Craig Berube isn’t the loquacious life-of-the-news-conference that other coaches are, but the Blues’ coach was particularly to-the-point after his team’s loss Monday.
He quickly answered the six postgame questions, and in the final four he averaged just 7.25 words per answer. But the words he did say came through loud and clear. He’s mad. Mad at the loss, mad at the refs, maybe mad at a play that injured a key Blue and mad that the Blues’ tenacity didn’t earn them a point or two. And this anger is a good thing.
It shows the coach’s passion, it shows that he’s unsatisfied, it shows how much he wanted to win this seventh game against new-rival Arizona, even if Berube would not call it a “Game 7.”
“I thought everybody gave effort,” Berube said on the postgame Zoom conference after a 1-0 road loss. “Every single player.”
As for the Coyotes clogging up the ice, Berube didn’t even allow a reporter to finish the question when the coach said: “They checked well, and they in my opinion, there were a bunch of or a few penalties that could’ve been called on them that weren’t. I don’t know, I guess you’re allowed to hog-tie guys and pull guys down, all kinds of stuff.”
The refs — and we’ve seen this in too many Blues games already this season — were inconsistent. Or, a St. Louis Blue might suggest, the refs were consistent in missing calls.
This was a 1-0 game — the kind of game we can look back on in a few months as an opportunity missed, especially in what appears will be a five-team race for four playoff spots in the division. And the refs didn’t make a call on the Coyote who yanked down the Blues’ Austin Poganski, after Poganski beat the player on the right edge. And there was the first of two penalties called on Ryan O’Reilly, which happened on a play that:
1. O’Reilly didn’t appear to commit a penalty.
2. O’Reilly himself was arguably the victim of a penalty — a takedown by an Arizona player.
On the afternoon, the Blues only had two power plays (though, to be fair, they don’t score often on the power play anyway). Overall, it really was just a frustrating game to watch, as St. Louis tallied 52 attempts and 24 shots, compared to the Coyotes’ 35 and 19.
And mercifully, this Coyotes-Blues series is over — the Blues lost 4-3 or, to be completely accurate, the Blues finished 3-3-1.
A lot will be made about this series, but it’s fair to point out that the Blues had some makeshift lines out there. Numerous players were injured. And then in Monday’s game, defenseman Torey Krug left with an upper-body injury (and he’d been punched earlier in the game). So let’s look at this series for what it was — a chance to store up some points for later on in the season, when the Blues look more like the Blues. Alas, they couldn’t get one or two more to store.
“We’ve got a lot of hockey left,” said Blues forward Brayden Schenn, who was without partner-in-crime Jaden Schwartz, “and I don’t think you can tell the tale of our team — we’re banged up, we’re injured, guys are battling hard, competing hard. Some moments we weren’t great, same time we had some good games and worked hard — and I don’t think you’ve seen our best hockey yet this year. I know it’ll come with everybody rolling and a healthy lineup.”
To me, there are two takeaways from Monday that could positivity fuel the Blues down the road.
First is the St. Louis penalty killing. The past two games, it’s been ferocious. Justin Faulk has established himself as a key competitor for the Blues this season.
And fearless shot-blocker Oskar Sundqvist surely leads the team in bruises. And second was the effort of the third and fourth line, especially considering some of these guys seldom play. Poganski was mentioned before — some people reading this are learning about Poganski for the first time. But the young player is scrappy, aware and quick on his feet. If he doesn’t help out this year’s Blues team much because of depth issues, he’s surely showing himself to be a future factor.
Asked about the third and fourth lines, the team captain O’Reilly said after Monday’s game: “Yeah, they do a great job. You can see the energy in some of the offensive-zone time. Just their physicality, just getting the puck back, the way they were hunting, they played very well — and I think they deserved the win. It’s disappointing but their energy, the offensive chances they created was huge for our team. I think they really got momentum back for us at times and really started and sparked us offensively to get possession.”
Never have the Blues or their fans been happier to see the San Jose Sharks. The playoff foe of numerous recent seasons comes to St. Louis to play the Blues on Thursday and Saturday. No more Coyotes (in the near future, anyway).
It’s unlikely the Blues will get the litany of injured players back for the next game. But it’s likely that Berube will fire up the players he does have to attack the Sharks. Win battles. Play a north-south game (emphasis on north). Forecheck furiously. And, who knows, maybe the Blues might even score a goal next time out.
