The St. Louis Blues have lost another home-opener at the Enterprise Center, marking three straight seasons. This time, it went to overtime against the San Jose Sharks, but Darnell Nurse ended it, making it a 3-2 final.
Now, the focus is on Columbus, as it is another chance to impress the Blue Note faithful. Often seen as one of the bottom teams of the Metropolitan Division, the Blue Jackets are slowly flipping the script in the early going of this season.
Here are three keys for the Blues to try to turn things around themselves, as they currently have a 1-2-1 record.
First line finally comes to life
This is it. The Blues' top line for Robert Thomas, Dylan Holloway, and Jimmy Snuggerud has not been of much use this season, and their absence has resulted in an offensive power outage.
It all starts with Thomas, as his first 30 seconds as the Blues captain have been unfulfilling for fans, and you have to think that it is weighing on the mind of general manager Alexander Steen as well. If this team wants to get back in the win column, it starts with this trio.
Stop Knies’ rampage
The Blues' defensive unit has been pretty solid thus far, despite being a bit of a mashed-up and makeshift lot. Injuries to Logan Mailloux and Tyler Tucker have caused the emergence of Adam Jiricek and the waiver signing of Justin Barron.
That unit is going to have to go all-out as the Blue Jackets have a superstar forward that they were able to grab from Toronto in a blockbuster right before the start of the season for Kirill Marchenko. Matthew Knies is now in Columbus, and he has been electrifying for them.
With two goals and two assists for four points in three games this season, Knies is on a bit of a rampage. He set a career-high for points last season in Toronto with 66, but expect him to crush that this season. The Blues have to try to keep him contained at all costs.
Stay healthy
Dillon Dube is the latest to hit the injured list, as he is going to be out of this game due to a neck injury. He took a nasty lick against the boards in the previous game against San Jose, which really looked like it could have been a lot worse. He will be looked at again in eight weeks.
Dube goes awkward and hard into the boards and is slow to get up. Was able to stand and skate to the bench under his own power. #TurnItAllTeal #STLBlues pic.twitter.com/TZX14jDlaU
— TEAL TOWN USA - A San Jose Sharks Podcast (@TEALTOWNUSA) October 9, 2026
The biggest key for the Blues in this game is for them to stay healthy. This team is already spread very thin, and the idea of continuously calling up prospects is not a bad thought, but it shouldn't be like that.
Play 60 minutes of hardnosed hockey, but safely.
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