're going to see a lot of that this year probably with the things that go on."

"It's out of our control, so we adapt and deal with whatever is set in place for us," Hoffman said. "We'll practice tomorrow and get ourselves back and start getting ready for the next game."