(1-17-22) BLUES NOTEBOOK

Berube says Binnington, team need to be better; Scandella taking 

some heat; COVID reinforcements ready to return; home point streak solid run

By LOU KORAC
MARYLAND HEIGHTS, Mo. -- There would certainly be questions, especially after the nature of how Toronto's go-ahead goal was scored in a 6-5 loss by the Blues against the Maple Leafs on Saturday night to end their 13-game home point streak.

For the 15th time in 22 starts, Jordan Binnington has allowed three or more goals in a game, and Saturday marked the eighth time he's given up four or more in those 22 starts.

The goal by Ilya Mikheyev with 3:15 remaining was the result of a poorly executed shift by the Blues' failure to get a puck deep in the Toronto zone, then failing to execute a zone clear on multiple occasions, but the bad angle that Binnington was beaten for what was the game-winning goal was a shot that requires a save.

The Blues' No. 1 netminder, with the loss, fell to 11-8-3 with a 3.05 goals-against average and .906 save percentage. Among qualified starters, his GAA ranks 30th in the NHL, his save percentage is 27th and he's tied for 20th in wins.

In his 22 starts, Binnington has a save percentage below .900 in 10 of them, including Saturday when he allowed the six goals on 40 shots.

Blues coach Craig Berube wouldn't comment on any of the goals against Saturday and was asked again Sunday if his goalie could be better.

"Binnington, yeah, and on our team," Berube said. "Again, it's a team. 'Binner', he's played some good hockey for us. You go Dallas game (Jan. 9), he played well, we won 2-1. The Edmonton game (Dec. 29), mase some big saves in the third period, we won that game. You look back at the Pittsburgh game (Jan. 5, a 5-3 loss), we didn't play very well in front of him. He hung us in there. It was kind of a weird ending to that game, but we have all the faith in the world in 'Binner'. Yeah, he has bad games like everybody has bad games."

Ville Husso has stepped up and gone 7-0-0 in his past eight home starts with a 1.38 GAA and .955 save percentage. He's 5-2-1 with a 2.13 GAA and .935 save percentage. Earlier this season when Binnington was in COVID-19 protocol and Husso was hurt, Charlie Lindgren went 5-0-0 in four starts (one relief appearance) and had a 1.22 GAA and .958 save percentage. 

Husso has been making a bid to be in the rotation for more starts, and Berube was asked on that subject.

"He's been in the rotation, hasn't he? We've rotated the goalies," Berube said. "I get it, but he ended up getting hurt, so he was out for a while. Since he's been back, he's been in the rotation. And before he got hurt, Lindgren was in the rotation, so he played."

The Blues (22-11-5) close out the five-game homestand against the Nashville Predators on Monday (7 p.m.; BSMW, ESPN 101.1-FM) and it will be interesting to see which direction the coaching staff goes in.

* Reinforcements are coming -- Forwards Vladimir Tarasenko and Brayden Schenn and defenseman Colton Parayko will all return to the lineup Monday after skating the past couple days, including getting in a full practice on Sunday.

Tarasenko missed the past four games in COVID-19 protocol and Schenn and Parayko each missed the past two games.

"They'll all be available tomorrow, they're off COVID so they're ready to go," Berube said. "Obviously these guys are real good players for us. They have been in the past. It's nice to get them back."

Forward David Perron, also in COVID-19 protocol, was eligible to resume skating Sunday but did not and it's more a question of producing consecutive negative tests, which the Blues weren't aware of early Sunday afternoon.

"Not that I heard of today, no," Berube said. "As of right now, I don't have him in, but we still got a day, right?"

Forward Logan Brown, who has missed the past two games with a non-COVID related illness, skated in full during Sunday's optional.

"He did good today, so he's a possible player tomorrow," Berube said.

* Scandella under fire -- Defenseman Marco Scandella made the final, fatal mistake in not clearing the zone that led to Toronto's game-winning goal Saturday and has come under fire again by the fanbase.

Scandella had a decent game before that and finished with 20:45 ice time but his shift in that sequence lasted 1:59 and his ill-advised reversal of the puck back behind his own net out of the reach of Justin Faulk that led to the goal instead of moving the puck safely out of the zone did not go over well with Blues fans, especially since the veteran has had mistakes like this before.

"It's mental and I talked to the team about it today," Berube said. "It's not just Scandella, I talked to the team today about composure. We didn't have the composure that was needed last night to making plays, making right plays, wanting the puck. It's a team. It's all about the team and as a team, we didn't have enough composure as a team last night and as a team, we didn't want the puck enough."

The Blues simply did not have consistent breakouts with pucks, they did not get pucks in deep and they didn't manage the plays along the walls and win enough of those battles.

But the breakouts from the d-zone forced skaters to extend shifts, thus force more mistakes than usual.

"It starts with breakouts and they weren't very good last night by everybody. We've got to be better at it," Berube said. "It's not so much getting it in deep, we never got that far. We spend too much time in our zone and then when you get the puck, you just want to get it out because probably you want to get a line change because you're tired, and you basically get the puck out in the neutral zone but they're a fast team and they play that way and they quicked-up and they get back at us. It's kind of a snowball effect that way. That's why you have to advance it 200 feet. When you spend too much time in your own end, you get tired and you don't have the ability to advance it 200 feet. You're tired and you want to get off and get a line change."

And about those wall battles, the Blues just didn't manage them well.

"Yes, a lot, and we didn't win enough of them, you're exactly right," Berube said. "We've got to be a lot stronger there and again, that's composure too on the wall. We'll be better at that now, we've got to be better at that. They press on you and their D are down. We've got to be stronger there and we need to have more composure on the wall, make plays and make strong plays.

"Overall, I think we're pretty good. There's games where we're not, yeah, for sure. We address it and show it, but I think overall, our breakouts have been pretty good finding the middle of the ice or having composure with it and doing things right."

* Home success -- The Blues' 13-game point run came to an end Saturday (12-0-1) and it was the third-best run in Blues history.

"It was a great run, guys did a great job with a depleted lineup like that, guys battled hard, they competed hard," Berube said. "I had no problem with the compete and the battle. We had some guys that stepped up and made some things happen offensively and did a good job. We had a lot of guys logging a lot of minutes lately. They've done a real good job with that."

* Pronger's night -- Former Blues defenseman Chris Pronger will become the eighth player in their history to have his number retired, No. 44, prior to the Blues playing the Predators.

Pronger will join Al MacInnis (No. 2), Bob Gassoff (No. 3), Bob Plager (No. 5), Barclay Plager (No. 8), Brian Sutter (No. 11), Brett Hull (No. 16) and Bernie Federko (No. 24).

The first 12,000 fans at the game will receive a Pronger replica banner courtesy of Bally Sports Midwest.

The jersey retirement will be available on Bally Sports Midwest and 101 ESPN.

The game is scheduled for 7 p.m. Doors will open at 5 p.m. and the Blues are strongly encouraging fans to be in their seats before 6 p.m., when the ceremony begins.  

Pronger was originally acquired by the Blues in a trade by then GM/coach Mike Keenan that sent fan-favorite Brendan Shanahan to the Hartford Whalers on July 27, 1995. During his nine seasons with the Blues, Pronger played in 598 regular-season games and totaled 356 points (84 goals, 272 assists) and 931 penalty minutes. Pronger was a four-time All-Star as a Blue, finished in the Top 5 of the Norris Trophy voting five times and in 2017, was named one of the "100 Greatest Players" by the NHL.