ST. LOUIS -- With the St. Louis Blues set the drop the puck for their home opener on Saturday against the Seattle Kraken at 7 p.m. (BSMW, ESPN 101.1-FM), one area they'd like to nip in the bud and at least get some semblance of organization is one half of the special teams.
In their season-opening 2-1 shootout loss against the Dallas Stars on Thursday, the Blues were 0-for-3 on the power play. No big deal, right? Let's not over-analyze for one game, but when you get zero shots altogether and show no signs of even being able to set up and do the little things that can make it work, then it certainly draws one's attention.
"Execution and I think we didn't get our entries," Blues coach Craig Berube said. "We weren't very good on our entries, it was a little scattered, couldn't get set up and couldn't get any clean time with the puck. Face-offs will be critical here, winning the draw, getting set up, getting into your places and executing with the puck. The passes weren't clean enough, we've got to move it quick and you've got to be clean. When you have clean puck plays and passes, you can get your shots off, you can make your next play. It was just more about that for me than anything."
The Stars, a top five penalty kill unit last season, used an aggressive forward group to force the Blues into puck plays they didn't want to make, thus the lack of organization, but when it boils down to it, the talent on the ice should have been able to make the necessary adjustments at some point.
"They did a good job, but it was all our execution," Blues captain Brayden Schenn said. "Sometimes you run into PK's that are just stingy and are making the right reads, but last night was just execution, forcing plays, not on the same page. First game, that was the first game where we've all been together on the ice at once. Just execution on our part and we'll clean it up."
And when the Stars were able to get clears, the majority of them weren't full length of the ice clears, something Schenn said makes a difference.
"We made some plays and some passes where all of us made some mistakes on the power play and then they didn't get it full down 200 feet so you get three-quarter ice breakouts, which is normally a little different and then you kind of rush that," Schenn said. "We just kind of rushed our plays with execution, on timing and routes and puck play. And then we weren't able to get much set up."
"I think in those 3/4 ice, you've got to get out of there quick and then regroup quick and keep attacking right back at them," Berube said. "We were a little lazy getting out of the zone on those plays. We weren't coming back with some speed and helping out. We didn't do a very good job of that."
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One area the Blues were solid at was in their penalty kill, going 4-for-4, but what stood out on not just getting the kills, they were on the attack and presented themselves with three high-grade scoring opportunities (Robert Thomas, Justin Faulk and Oskar Sundqvist).
"I think any time you're on the power play and the defense is pressing to score, it's frustrating to work back and get that puck because all you're thinking about is scoring," Thomas said. "Definitely pressure's hard to counter on the power play. Any time we can get a chance, it really creates momentum."
Are the Blues changing course and looking to be more aggressive and more on the attack when chances present themselves? Berube said not so fast.
"We don't focus on that, but when there's plays that you can take advantage of the power play, I think you look at Thomas and 'Buchy,' those two guys with their skill level definitely could do that, but listen, we want to make sure we clear the puck down," Berube said. "That's first and foremost, the most important thing is clearing it 200 feet. But there's going to be opportunities sometimes that come up where you might get a 2-on-1 and things like that, so you try and take advantage of that.
"One-hundred percent, it's clear the puck. Obviously good players will read situations and make a play and capitalize on it hopefully."
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The Kraken will face their third straight home opener as a visiting team. Seattle (0-2-0), looking for its first win, opened Tuesday in Vegas, dropping a 4-1 decision and then fell in Nashville's home opener Thursday, 3-0.
"They're a quick team. They play a fast game, very active," Berube said of the Kraken. "They stretch you out as quickly as possible with speed, throw pucks to areas. We're going to have to make sure our D are in real good spots, not get outside the dots in these plays, protect them and we're going to need a good F-3 tonight. Our forwards really got to work hard back and help out on all these plays. They do a good job getting to the net offensively, they get a lot of pucks there, so we're going to have to do a good job at our net and then on the other side of it, we're going to have to do a good job of fighting for space, getting inside, to the net, finding some rebounds, getting some deflection goals and things like that because they're not going to give you a whole lot of time with the puck. It's got to be quick and you've got to have anticipation, you've got to have your next play speed going, so that will be really critical here tonight."
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Each team held an optional morning skate and the Blues are expected to ice the same lineup that played against the Stars, which means Jordan Binnington will get the nod in goal. Seattle is projected to start Joey Daccord for the first time after Philipp Grubauer started the first two games.
Also, former Blues Jaden Schwartz and Vince Dunn return again to St. Louis, each part of the 2019 Stanley Cup championship squad with the Blues.
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The Blues' projected lineup:
Pavel Buchnevich-Robert Thomas-Jordan Kyrou
Brandon Saad-Brayden Schenn-Kasperi Kapanen
Jakub Vrana-Kevin Hayes-Sammy Blais
Alexey Toropchenko-Oskar Sundqvist-Jake Neighbours
Nick Leddy-Colton Parayko
Torey Krug-Justin Faulk
Marco Scandella-Tyler Tucker
Jordan Binnington will start in goal; Joel Hofer will be the backup.
Healthy scratches include Nikita Alexandrov, Scott Perunovich and Robert Bortuzzo. The Blues report no injuries.
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The Kraken's projected lineup:
Jared McCann-Matty Beniers-Jordan Eberle
Jaden Schwartz-Alex Wennberg-Andre Burakovsky
Eeli Tolvanen-Yanni Gourde-Oliver Bjorkstrand
Tye Kartye-Pierre-Edouard Bellemare-Kailer Yamamoto
Vince Dunn-Adam Larsson
Jamie Oleksiak-Will Borgen
Brian Dumoulin-Justin Schultz
Joey Daccord is projected to start in goal. Philipp Grubauer would be the backup.
Healthy scratches include Jaycob Megna. Brandon Tanev (upper body) remains out.
