ST. LOUIS -- The dust has settled, and as far as the St. Louis Blues are concerned, it's time to move on from Saturday's blown non-call.
For those that are in the dark, the Blues (21-18-2), who host the surprising Philadelphia Flyers (24-14-6) at 7 p.m. today (BSMW, ESPN 101.1-FM) to close outa four-game homestand, were on the wrong end of a missed non-call when Robert Thomas was tripped in the neutral zone by David Pastrnak and led to Charlie McAvoy's overtime winner for the Boston Bruins in a 4-3 win Saturday.
The Blues weren't happy, and rightfully so, but with no review on such plays -- that's a topic for another day -- and no accountability by officials in the NHL, the Blues vented in the moment but have since moved on.
"It's just on to the next (game)," Thomas said. "That's a good team. I think going into that game, if you said you can get one point and have a chance at two, I think we'd all take that. Would have loved to get the extra point, but it is what it is. We've got a good team that's coming in. They're playing well lately and obviously their record's pretty good. Another big challenge for us and just got to move on and be ready.
"There's no point in really holding anything. It doesn't serve you well, especially since we've got seven games until the break, really important games. We can't dwell on anything. We need some wins, we need some points. That's got to be our focus."
Thomas was asked if he got any kind of explanation from referee Michael Markovic and did not.
"Not really," Thomas said. "Everyone's heated at the end of the game. There's no point in trying to talk about things. There's nothing you can do. Everything moves so fast, it's hard to see everything. Obviously you can see the replay, but I don't fault anyone. It's tough to see."
The Blues have are used to blown calls -- or non-calls -- in overtime, having gone through an egregious one in Game 3 of the Western Conference Final against the San Jose Sharks on a hand pass, and they've learned there's no point in dwelling on what they can't control.
"We were on the bad end of it the other night," captain Brayden Schenn said. "Obviously I'm sure the refs would like to have that one back, but the game was over. At the end of the day during the course of 82, that's going to happen to you. You turn the page. We played hard, battled for a point, came back three separate times and battled a little adversity at the end. We've just got to keep on focusing on what we're doing tonight. We're going to get another tough challenge."
- - -
Speaking of Schenn, tonight will be his 900th in the NHL and against one of three clubs he's played for.
Schenn, who was 19 points (nine goals, 10 assists) this season in 41 games, was drafted fifth overall by the Los Angeles Kings before being traded to the Flyers in 2011, where he spent the next six seasons before being dealt to the Blues at the NHL Draft in 2017 and is in his seventh season in St. Louis.
"I just feel like as a hockey player, you just kind of put your head down and keep on working and always want more," Schenn said. "Obviously just very fortunate to be playing in this league as long as I have. Still feel like I've got a ton left in the tank."
"A special guy in the room," Thomas said of Schenn. "He's been an awesome mentor and teammate to me since I've gotten here. It's a great accomplishment. I wish him all the health to get to 1,000.
"He plays an honest, hard-working game. That's been his motto and what he's been known for. It's a lot of games playing like that."
Schenn has 608 points (249 goals, 359 assists) and now can set his sights on the big one: 1,000 games.
"A day at a time," he said. "You're not really focusing in on that. You just worry about playing hockey games. It's been an awesome ride so far and feel like I've got lots left."
- - -
Center Kevin Hayes will face the Flyers for the first time since he was traded to the Blues at the 2023 Draft in Nashville on June 27.
Hayes, who has 20 points (10 goals, 10 assists) this season in 41 games, spent the past four seasons in Philadelphia but was part of a purge when it became public that he and Flyers coach John Tortorella didn't see eye to eye on things on the ice.
Hayes was involved, not by his doing, in the news last week when Flyers prospect Cutter Gauthier essentially forced a trade out of Philadelphia last week to the Anaheim Ducks and rumors began to swirl by a Flyers podcast group that Hayes was influential in Gauthier not wanting to play in Philadelphia.
It prompted Tortorella to to defend the player (at the 3:08 mark of the video below):
Hayes scored and could have had two goals Saturday against Boston had the second not been waived off because of offside on the play.
"I thought 'Haysie's game, his last game was probably his best that he played for us, but very strong on pucks, he was able to protect and make plays, cerebral plays," Blues interim coach Drew Bannister said. "He finds his linemates, he's been really good on draws for us as of late. An important part starting with the puck for our team, first off, to winning draws or help out on draws and edge battles. But for Kevin, I've been impressed with his play. He brings a lot of intangibles to that group throughout our lineup, to be able to create offense, to be able to win draws for us so we can start playing with the puck and playing in the offensive zone. But I believe there's more there, and we're starting to see the best parts of his game.
"He's strong on his stick, he uses his body really well. There was a couple instances in that game where he was able to take pucks wide and then use his body to protect it and allow his linemates to get in position, give them a little more time and then he was able to make plays out of that."
- - -
Bannister will keep the kids together tonight, at least for the start of the game.
Defensemen Scott Perunovich and Matthew Kessel will be paired to start tonight, a move that transitioned as the game progressed Saturday.
"They've played together before there in the American [Hockey] League there a little bit," Bannister said. "I don't foresee it always being the same pairing. I think we have the opportunity to be able to juggle and that's why righty-lefty is important to me. We can still spot them in different areas of the game and with different guys at certain times, but I'm very comfortable with them playing together."
- - -
It will be a Joel Hofer start in goal tonight, giving the hot Jordan Binnington a rest.
Hofer, who is 7-7-0 with a 2.87 goals-against average and .908 save percentage on the season, last played last Tuesday in a 5-1 loss against the Florida Panthers.
"Any time you have two goaltenders that have played over the last month since I've been here, you want to continue to use them both and not tax one guy," Bannister said. "I think that's a luxury that we have here with 'Binner' and Joel. But at the same time, I think you want to get your guy back in the net as much as they can when they're hot. But I don't think we're at that point of the season, like we want to run with one guy, especially when both of them are playing well, so we'll just continue to manage them both properly, give them proper rest when we can and get them both in games."
- - -
As for tonight's opponent, the Blues will attempt to keep the Flyers from winning their fourth in a row while also trying to get to that elusive four games over .500 for the first time since the end of the 2021-22 season; they had three attempts at it last season and eight so far this season.
"This is a hard-working team. They're a hard-working team," Bannister said of the Flyers. "They're going to come to work for 60 minutes and we have to be aware of that, we're going to have to match that. We're going to have to work on the walls here tonight on both ends of the ice. It's going to be a competitive game and we've got to be ready to compete."
Schenn added, "We're playing good hockey teams, we're playing well. We're playing hard, we're in every game. This is another team that you know if you're not going to work tonight, you're not going to have any success. They're a team that plays together, work extremely hard, play for one another. For us, we've got to go out there and just match intensity, especially in our building early on, expect nothing for free tonight and go to the hard areas. That's how you're going to win the hockey game."
- - -
The Blues' projected lineup:
Pavel Buchnevich-Robert Thomas-Jordan Kyrou
Jake Neighbours-Brayden Schenn-Kasperi Kapanen
Brandon Saad-Kevin Hayes-Alexey Toropchenko
Nathan Walker-Oskar Sundqvist-Sammy Blais
Nick Leddy-Colton Parayko
Torey Krug-Justin Faulk
Scott Perunovich-Matthew Kessel
Joel Hofer will start in goal; Jordan Binnington will be the backup.
The healthy scratch will be Marco Scandella. The Blues report no injuries.
- - -
The Flyers' projected lineup:
Owen Tippett-Morgan Frost-Travis Konecny
Tyson Foerster-Scott Laughton-Garnet Hathaway
Joel Farabee-Ryan Poehling-Cam Atkinson
Nicolas Deslauriers-Noah Cates-Bobby Brink
Cam York-Travis Sanheim
Nick Seeler-Sean Walker
Egor Zamula-Rasmus Ristolainen
Carter Hart will start in goal; Samuel Ersson will be the backup.
The Healthy scratch includes Marc Staal. Sean Couturier (undisclosed) and Jamie Drydale (illness) are out.
