Blues' loss to division rivals featured encouraging bright spots

The St. Louis Blues dropped a tough 5-3 decision at home against division rivals, the Dallas Stars, on Tuesday night. The loss itself stung, but it wasn’t all bad news. The Blues played somewhat of an iffy game, but it did feature some encouraging bright spots.

That’s why it’s worth looking into what went right despite the tough outing.

Blues bright spots in loss to Stars

Holloway-Kyrou connection

The Dylan Holloway-Jordan Kyrou connection had to be the most impressive in the entire night. The duo made stuff happen out of nothing, especially with the club down. Hollway’s two goals came from great plays by Kyrou in the Dallas zone.

Here’s a look at the first Holloway tally:

The key was the faceoff win that led to Holloway’s shot getting through traffic. The goal made the game 2-1 at that point, particularly as Dallas pretty much controlled the pace.

Here’s a look at Holloway’s second of the night:

This time, it was Kyrou who fed Holloway at the top of the slot. The shot hit the net and found its way past Casey DeSmith. The rush chance utilized both Holloway and Kyrou’s speed, keeping the Stars defenders off balance.

On Tuesday night, Pius Suter lined up with both Kyrou and Holloway. That’s a line that Jim Montgomery might want to keep moving forward.

Broberg delivered

Another key piece for the Blues was Philip Broberg. Broberg is gradually emerging as a top-pairing defenseman. He played over 21 minutes against the Stars, going a plus-1 on the night.

But it was this nifty goal that highlighted his night. Here’s a look:

Broberg busted through the left side, making a power forward move. The wraparound completely fooled DeSmith as Broberg faked an attempt to tuck the puck on the short side.

These sorts of moves could turn Broberg into the offensive defenseman the club had in mind when it plucked him from Edmonton via an offer sheet two summers ago.

Overall, Broberg played solid defense, even when the rest of the club wasn’t totally into it. Broberg and Justin Faulk, despite a faux pas here and there, could well be the Blues' best defensive pair heading into the season.

Joel Hofer

Joel Hofer played a great game, but was ultimately let down by the club around him. Aside from the Suter-Kyrou-Holloway line and the Broberg-Faulk defensive pairing, the rest of the club struggled to keep up with Dallas.

That resulted in the Blues giving up four goals that could have been avoided otherwise. In particular, the second Stars goal came on a line change that shouldn’t have been a scoring chance if not for the turnover in the Dallas zone. A Justin Faulk pass around the boards was picked off by Miro Heiskanen and led to Wyatt Johnston's scoring chance.

The blame could be pinned on Alexey Toropchenko, who couldn’t cover Johnston. But then again, it’s hard to blame a forward for not adequately covering another forward.

Then, the Stars made the game 4-2 on Tyler Seguin’s third-period marker. The Stars’ rush chance led to Hofer making the first save, as Matt Kessel held his ground on the rush. But then Otto Stenberg overskated the play, allowing Seguin to waltz in and pick up the rebound.

It was a tough rebound for Hofer to corral, making the goal almost impossible to stop. The broken plays that led to those two goals put Hofer in a bad spot. They became blemishes in what was an otherwise good night for the Blues’ backup goalie.