Blues-Blue Jackets takeaways

Consider it one of those pivotal preseason games for a number of St. Louis Blues on Monday.

Guys that were in the lineup really needed to make head waves for the coaching staff if they were going to have those making the decisions take notice.

Well, it didn't materialize for them, especially in the first period when it was summer, sloppy hockey.

Guys like Mackenzie MacEachern, Nathan Walker and Nikita Alexandrov, who are trying to pry themselves into a fourth-line role. Or how about Tyler Tucker, who would like to be considered in the top six or seven? And then there's Scott Perunovich, who was playing in his fourth preseason game of six.

There's also the two Z's ... Zachary Bolduc and Zach Dean, first-round picks who have heaped the praises of the coaching staff as training camp progresses.

But a 5-3 loss against the Columbus Blue Jackets to drop the Blues to 2-2-2 with two preseason games remaining saw the Blues make a heck of a comeback, only to fall short after a disastrous first period in which they fell behind 3-0 thanks to a number of blunders.

Let's look at the takeaways from this game at Nationwide Arena starting with the good, followed by the not-so-good:

* Encouraging to see Vrana-Hayes-Blais look sharp -- This is shaping up to be the Blues' third line when the season starts and it produced all three goals on the night.

Vrana had two goals and an assist; Hayes Blais scored and Hayes had an assist to account for all the scoring.

I like Vrana on the PP in that right circle. His willingness to shoot the one-timer can be so beneficial. 

And you have to like Blais scoring a net front goal off a really good feed in there from Kasperi Kapanen, who had two assists in the game. It was the Blues' ninth goal of the preseason at or near the net.

There's chemistry with this line and coach Craig Berube may be onto something with this trio. Consistency will be key.

Hayes will have to be better on the dot than he was, winning only five of 17 face-offs (29 percent). That won't cut it.

That line was far and above any of the Blues' lines in Corsi-for/Corsi-against (12-3) and Fenwick-for/Fenwick against (11-3) according to https://www.naturalstattrick.com/game.php?season=20232024&game=10073.

* Krug back in the fold -- It was good for the Blues to get Torey Krug, who started camp with a right foot injury, on the ice prepping to be ready for the Oct. 12 season-opener in Dallas.

The 32-year-old had an assist on Vrana's power-play goal at 2:50 of the third period to make it a 4-3 game, and yes, the stats say he was a minus-3 with playing partner Justin Faulk, but Krug played a game-high 24:29 and had an expected goals-for higher than expected goals-against for the game.

Krug did made one mistake when he over-skated a puck inside the offensive zone blue line that resulted in an odd-man rush and opening goal for Boone Jenner that I thought Joel Hofer should have stopped, but overall, Krug played a really solid game and his numbers -- along with Faulk's -- look a bit deceiving with the Blues chasing the game.

* A solid night for Perunovich -- He didn't play the minutes he played his first three preseason games, but the 24-year-old had a solid game with an assist and plus-1 in 17:49 playing alongside Robert Bortuzzo.

He may have been the best Blues defenseman on the ice Monday looking dangerous in the offensive zone and playing sound, fundamental hockey in the Blues zone.

Knock on wood, if Perunovich stays healthy, I believe he's played his way onto the opening night roster.

* Jury still out on Tucker -- Tucker redeemed himself and played better as the game progressed, even becoming a factor on offense being one of three skaters with four shots on goal, but he made a critical mistake when he was stripped of the puck by Dmitri Voronkov and it immediately led to Justin Danforth's goal at 17:24 of the first to make it a 3-0 Columbus lead.

Tucker, who played well in Independence, Mo. against the Stars on Saturday, was a minus-2 in 18:17; he and d-partner Marco Scandella didn't defend the interior well that led to Cole Sillinger's goal standing alone in the slot at 4:49 of the second for a 4-0 Blue Jackets lead.

* MacEachern, Alexandrov, Walker running out of time -- The aforementioned names are going to have a tough time supplanting Oskar Sundqvist, Jake Neighbours and Alexey Toropchenko off that fourth line.

And needless to say, that line was not not very good overall on the night, but Walker individually wasn't all that bad.

On Kirill Marchenko's goal at 14:51 of the first for a 2-0 Columbus lead, Alexandrov fumbled the puck away twice in the neutral zone, and MacEachern fumbled it away leading to a turnover.

The line was a combined minus-7 for the game, each playing over 11 minutes.

If they have one more game, possibly, to make a case, that's about it, but on Monday, that line did itself no favors. It just wasn't good enough although its Corsi (12-8) and Fenwick (11-7) were much better than Neighbours-Sundqvist-Toropchenko (Corsi of 4-9, Fenwick of 3-8).