It seemed like just yesterday that the St. Louis Blues raised the Stanley Cup. Now, they opened up the 2019 preseason and did so quite well.
Ready or not, the St. Louis Blues have returned to on-ice action. Most fans are still basking in the warm glow of winning the franchise’s first Stanley Cup, but as that glow fades, the team began its look toward 2019-20.
The Blues opened their 2019 preseason campaign against their rival the Dallas Stars. It was a good mix of NHL and prospect players from both teams, but it was still a good test and gave a few guys the chance to shine.
The Blues came out strong and outshot the Stars 10-2 in the first period alone. St. Louis did not let up off the gas and scored two goals in a matter of five and a half minutes.
The Blues managed to keep the door shut in the third period as well as they stymied the Stars the entire way. Ultimately, it would be a combined shutout for the Blues goaltending duo and a 2-0 win to open up the first action of the new season.
It is almost odd to be talking about live hockey that is not related to the playoffs. While I am not one of those that is not ready for the season to start, it is almost hard to separate last season from what is going on now since there has been such a short time in between.
Nevertheless, the new preseason has begun. It’s time to start the defense of the crown, so to speak.
Pros: Goaltending
The first period showed nothing from a goaltending perspective for the St. Louis Blues. Their defense limited the Stars to just two shots on goal. If anything, you had to applaud Ville Husso for his concentration, to stay in the game, since there was so little to do.
However, after that, both goaltenders did enough to show the coaches what they needed to see. Husso left the game, as part of a planned goaltending switch, after the second period and he finished his night with 13 saves. That is a low number, but the Stars created some good opportunities in the second period and Husso was sharp.
After that, Adam Wilcox came in. Pardon me for not having ever heard of him, but he was sharp as well. Again, the defense limited the shots on, but Wilcox was called on to stone the Stars a couple times and he did. Wilcox finished the game with nine saves of his own and completed the shutout that Husso had started.
This is preseason, so there is not anything to jump for joy about here. However, there were NHL players in the opposing lineup and these guys held their own. It does not matter who you are playing against, anytime you can claim a shutout, it is a good night.
Cons: Lack of physicality from prospects
Overall, you cannot complain about a lack of hitting, at least considering the preseason nature of it all. The Blues finished the night with 27 hits (assuming the statisticians were not in preseason mode, which they were in the first period when it came to shot totals).
However, most of those were made by guys either already on the Blues or on the list of guys that would get called in first. There was not a lot of physicality coming from guys trying to make a big impression on the staff.
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Ryan Olsen and Nathan Walker combined for five hits. That was about it.
It was something mentioned by Chris Kerber during the final moments of the game. It is not as though any of these guys did anything wrong, but perhaps it is more just the way the game is trending.
The NHL has not gone full NFL where starters are held out of preseason entirely. However, it is becoming more of an open game that is not fully indicative of how the regular season goes, just the same as the regular season is not played the same as playoff hockey.
So, you cannot fault these guys for not throwing their weight around with reckless abandon when they know they have junior or minor league seasons ahead of them. Still, for more old-school thinking fans, it is a little surprising that a prospect on the fringes might not use their hitting to get noticed. Sammy Blais did that and now he’s a borderline regular
MacEachern getting hurt
Don’t let the subject heading fool you. Mackenzie MacEachern was not out of the game for long.
Still, it stinks to pick up any kind of injury at any point in the season. MacEachern was struck in the face, drew blood and the broadcasters wonder if he may have lost some teeth.
There was never any further report on that while I listened to the broadcast. Neverthless, MacEachern returned to the lineup after short order, but was wearing a full face shield.
On the one hand, it shows his grit and determination to stay in the game even though the outcome is somewhat meaningless. On the other hand, Blues fans know how injuries tend to come in waves with this franchise. We have to hope this is not a harbinger of things to come.
Ultimately, MacEachern will be fine. Perhaps he will miss a practice or something, but from his perspective that is not advantageous since he is trying to prove he should start the year in the NHL.
Pros: Craig Berube’s impact still in full effect
We all know you have to take everything in preseason with a grain of salt. You cannot get too high or low based on any particular instance or grouping of plays.
However, it is hard not to look at the box score and see Craig Berube’s fingerprints all over this team still. It was a Blues kind of game.
Look at the stat sheet and the only disappointing thing is the team losing 60% of their faceoffs. However, when you consider none of their main centers played in this game, you can forgive that.
Everything else is Berube all over. The Blues outshot their opponent 33-22. They held the Stars to only two first period shots. St. Louis had 27 hits to the Stars 22, they blocked 14 shots and limited themselves to 11 giveaways compared to 24 giveaways for Dallas.
That is about as perfect a game as Berube would want, no matter who is out there. What is more, the fact that over half these guys were fringe players or prospects means that the message is getting through. Get pucks on net, limit chances against and be smart with the puck is basically the team mantra right now and even the guys who were not under Berube’s tutelage last season seem to already know what the Blues expect of them.
The funny thing is only three of the giveaways were made by rookies or guys likely to play in the minors. Hopefully that does not mean the regulars are off their game due to the “Stanley Cup hangover”, but it is good to see the entire organization having a style and those players buying in, even if just for one game.
Pros: Klim Kostin finally showing a spark
One of the biggest conundrums for Blues fans is what to expect from Klim Kostin. We keep trying to be patient, but there was a lot of hype when he got drafted and there has not been much to show for it since then.
We keep being told by those behind the scenes that he’s still getting acclimated. Having never traveled outside of North America, I get that, truly I do. However, you needed to start seeing signs that this guy was going to be something.
2018-19 was not that sign. Kostin’s style devolved from a scorer to that of a fourth line player, picking up over 100 penalty minutes and sitting at a whopping minus-28.
The San Antonio Rampage had a lot of injury problems and just never got on the right foot. So, you can make excuses, but the bottom line is Kostin needed to start showing he can make it. You can only cling to culture shock for so long.
Perhaps we got that first step in this preseason game against Dallas. Kostin was used on one of the top two lines throughout the game and got some power play time too.
He was moving the puck well and quickly. He also scored the team’s first goal on a good snap-shot.
Berube also showed a lot of confidence in the Russian as only Oskar Sundqvist had more minutes of all the forwards. Kostin’s line stayed out for well over half of the team’s only power play as well.
Kostin finally played like the all-around player we hope him to be. He only got the one shot and made it count, but also contributed a hit and was digging in the corners too.
It is just a preseason game, but he had to start somewhere. Regardless of whether he goes to the AHL or not, hopefully this was the first step in making that advancement we needed to see.
Overview
You’re going to hear this a ton over the next two weeks, but it’s just preseason. That said, it was nice to get back to hockey and feel like the team basically picked up where they left off.
There were a few hiccups here or there, but it was a solid performance by The Note overall. Nathan Walker is almost surely destined for an entire season in the AHL, but he had a good first showing for his new team picking up an assist and throwing his weight around. If nothing else, he might have earned a look past the first two games.
It was a solid defensive effort, not allowing the Stars to even get anything started except for a break here or there. It would have been nice to get the power play going, but the broadcast made it sound improved and, if nothing else, quicker.
It is important not to get too high or low on anything, but it was fun to have the Blues out there again. It was nice to get another win over both Ben Bishop and Joe Pavelski as well.