The St. Louis Blues opened the preseason with a 2-1 loss against the Dallas Stars at American Airlines Center on Saturday.
The Blues, who will take a new group to Des Moines, Iowa on Sunday to take on the Utah Hockey Club, had some moments in the game that they can take away well.
Notably, goaltending — for the most part — was sharp for a first game. The top-end players the Blues took to Texas had some nice moments but overall, it was a typical first preseason game for both teams, filled with lots of penalties, so it was tough at times to gauge the 5-on-5 play.
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The good:
* Jordan Binnington looked in mid-season form, stopping all 10 shots he faced in the first period and playing those shots like Velcro. Not much got loose when the initial shot got through and Binnington, who is vying to represent Canada at not only the 4 Nations Face-off in February but the Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy in 2026, seems to be focused in the early going.
* The penalty kill was a perfect 5-for-5 in the game.
* The Zack Bolduc-Pavel Buchnevich-Jake Neighbours was probably the most effective on the night for the Blues, who had 22 shots in the game. Bolduc was tied with Jakub Stancl with three shots on goal and each was a dangerous scoring chance, and Neighbours was sprung loose for a breakaway midway through the third period that was turned back.
* Defenseman Samuel Johannesson was impressive. He led all Blues in ice time at 23:16 and transported the puck well, poised under pressure and feathered the pass to Neighbours for the breakaway in the third period. This is a sneaky player to keep an eye on as camp continues. He and Pierre-Olivier Joseph, who played 21:42, were the best Blues d-pairing for the game.
* They were having a ho-hum game until the Mathieu Joseph-Zach Dean-Kasperi Kapanen line had a menacing forecheck that set up the lone Blues goal, scored by Kapanen at 14:42 of the third period, to make it a 2-1 game.
The tweeners:
* Colten Ellis, who relieved Binnington after the first, was sharp himself in the second period especially when the Stars arguably had their best moments.
But what amounted to be the game-winner, scored by Colin Blackwell at 10:46 of the third on a shot from the lefthand boards, is probably one the tendy would like to have back and gave Dallas a 2-0 lead. Nothing Ellis could do about the first goal, scored by Kyle Capobianco, a shot that pinballed twice, finally off Blues defenseman Matt Mayich and in at 17:25 of the second.
* You have to like the physicality of defenseman Quinton Burns, who comes as advertised as a skater that doesn’t shy away from contact, as evidenced by a fight with Dallas’ Justin Hryckowian at 7:57 of the second period, but Burns took two minors in the game, and the last one is one that just can’t happen, a holding penalty with 2:57 remaining in the game that all but wiped out any chances to get a real sixth-attacker chance. This is a tape Burns can watch and take away a number of teaching points from the coaching staff.
* Since we don’t have an awful category, can’t overlook how atrocious the Blues were on face-offs. They won just 19 of 56 draws (34 percent) for the game. Only Hugh McGing (3-for-6) was at 50 percent. Buchnevich (6-for-17, 35 percent), Dean (4-for-17, 24 percent) and Nikita Alexandrov (6-for-17, 46 percent) all had tough outings and the Blues were chasing the puck a lot as a result.
* The power play was 0-for-3 and didn’t produce much.
Hear what Kapanen and defenseman Tyler Tucker had to say for the Blues, who did arrive late to the arena due to weather issues and were rushed in preparation, hence why puck drop was delayed to 6:20 p.m.:
