The St. Louis Blues had a very busy past 48 hours. They traveled to Washington, got rolled over 6-1 with Alexander Ovechkin making history with his 900th career goal. Then, they travel up to Western New York and land in Buffalo with a rather interesting tactic: sitting one of the core players in Jordan Kyrou.
They then played the game and handed the Sabres their first shutout win of the season, 3-0. Want to talk about a whirlwind of mixed emotions right there.
Let's dive into some takeaways from the near-perfect victory in Buffalo.
Hofer played best game of the year
There is a chance that it might have been written here at Bleedin' Blue that the masterclass put on by backup goaltender Joel Hofer in his first start this season was a sign of things to come. It has not been that way since his first win of 2025-26 against Calgary.
But, he might have just one-upped it with his performance against the Sabres, blanking them en route to a 3-0 victory. Hofer was sharp in this game, with a goals saved above expected of an astonishing 3.03. That means had he played according to the analytics, the Blues would have had to endure overtime, a possible shootout, which might have translated to a loss.
Hofer kept this team in the game and held the game on his shoulders, and carried the Blues to a much-needed victory.
Montgomery's gamble paid off
When the rumor of Kyrou's benching became known across X, the doubt was starting to set in on this game. As a team that is good but not great on the offensive end of the ice, sitting their premier goal-scorer for nothing more than sending a message across, it should result in a complete failure.
But, head coach Jim Montgomery's gamble paid off, and the Blues benefited from the drastic change. The only thing is that now there might be more questions generated from this win than there were before the drop of the puck.
What is the next message for these players?
Although not confirmed, Kyrou should slide back into the lineup for the Blues to face the Seattle Kraken on home ice on Saturday. What does Montgomery do next?
Does he sit another star, core player, hoping to generate another spark? Does he just put Kyrou back in and move everything back to the way it was before? Are more line changes needed to fit Kyrou back in, with captain Brayden Schenn taking his spot on the right side of the second line?
All of these questions have to be answered before the tilt against the Kraken. There is so much uncertainity, and there should be one more key decision that the head coach should make. That is to start Joel Hofer once again, giving him two starts in a row.