That's Enough: Blues, Coyotes done facing each other after record seventh straight game Monday

Arizona takes "Game 7" with gritty, gut-it-out 1-0 win; 

Blues couldn't muster up much in way of offense

By LOU KORAC
There's only one verdict after the Arizona Coyotes' 1-0 win against the Blues on Monday afternoon: enough is enough.

For a Stanley Cup Playoff series, that's one thing, but to play an opponent an NHL-record seven straight times because of scheduling alterations due to the Covid-19 protocols set forth by the league, the Blues and Coyotes were put in a situation to play against each other in a playoff-type seven games series, and the Coyotes, on a Clayton Keller second-period goal, were able to take the ultimate rubber matchup after the teams split the first six games at Gila River Arena.

(St. Louis Blues photo)

Blues center Oskar Sundqvist (70) is denied by Coyotes goalie Darcy

Kuemper on a shorthanded attempt in the second period Monday.

"Didn't get the result tonight, but I think from both teams, we're looking forward to moving on and playing a different team," Blues center Brayden Schenn said. "... I think we're all ready. We've got a lot of the same teams coming up or whatever, but it's just nice to space it out a little bit, especially midseason. It's obviously a different feel. Can't complain here. I think we're happy to be playing hockey games, but at the same time, it's going to be nice to play a different opponent."

Five of the seven games was decided by a goal, and even in the two games that weren't (Arizona's 3-1 win Feb. 6 and the Blues' 4-1 win Feb. 12), both were extended by virtue of empty-net goals when the games were one-goal games late.

The Blues (9-5-2) will host San Jose on Thursday, their first opponent in 18 days other than someone named Arizona (7-6-2), and the Coyotes will host Los Angeles on Thursday, the first time they'll see someone other than St. Louis in 21 days.

"It was different being the regular season," Blues captain Ryan O'Reilly said. "I don't think it was a playoff kind of feel, but it did have that ... it was a little more intense. When you're constantly playing a different team, when there's stuff that bothers you and angers you, it just continues over to the next game. In the regular season, it's on to a different team, but here, you see each other. Myself, yeah I definitely dislike these guys. I hope when we play them again, we can beat them.

"Obviously we've seen a ton of each other. It's pretty exhausting out there. There's some good things. I thought we had some great jump from our bottom lines there, made some good plays. 'Binner' played outstanding. I think myself and some other guys got to find a way to create offense. It's very tough. I made a lot of stupid plays and didn't create anything. That's tough. As a guy who sees a lot of ice, you've got to find a way to create some good chances. I felt we were kept to the outside too much, just shooting and really getting any good looks. It's tough. It's frustrating. We had a chance to make it a great road trip, but we'll go back to work soon, regroup and finally play a new team."

Don't tell Blues coach Craig Berube it was a playoff series. He was having none of it.

"It's not the playoffs, so it's not Game 7," Berube said sternly. "It's the way the league is now, we played them seven games in a row, we lost 1-0. That's it. Don't look into it any more than that."

But it's pretty obvious that both teams are looking forward to seeing someone else.

"It was defiantly a fun series and every game was tight," said Keller, born in Chesterfield but raised in Swansea, Ill. "It almost had that playoff like atmosphere and they are such a great team over there with great forwards and their goalie is unreal as well. I think it was a step in the right direction for our team. Now we’re finally getting to play a different team and see a little different look, so I think everyone is excited for that challenge. We have a long way to go."

The Blues couldn't get much mustered up on the offensive end, but did manage to outshoot Arizona 24-19 on the afternoon. It was just a lot of mucking and grinding out there Monday afternoon and the Blues just didn't get to the interior nearly as much as they needed to.

"There wasn't a whole lot of room on either side tonight and it's kind of been like that for the majority of the seven games," Schenn said. "It's tough when you play a team seven times in a row. When you look at both sides, there wasn't many chances either way, there wasn't many shots on goal either way. It was one of those games where a team gets a feel for one another and you figure out their tendencies after that many games in a row. They were able to get one tonight and we weren't."

Some of the best chances came from Oskar Sundqvist on a shorthanded opportunity when he cut to the net and tried to slide one between Darcy Kuemper's pads. Vince Dunn hit the post in the third period, a goalie's best friend, and Dunn had a prime scoring chance on the Blues' first shot of the third period nearly 11 minutes in but was denied.

"Yeah, when you see each other this much, you get a hate on for each other and you get stingy games," O'Reilly said. "It's tough, it's tough hockey. I think everyone in our room is pretty worn out from a tough series. It'll be nice to play someone new, get a different look and hopefully get some jump and get ourselves back winning."

Berube was none too pleased with referees Steve Kozari and Francois St. Laurent for a number of reasons, one being an O'Reilly interference penalty late in the first when he was being hauled down by Arizona's Jordan Schmaltz, and another in the third period when Austin Poganski, one of the bottom-line forwards who had some good jump to his game in his third NHL game, beat Oliver Ekman-Larsson on the edge, was clearly getting pulled down with seven and a half minutes left in the third only to see the officials at that point put their whistles away.

"They checked well (but) in my opinion, there were a few penalties that could have been called on them that weren't," Berube said. "I don't know. I guess you're allowed to rope, hogtie guys, pull guys down, all kinds of stuff."

The Blues, already down forwards Tyler Bozak (upper body), Sammy Blais (upper body), Jaden Schwartz (lower body), Robert Thomas (broken left thumb) and defenseman Marco Scandella (upper body) for the game, lost defenseman Torey Krug for the third period to an upper-body injury.

Krug finished out the second, but midway through when Lawson Crouse was being called for delay of game-smothering the puck that gave the Blues a brief 34-second two-man advantage, Krug and Ekman-Larsson got into a scuffle pre- and post-whistle, and Ekman-Larsson got in an extra left to Krug's jaw that may have ultimately led to the defenseman missing the final 20 minutes.

"Day to day. Upper body," Berube called it. The coach also didn't know if that was the instance it occurred.

(St. Louis Blues photo)

Blues center Ryan O'Reilly (90) hounds Coyotes center Christian Fischer

for battle of a puck Monday at Gila River Arena.

So he Blues left Arizona winning two of three in the desert and hopefully that some of their walking wounded can return to the lineup.

"Yeah, it's a possibility we could get a couple back," Berube said.

But in the meantime, the Blues won't see Arizona again until April 17, which is fine with them.

"That's enough," Schenn said.