ST. LOUIS — Sometimes it’s not who you play, but when you play them.
On Saturday, the Blues caught Arizona playing the second game of a back-to-back and minus coveted defenseman Jakob Chychrun, who’s sitting things out for “trade-related” purposes these days. They won 6-5 in overtime.
On Tuesday, the Blues caught Florida playing the second game of a back-to-back and minus goalie Sergei Bobrovsky — who has been red-hot lately but got the night off. They won 6-2.
On Thursday, they got the New Jersey Devils without star forward Jack Hughes, who’s fourth in the league in goals but is sidelined with an upper-body injury. And they missed goalie Vitek Vanecek (23-5-3 record/2.31 goals-against), who took the night off. And yes, they won 4-2.
So it’s three victories since the All-Star game/bye week break for the Blues, who climbed back above .500 for the season at 26-25-3.
Playing without 15-goal scorer Brandon Saad, and employing a more aggressive forecheck system that has reaped benefits, the Blues swept the two-game season series with the Devils (35-14-5), who remain third in the overall NHL standings and still have an amazing road record of 20-4-3.
With the trade deadline a mere 15 days away, scouts from 15 NHL teams were in attendance Thursday, including two apiece from Anaheim, Edmonton and Tampa Bay. It’s almost as if Ryan O’Reilly and Ivan Barbashev are auditioning every time out on this homestand.
In a quick-paced, tight-checking game, the Blues nursed a 3-2 lead in the third period when Miles Wood went off at 11:07 for an illegal check to the head of Sammy Blais, who took a while to get up and didn’t play the rest of the game.
The Blues cracked a strong New Jersey penalty kill unit (80.9 percent entering the game) with a power play goal by Brayden Schenn, who sent in a backside rebound of a Jordan Kyrou shot to make it a 4-2 Blues lead with 8:18 to play. It was Schenn’s 16th goal of the season and his third in two games.
Quick, quick, quick
One thing became apparent from the opening minutes Thursday. The Blues weren’t going to have nearly as much open ice as they did in Tuesday’s 6-2 victory over the Florida Panthers.
The Devils are a very quick team that knows how to forecheck, and open ice was a premium for the Blues. Even so, the Blues managed 13 shots on goal in the opening period — or just six fewer than in their entire game against the Devils on Jan. 5 in New Jersey, which was a 5-3 Blues win.
The Devils have a stingy defense, entering the game fourth in the league in goals allowed at 2.62 per game and also fourth in shots on goals allowed, at 28.6 per game.
Auditioning for the scouts
For the second game in a row basically half the teams in NHL were represented in the press box, with scouts from 15 teams including two apiece for Anaheim, Edmonton and Tampa Bay on hand at Enterprise. To a large degree, most of them were looking at Ryan O’Reilly and Ivan Barbashev (and perhaps Noel Acciari) with the trade deadline just two weeks away.
O’Reilly and Barbashev didn’t disappoint, logging assists on a Pavel Buchnevich goal with 3:28 left in the opening period. During a Blues’ offensive zone possession, O’Reilly hustled to keep the puck in, and then sent a shot on net from just outside the right circle. It never got there, but deflected over to Barbashev on the right net front.
Somehow Barbashev threaded a pass through a congested crease to Buchnevich, who scored his 16th goal of the season on a backdoor tap-in; his first goal since Jan. 14 against Tampa Bay.
For O’Reilly, it was only his seventh assist of the season and his first since Dec. 11 against Colorado.
That made it a 1-0 lead for St. Louis, but the Blues and their fans couldn’t celebrate for long. Just 58 seconds later, Dawson Mercer lifted a net front shot over the outstretched Jordan Binnington — who had just made a great save — for his 12th goal of the season. The Devils were quick to crash the net the entire period, and this time it paid off with 2:30 left in the first.
Greasy goal
The Blues hadn’t had a goal from their fourth line since Jan. 19 against Nashville, or eight games ago. But that changed early in the second period on a goal that was all about gritty work near the net front. The Blues had numbers deep in their offensive zone when a Colton Parayko shot was stopped by Devils goalie Mackenzie Blackwood.
A diving Nathan Walker tried to nudge the rebound across the goal line. It bounced off the post, moving just inches off the goal line. Big Alexey Toropchenko came in to poke the puck in. His fourth goal of the season gave the Blues a 2-1 lead just four minutes into the second.
It became 3-1 Blues just 1:35 later on another greasy goal. Outnumbered behind the net, Robert Thomas sent a backhand pass out front to Schenn, who in turn quickly shuffled it to Kyrou on the inside edge of the right circle. A quick wrister made it 25 goals this season for No. 25 — Kyrou — and the Blues had a 3-1 lead just 5:35 into the second.
For the Schenn-Thomas-Kyrou line, that made it five goals and nine assists in their three games together coming out of the break.
But once again, New Jersey countered — this time after some sloppy play by the Blues in their own end. With Thomas outnumbered and no Blues support nearby, the Devils came up with the puck and Erik Haula skated in alone on Binnington for his fifth goal of the season to make it a 3-2 game at the 8:32 mark.
