Follow @stlgoalie The Blues jumped out to a two goal lead, directly as a result of strong plays by Vladimir Tarasenko. He scored the 1st goal, a power play goal, by banking his shot in off Joonas Korpisalo. On the second goal, his forecheck pressure leads to the turnover and Jaden Schwartz’s goal.
Artemi Panarin sprung Josh Anderson for a partial breakaway on their 1st shift of the period, scoring less than 40 seconds into the 3rd period. Alex Pietrangelo is slow coming on from the line change and Pat Maroon gets beat by Anderson cutting to the net.
Seth Jones would get his 1st goal of the season before Zach Sanford gets his second goal of the season before the game ended in a 7-4 loss and the few remaining fans raining some boos down on the Blues as they left the ice.
After the game, the Blues held a closed door meeting that lasted 23 minutes. What most fans likely don’t realize is that meeting likely cost Yeo some money as well as the team. Unless things have changed recently, there are time limits/ requirements on how fast the team is available to the media. Based on what I was told a couple of years ago, this would have been late and likely have drawn a fine.
Yeo called it an “emotional loss…. He said it “sucks to have a game like that in front of our fans and, you know, kind of where we’re at, looking at the start to our season….I think everyone’s frustrated and disappointed.… He took some responsibility saying, “as a coach you have to lead the way….
When told and asked about the players sticking up for him, Yeo added that “this is a group that I really care about and I really believe in so that means a lot to me.… He honestly stated “my job should be in question right now… but added “I’m not going to coach to try and save my job. I’m going to coach to try and win a Stanley Cup….
Lou Korac asked Pietrangelo if the coaches are implementing a plan that suits them and works and he responded "it's our job to go execute them." I wish I could have heard to tone when he replied as you can take that response a few different ways.
Tarasenko added “it feels like sh*t to be doing this in front of our fans. And just to clear this up, I don’t have any doubt about anybody in this locker room. We will do this. I believe this. And trust me, we will put 100 percent out there on Saturday night against Chicago and we will prove we don’t that we don’t have a sh*t team like it was tonight. It’s not acceptable to lose like this at home.… I’d change that to say it’s not acceptable to lose like this anywhere.
Other notes from the game: - Pietrangelo was on the ice for five goals against - Jordan Kyrou, Ivan Barbashev, and Oskar Sundqvist combined for less than 25 minutes of ice time. - Bouwmeester only played 14:29, less than 12 minutes at even strength. - Yeo is now 12-16-6 in his last 34 games (41.5% of a season).
It won’t get any easier tonight when the Blues host the Chicago Blackhawks who have Corey Crawford back in net. The Hawks have won two in a row and have yet to lose in regulation on the road.
NHL Champions for Charity We’ve gotten some traction on the charity wager among the Central Division bloggers. More on that to come.
It’s a great day for hockey.