DENVER — They played eight preseason games, then waited around for eight days while the rest of the NHL played hockey games.
So to say the St. Louis Blues were anxious to get going would be understatement. It was worth the wait. The Blues opened the 2021-22 season on the right foot, defeating the rival Colorado Avalanche, 5-3, Saturday at Ball Arena.
The Blues were facing a depleted Avalanche roster, minus stars Nathan MacKinnon (COVID) and Gabriel Landeskog (suspension). But no sympathy from the visitors. Not with memories of getting swept in four games with a roster depleted by injury and COVID last season in the playoffs against the Avs.
Making their Blues’ debuts Saturday were former Avalanche player Brandon Saad, Pavel Buchnevich, James Neal and rookie Jake Neighbours.
All told, only 12 players who were in the Blues’ opening-day lineup last season – a 4-1 victory here over the Avalanche on Jan. 13 – were in the lineup Saturday for St. Louis. The new look worked out just fine for Game 1.
As much as the Blues said getting swept by Colorado in the playoffs was in the past, Brayden Schenn certainly remembered the check to the head of Justin Faulk by Nazem Kadri in Game 2. It knocked Faulk out of the game and out of the series. Kadri got a match penalty and an eight-game suspension.
Just 40 seconds in, Schenn dropped gloves with Kadri near center ice. It was a pretty even fight for a while, and then Schenn dragged Kadri to the ice and was on top of him before officials came in.
Less than four minutes later, look who scored the first Blues’ goal of the season? Faulk. He took a pass in the high slot from Jordan Kyrou and rifled a shot past Colorado’s new No. 1 goalie this year – former Arizona Coyote Darcy Kuemper.
So it was 1-0 Blues just 4 minutes 12 seconds into the season. Berube stressed the importance of not letting the Avalanche get off to a strong start Saturday. In its season opener Wednesday, Colorado led Chicago 3-0 just 9 1/2 minutes in.
The Blues got the memo. They controlled a lot of the early possession time, and didn’t let the Colorado lineup – however depleted – get much going in its transition game. The Blues killed off the period’s only penalty, an interference infraction against Robert Bortuzzo, and even though Colorado was buzzing around the St. Louis net when the period ended, the Blues had an 11-6 edge in shots on goal.
The last time the Blues player here, in Game 2 of the playoffs, they were outshot 19-6 in the first period of a 6-3 loss.
The momentum that Colorado mustered at the end of the first period carried over into the second. Just 2 1/2 minutes into the middle period, it looked just for an instant as if defenseman Erik Johnson had tied the game for Colorado.
But Johnson, a former No. 1 overall pick by the Blues entering his 12th season with Colorado, clanged one of the post. Undismayed, the Avalanche keep the pressure up. Even without MacKinnon and Landeskog, they started getting their legs under them and their transition game going.
They had outshot the Blues 7-1 when Kyrou sprung Schenn with a neutral zone pass. Schenn skated in hard on right wing and beat Kuemper near side with 11:25 left in the second to give St. Louis a 2-0 lead.
Colorado kept pressing, but just 3 minutes after the Schenn goal, the Blues made it 3-0 when David Perron zoomed one past Kuemper after getting left open in the right circle. After missing practice Friday with an undisclosed ailment, Perron’s status was in doubt right up till game time.
With the Perron goal, the Blues had just three shots on goal in the period – and two of them were goals. Now that’s what you call efficiency.
Schenn left the ice after scoring his goal, apparently with a finger injury. But he returned to action with five minutes left in the second.
Colorado continued pressing and sending pucks at Jordan Binnington and finally got one past the Blues’ goaltender when Andre Burakovsky beat him backside on an Avalanche rush. So it was now a 3-1 game with Colorado on the board with 5:51 left in the second.
Overall, the Avalanche outshot St. Louis 16-5 in the period.
The Avalanche started the game with only 17 skaters, or one short, due to all their personnel issues. They finished the second period with only 16 when center Stefan Matteau left with a lower-body injury. He did not return.
The Blues remained on their heels at the start of the third, and the games reached a critical point when Ivan Barbashev was sent off for cross-checking just 1 1/2 minutes into the period. Colorado, mind you, had gone 6 for 12 on the power play in the playoff sweep.
But the Blues’ more aggressive penalty kill made it 2 for 2 on kills and the score remained 3-1. St. Louis finally got its first power play of the night a little over three minutes later when Sampo Ranta went to the box for interfering with Colton Parayko.
With a mere four seconds left on the power play, Perron scored again, putting the Blues back in control with a 4-1 lead and 13:09 left to play.
The goal seemed to either take a little out of Colorado, or gave the Blues some oomph, because the visitors controlled the next several minutes.
The Avalanche made things interesting, however, with a Tyson Jost goal on a deflection during 4-on-4 play, making it a 4-2 game with 5:24 to play. Then it became 4-3 when J.T. Compher was left all alone back door. So it was 4-3 with just 3:42.
And just 53 seconds later, Colorado appeared to score on a Jost rebound to tie the game 4-4. But the goal was disallowed when a review on a Blues challenge determined that it was a kicked goal by Jost. So the Blues maintained their 4-3 lead with 2:49 left.
An empty-net goal by Ryan O’Reilly with 19.3 seconds left made it 5-3.
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