The St. Louis Blues had a perfect Canadian road trip, beating the Vancouver Canucks, 5-2. This was a hard-fought win, and a satisfying one that featured some standout performances from not only individual players, but also the team itself.
Let's discuss three of the top takeaways.
The Blues are on a roll
This team is rocking and rolling right now, and after a terrible start on opening night, the road warriors are back for another season. The Blues used every bit of this two-game road trip to Central and Western Canada to really iron out the kinks.
This 5-2 victory over Vancouver was especially significant, as it was a complete team effort. Only one penalty on the night, scoring on the power play against a perfect penalty kill, and the emergence of some stars this year.
Montgomery is a genius
It is apparent that the switcheroo between Jimmy Snuggerud and Jake Neighbours was a genius move. Both players have benefited from the move, and it has basically perfected the forward group.
Neighbours, especially, as he has risen to the occasion and continued to make an impact. He netted the empty netter against Vancouver to seal the game, but he was a big part of the 5-2 win despite not being on the scoresheet before that. We will talk a little more about Snuggerud below.
Snuggerud is here, folks
It was easily seen that when Snuggerud made his NHL debut last season in the heart of the playoff race and then played in all seven games of the first round against Winnipeg, the Blues knew they had something special. This season proves that scouting report.
In his first multi-goal of his career, Snuggerud was a force to be reckoned with against Vancouver. He got the party started with a nice snapper on Canucks goaltender Kevin Lankenin, and then added a power play goal in the second period. The kid is getting used to this kind of competition, and being on a very good third line of Mathieu Joseph and Pius Suter is improving his play, not hindering it.