Blues Postgame Show

Blues Postgame Show

[Music] Kyrie brings it in. Nice through the legs and a shot. That one’s blocked just wide. Comes back into the middle towards the goal. Kicked away. Gustoson. Holloway was looking like he wanted it across ice. Kyru’s going to bring it on the near wing. Fire it on. Gustoson there and Shen will break it up. Go bounce it ahead. Can he get to Kyrie? Moving it in, shooting. and he puts it just wide to the goal as he had pressure from Spurgeon. Yeah, I think Spurgeon got a stick on right at the last second. He didn’t get the shot off he wanted. Well, you can’t say the Blues didn’t have their chances tonight because boy, do they have plenty of them specifically in that second period. Welcome everyone into tonight’s extended postgame coverage. We like to call it the fourth period here on your home for the Blues 101 ESPN. Alex Ferrario with you following a five nothing loss. Blues courtesy of the Minnesota Wild. And Kurbs had this on the broadcast side. It’s the first loss on home ice since February 13th. And it’s the first time that the Blues were shut out in franchise history in their season opener, which is insane to say. But Kirbs tried to do the jinx. Unfortunately, it just didn’t work in this one. But you heard the offense there. I mean, the second period to me was just a telling sign of of this Blues game. 13 shots compared to zero shots in the first 10 minutes of that hockey game. Now, that included two power plays and in those two power plays, they had four shots on goal, but there were multiple times that they possessed the puck in the offensive zone and they just weren’t able to finish. And those scoring chances you heard there, one with Shen, one with Kyu, they were oddman rushes. They were great a scoring chances. It’s just the Blues didn’t convert. And then unfortunately, as Steve Odd told us, the other side was Minnesota following through and get those bounces that presented those great AA scoring chances that they would score on. So, lots to get into with this one. We’re going to hear from Jim Montgomery. We’re also going to hear from Braden Shen. And we want to hear from you. 314399-99646 is our air comfort service text line and over on our YouTube channel at 101 ESPN STL. But before we get to all of that, let’s get right to our Ted Drews three takeaways. It’s time for tonight’s three takeaways presented by Ted Drews Frozen Custard. A St. Louis tradition for over 95 years on match quality, unforgettable taste. First, Ted Drews, three takeaways for me tonight. And by the way, you send us your takeaways as well. You can send them 3143999646. You can also send them on our YouTube chat or you can tweet them to me at Ferrario101 ESPN. Let’s piggyback off of what Steve said because to me it’s the biggest takeaway in this game and we’ll hear Jim Montgomery probably reference this as well as Braden Shen. Blues just lacked the netfront presence tonight. It was necessary to beat Philip Gustoson. There are teams, goalies in this league that maybe you don’t need as much netfront presence to beat them because you could beat him short side. You could beat him with some elite shots. That’s not Gustiffson. Gustiffson is take his eyes away. And the Blues just didn’t do a good enough job with that. There were a lot of perimeter shots that he just squared up to. Even on the power play, some of those chances where they would have the puck on their stick. It was great puck movement, but the shots weren’t fast enough and Gustoson would square up. Some of this is great defensive play by Minnesota, and you give them a lot of credit for it, but others is just that netfront presence from the Blues. You saw that at the second portion of the season last year, the Blues started to thrive because they were taking eyes away from the goender. What’s crazy about it is too is if you look at the heat map over on Natural Statrick, it is dark red, which means their shot attempts are coming with guys in front of the net or shots in front of the net. But there just wasn’t enough to take the eyes away from Gustoson. And that was the difference because the three goal three of the five goals that Minnesota scored tonight were one some really good bounces, but two taking the eyes away from Jordan Bennington and scrambling in front of the net. They just had more bodies in front than the Blues were able to and that’s what would essentially find them beaten in this hockey game. Second takeaway from me felt a little scrambly on the defensive side in their own end. I I I noticed multiple times Joey mentioning, “Oh, the Blues are getting hemmed in their own zone or they’re starting to get scrambly a little bit because the puck was in there for a little bit.” This wasn’t a game that Minnesota scored off of the rush. This was a game that when Minnesota scored, the Blues were in their own o own zone for an extended period of time and then the Blues got beat to a loose puck or they got beat with more guys for Minnesota in front of the net than the Blues would have defending. That one goal or the second goal that was scored by Baldi with the deflection off the Capri off shot. Thomas had lost his stick and then you had two other players behind the net. Three guys chasing the puck behind the net where one player was. Minnesota just had more bodies in front. The Joel Erikson power play goal. It’s a power play. You’re on the penalty kill, so it’s understandable. But you had two of your penalty killers on the far side boards, two of the penalty killers in front of Jordan Bennington on the far side. And with a shot that went off the post, Joel Ericen X was standing there by himself. So tighten up on the defensive end. It was something that Jim Montgomery mentioned in preeason. It’s hard to judge in preeason though when you don’t have a full NHL roster for more than one game. So, understandably so. That was another takeaway for me. Just felt a little scrambly in their own end. And then the third takeaway, and this is bigger picture before we hear from Braden Shem. This Western Conference is going to be a dog fight. Um, I was extremely impressed by Minnesota tonight. the way that they played systematically defensively, how stingy they were in their own end, but also how physical they play in the offensive zone. And that shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone, but man, like that’s a team that didn’t have Zukarelloo, didn’t have Nico Sturm, and didn’t have Yonas Broaddin. So, I know the score seems very lopsided, 5 to nothing, but it felt tighter in this game early on until Minnesota just kind of busted down the doors and ran with it. And that’s what this Western Conference is going to be. How do you handle, as Steve O put it, adversity. How do you handle you going down and getting a scoring chance and then the other side finding a way to score the goal that you couldn’t capitalize on? How do you combat that secondary chance that Minnesota comes up with so that they don’t score that goal? That’s the adversity that the Blues will have to figure out. So, those are my Ted Drews three takeaways. We always want your Ted Drews three takeaways. Again, 314399646. Also, you can send them over via text uh or via Twitter at Ferrario101 ESPN and you can send them over on YouTube at 101 ESPN STL. But before we go further, let’s hear what the captain, Braden Shen, had to say moments ago down in the Blues locker room. How did you see this tonight? Um, you know what, I thought um, you know, for through the first two, um, you know, we did some good things and and there’s some things that we need to clean up. Um, offensively, got to get harder in front of um, you know, uh, the opposition’s goalie. Uh, that’s for sure. Uh, defensively, uh, got to, you know, work on closing plays a little bit faster. Um, like I said, we did some good things tonight, but there’s a whole lot we can clean up and grow and get better. Brighton, Lonnie mentioned that, too, that just the compete at the net front. Uh, were they doing a good job of boxing out or could you have done a better job of getting there? Uh, nothing uh against them, but I I think we just weren’t hard enough there. Not uh willingness uh willingness uh to go there. Um make it hard on Gustin. I thought, you know, uh we had some looks, but they weren’t second and third opportunities and chaotic around the net. So, that’s obviously something we got to focus on here. Uh, moving on to next game. You feel like this is a team that it would take some time to to do that or you can flip the switch next game and you’re in front of the net and you’re back. Yeah, we we we can do it. Um, cuz we have the guys that can do it. Um, so, uh, there’s some things that, like I said, we can just, um, we tried to make them some adjustments, but, um, I just just think it’s just it’s it’s not hard. It’s just a a simple recipe of going through the neck and and willingness to go there. No, no different how they score goals tonight. They were they were in and around our uh front of our net and they got some bounces and and that’s how you score goals is when you have people there and you get bounces that um go your way. Did you feel like the game maybe dipped for you guys after they got that third one? Um I can’t remember. Yeah, obviously the penalty um you know power play had a chance to get us back in the game. We we we had some some looks or some some chances not enough. I just think, you know, I mean, like I said, second and third opportunities is what we we really need to focus on and and that’s just getting harder around the front of the net and and then those will come. No, you don’t want to dwell on it, but just a lot of expectations, good camp, you know, so much positive vibe, just the disappointment to come. I mean, you want you obviously want to win home opener in front of your fans and um you know what, it’s uh it’s it’s a long season. Um you can’t dwell on uh one game. We have to turn the page and the best part about it is we have a game in a day and a half here and we can go right back at it and make some adjustments and uh we know we can bear. Yeah, there you go. Braden Shen making adjustments. I mean that’s the biggest thing. We’ll get into some of your comments because I would you imagine there’s some panic after a game like this. I’m everybody needs to relax a little bit. It’s the first game of the season and look that’s the adjustments that you got to make. I I mean with the I I do agree with the question that was posed to Braden Shen. That third goal felt like it was kind of a dagger. I mean up until that third goal went in, you’re talking about a two nothing hockey game where the Blues had outshot Minnesota 13 to nothing and the Blues had a massive scoring chance with Jordan Kyu going in essentially on a breakaway and he couldn’t get the shot off. It was a great defensive play by Minnesota. But right after Kyu doesn’t score on that breakaway chance, the Blues take a penalty, power play goal. Then a little bit later, you had Braden Shen with a big-time scoring opportunity. And what happens? They don’t score. Puck goes down the other way. Ryan Hartman scores. That’s the difference in this hockey game tonight. who just had bad breaks on one end and Minnesota capitalizing on the other. And by no means am I making excuses for the Blues. I just think you look at this and you heard Braden Chen, man, look, they got they got bounces and those bounces led to goals because they had more bodies in front of the net. That was the biggest thing in this one tonight. We’ll take a break. We’re going to come back with your thoughts and your comments over on our YouTube channel at 101 ESPN STL and on our text line air comfort service text line 314399646. We’re also going to come back with Jim Montgomery and then we’ll have our final look uh brought to you by Pure Performance. All of it right here on your home for the Blues 101 ESPN. Welcome back to the First Community Credit Union Blues Postgame Show presented by Scott Lee Heating Company and Urban Chestnut on 101 ESPN. Final time tonight here on our extended postgame coverage, the fourth period which is brought to you by First Community Credit Union, Alex Ferrario back with you. Grant Francis, Jordan Deacon, Jim Huer, all alongside here in our broadcast tonight. We’ll get to Jim Montgomery in just a bit, but just a couple of comments we can go through over on our YouTube channel at 101 ESPN STL. Um, and and you know, I look, I love the passion from Blues fans. We talk about it all the time, but I caution everybody. Let’s not overreact to something like this, like this reaction. The Blues are going to have a scoring issue this season. I do not believe that to be a problem at all this year. It’s one game. I I do believe that the preeason is part of the reason why the Blues just struggled. Like there were times that lines just didn’t look like they had chemistry. Um one, Sunquist wasn’t playing on the fourth line, and that was a line that I think they were planning on prior to his injury. Um that third line really never felt like it could get in rhythm. But think about it that third line Sudter essentially played almost the whole preeason with Kyu and Holloway which means Shen and Neighbors were playing together and they went through multiple different wingers playing on that line. Um and then the chemistry with Kyu and Holloway. I actually thought that line looked the best tonight but you know it it faded away a little bit as the game went on. And then of course the top line where Snugerude was dipped off. I think it was before the end of the first period he was down playing with um uh Pew Sudter and Matthew Joseph and they bumped up Jake Neighbors to that line. And Jim Montgomery said that. Jim Montgomery said like look there’s going to be versatility. There’s going to be rotating. But I I do think getting back to the preseason they played one game with their entire NHL lineup together and that was the Ottawa Senators game. and Ottawa didn’t send a full NHL roster. Their missed chance was that Dallas Stars preseason game when Dallas put the whole NHL roster out there and the Blues had a a lot more players that were AHL now or going back to junior. So, that was a chance to really kind of get that chemistry going against NHL competition. And it they missed it. They played it in Ottawa. They looked awesome in Ottawa, but you just didn’t have that same type of competition. But other than that, that was it. So, no, I have no concerns about this offense. Dylan Holloway, Jordan Kyu, Snugaroo, Thomas, Bhnavic, all of these guys are exactly what they’ve been in the past. If you look at their hockey stats, it’s one night. And I think the carryover from lack of opportunities against NHL caliber teams in preeason carried over into the first game of the year. And you hope you can you hope that you can rebound from that one. and move forward. It’s not like the Blues didn’t get the shots, the scoring chances. I mean, again, 14 to five in that second period, they outshot Minnesota in the first period. The difference was Minnesota won the netfront presence. So, I would imagine you’re going to adapt to that if you’re the Blues coaching staff. Put an emphasis on netfront presence and then that’s going to lead to more scoring opportunities. And I think we’ll be talking fine about the offense once we get past the Calgary Flames. But let’s hear what Jim Montgomery had to say as uh he get his postgame reaction after the Blues 5 nothing final score. I think uh our habits, special teams, our battle level on one-on-one battles wasn’t at the level that we expect, you know, and then I think the biggest difference was the battle at the net front. There’s a process that we believe in and a lot of that those details and habits within our process um cost us tonight. A lot of shots but why do you think so many in the goalies logo? Uh well one we weren’t taking away his eyes. So even if you are shooting at the logo which you are correct a lot hid the whatever animal that is. Um, you know, and I I don’t don’t have an answer. You know, we have a lot of good players that know how to score goals, and for whatever reason, we weren’t on our mark tonight. Just emotionally, how big of a is like tonight for you guys? You know, it’s a long season. It’s it’s a journey. It’s a grind. You’re going to have nights where unfortunately the score ends up like tonight at times. Um, I did think for the first two periods until it went three nothing, I liked our game quite a bit. you know, uh, the execution of special teams and being at the net front, I think is why, you know, they separated from us. I didn’t like our game after that. Once it went three nothing, I didn’t like the energy on our B on our bench. I didn’t like, you know, the the energy that we had on the ice. Um, and the game kind of got away from us in the third. In the second period, you guys had the first 14 shots on the go. Are you feeling good about where the game’s going at that point? Yeah, we’re feeling really good. First period, we’re feeling good about it. You know, their first goal goes off toe of the skate, you know. Um the second goal is a is a breakdown on ours, but outside of that breakdown, I thought that there was a lot of good things we did except, you know, being hard in hard areas and that those that’s part of our process and, you know, we’ll get better in those areas. Made a flip with neighbors this something you saw or wanted wanted to see differently. I thought Jake had a lot of jump and he wasn’t getting a lot of minutes just because of the way some of the we had to kill there in the first and I just wanted to see something different and I I thought that uh Sudter and Snugarude uh looked pretty good together you know um just to create a spark cuz we weren’t it was in that third period where we weren’t creating where we had just given up the third goal and we weren’t doing anything and same thing I did with switching Joseph and Walker you know just to see if we can create a little bit more you said earl It’s early like how do you react to something like this? You have a lot of experience doing what you do this early in the season something like this. Yeah. I mean just being honest with the players exactly what you guys asked me I told them. You know I think if we looked at oddman rushes and they they missed on a couple but we would have lost that too. I don’t know for sure if we lost that cuz we had opportunities where we were all alone with the goalie as well. It’s time to take a look back at tonight’s game with the final look driven by Pure Performance. Only stop for all your aftermarket vehicle needs. So Jim Montgomery laid it out perfectly. And as we take our final look back on this one and then look ahead to the next one, it comes down to netfront presence. You know, Jim said earlier today that the teams that have the most success are the teams that find their identity fast enough. and he said there’s a couple of teams that started the NHL season that found their identity. Pittsburgh’s 2-0 on the season. Florida’s 2-0 on the season. The Kings had a rebound victory after they lost the first game of the year. Like, teams that are experienced find their identity early on. And I forget the exact quote that Chris Kerber had with us, but he had a conversation with Justin Faulk. Faulk said, “We’ve got to find that good balance of making sure that we’re confident and not cocky carrying over what we did last year.” And I might have butchered that whole statement, but it was the that was the premise of what Kurbs was talking about with Justin Falin. They’ve got to bottle up that confidence that they had last year in their 12game win streak and their 15 straight home wins and put it to fruition in this one. and it with a couple of new faces on the forward side, a new one on the defensive side, you’re going to figure out that identity that you’re searching for. But like Jim said, that’s the difference. You didn’t have the net front battle. You looked good until the game got away from you. And when the game got away from you at 3 nothing, the energy dipped. You got to find a way to push through that. Keep the energy high so that you don’t make a onegoal deficit, twogoal deficit turn into a four-goal deficit. So you adapt and you build and that’s for this one tonight as the Blues go 0 for two on their Amar and Power play report. They go two for three on their Rottler Pest Solutions penalty kill and the Blues fall 5 nothing to Minnesota. But they get an opportunity to rebound and I love the way Braden Shen said it. You get a day and a half and then you go right back at it and you’re on the road so that you can really focus on potentially being an upset for the Calgary Flames on home ice. That game on Saturday, a 3:00 puck drop. So, a little matinea hockey Saturday afternoon against the Flames, which means our pregame show begins at 2:00 right here on your home for the Blues 101 ESPN. They go a two-game road trip Calgary and Vancouver and then they play four straight on home ice starting next Wednesday against the Blackhawks. But you’ve got a total of, including tonight, seven straight games against the Western Conference. So, this is the area where you do want to pick up as many points as possible. So, we’ll talk to you at 2:00 on Saturday when the Blues take on the Calgary Flames with pregame. Curbs and Joey will have Puck Drop at 3:00 Saturday afternoon. Once again, a huge shout out to Grant Francis and Jordan Deacon who did an outstanding job back in our network studios taking care of our broadcast tonight. To Jim Huer who crushed it as always up here in our broadcast booth as we handled the simal cast with Chris Kerber and Joe Vitali. and of course Tanner Hendrickson who also helped us down in the Blues locker room tonight. I’m Alex Ferrario. Hope everyone has a great rest of their evening. I’ll talk to you tomorrow at 11 a.m. for BK and Ferrario and we’ll talk Saturday at 2:00 for Blues and Flames right here on your home for the Blues 101 ESPN. Thanks for listening to the First Community Credit Union Blues Postgame Show presented by Scott Lee Heating Company and Urban Chest on 101 ESPN.

The Blues were shut out 5-0 by the Wild in the season opener at Enterprise Center.