ST.
LOUIS – Not much was made of the St. Louis Blues making the
playoffs at the start of the season, and coming out of the 4 Nations
Face-Off, it was even a bleaker look being eight points out of a wild
card berth.
But
26 games and a 19-4-3 record later, the Blues have knocked down the
playoff door and claimed the second wild card from the Western
Conference.
It
took all 82 games of the regular-season, but the Blues clinched in
resounding fashion with a thorough 6-1 win of Utah Hockey Club at
Enterprise Center on Tuesday.
The
Blues (44-30-8) closed the season on a strong note and needed a
franchise-record 12-game winning streak to put themselves in a
position to clinch a playoff berth for the first time since 2022.
Jordan
Kyrou scored twice, Pavel Buchnevich had a goal and two assists (all
in the first period), Jimmy Snuggerud scored his first NHL goal and
had an assist, and Brayden Schenn and Zack Bolduc each had a goal and
an assist. Robert Thomas had two assists to finish the season with a
12-game point streak (four goals, 21 assists) before departing with a
lower-body injury that coach Jim Montgomery called precautionary, and
Jordan Binnington made 22 saves to emphatically give the Blues a
regulation win that put them in no matter the results of the games
involving the Minnesota Wild and Calgary Flames.
And
in turn, the Blues will now face the Presidents’ Trophy winners and
Central Division champion Winnipeg Jets (55-22-4), with the series
likely to start on Saturday in Winnipeg.
“It
feels really good, and I loved the way we did it,” Montgomery said
of Tuesday’s win. “We got back to who we are for 60 minutes, and
the first eight minutes, I knew we were going to win just by the way
we were committed to playing north and playing to the goal line. I
thought our forecheck was excellent and we made them defend.”
Added
Schenn, “A
lot goes into it. This is what you train for in the summer, and this
is what you play for all year -- to have a chance at the Stanley Cup.
You just have to get in and anything can happen. We saw that years
ago. We've been on a good run here and, at the same time, we just
can't be happy that we're in. Playing Winnipeg, Winnipeg is obviously
a good team and they're going to present a good challenge for us. But
I don't think anyone gave us a chance really, where we were. I'm glad
we came kept it together. They're too many good pieces in this locker
room to not get in the playoffs. We felt if we played hard for one
another, we can get the job done and it just took 82 games.”
Let’s
five into the Three Takeaways one final time in the regular season:
*
Started like a buzz saw – The Blues walked the walk and talked the
talk.
They
talked of coming out with a good start, needing to put the hammer
down on the game early.
Boy,
did they ever.
The
forecheck was relentless, the intensity was high, the commitment to
playing north hockey was evident from the moment the puck was dropped
with the ‘WTF’ Line on the ice.
For
every time Utah, which finished 38-31-13, tried to put pucks into the
Blues’ zone, it was out quicker than the blink of an eye, and then
the Blues would spent shift after shift in Utah’s zone buzzing and
recovering.
And
when Schenn made it 1-0 at 8:08 of the first period, it was the
culmination of good play all around.
“All
guys were contributing,” said Blues defenseman Cam Fowler, who had
two assists to finish with 36 points (nine goals, 26 assists) in 51
games since being acquired in a trade with the Anaheim Ducks on Dec.
14. “We were playing the brand and style of hockey that we wanted.
But our start was a big reason why we were able to get that win
tonight.”
And
it didn’t stop.
Buchnevich,
who has been on a tear since the 4 Nations break, made it 2-0 at
11:17 on what amounted to be one of the prettier passing plays you’ll
see.
After
Colton Parayko won a wall battle pinching in and getting it back
around and behind the net, the puck went from Fowler to Thomas to
Buchnevich in the bumper to Jake Neighbours in the left corner.
Neighbours took a the puck off his skate, took a couple strides
before finding Buchnevich at the bottom of the right circle for the
one-timer.
“We
got a quick pregame speech from ‘Monty’ and everybody pumped up
and we got a good 10 minutes, score a couple goals and kind of
control the game, which is what we want,” Buchnevich said.
*
Power play was icing on cake – On top of what the Blues were able
to do from the get-go, their power play added the layers for an
overwhelming four-goal first period.
Snuggerud’s
first NHL goal needed some time before officials decided there was no
distinct kicking motion and it gave the Blues a 3-0 lead at 14:45.
It
came off another solid passing play, led by Fowler playing it low for
Thomas, who found Buchnevich, who in turn put the puck to the net
with Snuggerud there, and ultimately, he got a fortuitous carom into
the net off his skate for his first NHL goal.
“I
mean, I can't score with my stick, so I might as well just score with
my skate,” Snuggerud
joked.
“… It's nice that they called it a good goal.”
And
the capper was Bolduc’s power-play goal to make it 4-0 at 19:13,
not long after the Blues had 1:06 of a two-man advantage, and it was
vintage Thomas again, in the left corner, finding Bolduc in the quiet
area of the bumper just inside the top of the left circle and he
whipped the shot by Karel Vejmelka.
Not
even Montgomery could have scripted a better start.
“No,
but this is the way we were starting games when we were playing
really well,” he said. “There was a purpose, there was an intent.
We got to our ‘A’ game right away.”
Kyrou’s
one-timer from the low slot at 6:59 of the third period was the
Blues’ third man-advantage goal of the game, leaving them with a
3-for-6 night.
*
Binnington did Binnington things – Utah, which played Monday in a
7-3 win at the Nashville Predators, was playing its third game in
four nights to conclude the season.
Utah
found its legs in the second period and the Blues took some
undisciplined penalties as a result.
When
Blues killer Clayton Keller wired a one-timer past Binnington to make
it 4-1 early in the second period, it set off a set of circumstances
that required the Blues’ goaltender to be on his toes.
‘Big
Game Binnington’ was at it again. He faced 14 of his 23 shots
against and was only beaten by Keller’s precision shot into the top
half of the netting and did his best to preserve a three-goal lead at
the time.
And
when it got to the third period, Kyrou helped put the game away with
his power-play goal, then add another to finish with a team-high 36
at 17:24 following up Alexey Toropchenko’s slot shot.
“It's
a good feeling and we're looking forward to getting into the
playoffs,” Schenn
said.
“It's important for guys like Jake and Bolduc and ‘Snuggy’ and
the list goes on and on to feel what the NHL playoffs are all about.
That's how you build a culture and that's how you build a winning
mentality. It's an exciting time to be a hockey player playing in the
playoffs.”
