Slow start was overcome by solid goaltending early, continued into second period to fall behind; skirmish gave Blues life before scoring three times, including two by Kyrou, Broberg's first with St. Louis, which locked game down in third period

One never knows how a team will react to the first game of the season.

For the St. Louis Blues, the results were mixed, but the end result was what mattered.

They started slow before finally finding their bearings when they scored the final three goals of a come-from-behind 3-2 win against the Seattle Kraken in the season-opener for both teams on Tuesday at Climate Pledge Arena.

Let's take a look at the observations of the game:

* FIRST PERIOD -- Seattle had more bite to this one, and probably something expected for not only a season-opener but also a home opener and playing its first game under new coach Dan Bylsma, who replaced Dave Hakstol.

But it was the Blues who had the best opening chance when Jordan Kyrou -- more on him later -- would clank the post from the slot just over a minute into the game.

But that was probably the extend of the Blues' quality scoring opportunities of the first period and then Jordan Binnington kicked in.

The Blues' goalie stopped Matty Beniers from the slot with 16:39 left in the period, the first of two high-danger looks from the slot, something the Blues needed to quickly clean up.

The Kraken were quicker to pucks, quickly reloading and sustaining zone time while trying to crowd the Blues' crease. 

But Binnington was aggressive and seeing pucks, not leaving anything to be fished out and made sure it was a scoreless period as the Blues were being outshot 11-6.

* SECOND PERIOD -- One would think the Blues needed a refresher and that things needed to trend differently, but Seattle kept the pedal down and former Blue Vince Dunn put Seattle up 1-0 just 27 seconds into the period.

Colton Parayko had a chance to step up on a loose puck in the neutral zone but seemed rather hesitant and once it squirted to the wall, he was outmuscled by a smaller Jordan Eberle, who was named Seattle's second captain in its history prior to the game, and the puck squirted free again freeing up Dunn, who followed up his own rebound to tuck a shot past Binnington.

The Blues needed to stop the cut from getting deeper but did not and fell behind 2-0 when Eeli Tolvanen redirected Ryker Evans' shot from the left point past Binnington at 2:20.

Shane Wright won the face-off from Brayden Schenn back to Will Borgen, who went cross ice to his d-partner. Evans recognized he had a free Tolvanen for a potential deflection because Blues defenseman Ryan Suter was late closing on the Seattle forward, and Kasperi Kapanen didn't get out to close the shooting lane to disrupt Evans.

Former NHLer and Blues forward and ESPN analyst Ray Ferraro said it best on the broadcast: the Blues needed a jolt. Down between the benches, he didn't hear much chatter going on with players, who seemed lifeless. The game was on the brink of slipping away.

And it was inches from doing just that when Kraken defenseman Jamie Oleksiak's slap shot from the blue line beat Binnington, or did it? Well, it was pretty obvious that the shot came from the opposite side of the blue line, deeming the play offside, and the goal was ruled off. But in all that, sparkplug Nathan Walker got into a little bit of a wrestling skirmish with Dunn, and Alexey Toropchenko and Yanni Gourde dropped the gloves to lend some spark.

The Blues needed something -- anything -- to jumpstart a stagnant result to that point.

Dylan Holloway, like Philip Broberg each playing his first game with the Blues after signing two-year offer sheets Aug. 13 that was declined by the Edmonton Oilers a week later, had a glorious chance moments later off a turnover but was denied by Seattle goalie Philipp Grubauer.

Binnington, who made 30 saves in the game, including 26 through two periods, was called into action again, this time denying Oliver Bjorkstrand with 8:26 left from the slot that also could have been a dagger goal.

Those were a couple sparks the Blues needed to finally ignite a spark that Walker and Toropchenko provided.

Adam Larsson was called for holding before roughing things up a bit with Radek Faksa, and an area the Blues needed to improve as much as anything was a power play that clocked at just 18.2 percent last season.

Kyrou would get the first of two goals when he took a pass in stride from Justin Faulk, to Robert Thomas, who snapped a pass in stride for Kyrou around the right edge beating Oleksiak before sliding a backhand five-hole.

Now there's life. The Blues were skating more, quicker, working, trying to push back only down 2-1.

They would work a puck into the offensive zone, track it, Holloway would get it back to Faulk at the point, and he would find his defensive partner in Broberg, who tied the game 2-2 at 15:17 after Jake Neighbours does a bit of a fly-by trying to break Grubauer's concentration.

The building seemed stunned by the quick set of circumstances, but the Blues kept pushing. They had more than a pulse. There was life working the game back to even.

Kyrou would quickly give them the lead at 3-2 just 20 seconds after Broberg tied it when he scored on a breakaway following Alexandre Texier's precise saucer pass, beating Oleksiak and snapping a shot past Grubauer glove side.

Pavel Buchnevich, who was moved in and off the second line center slot in the first when Drew Bannister was trying to get something going and inserting him in with Thomas and Kyrou, had a glorious chance from the slot on a set play but fired wide of the net with 1:05 remaining.

The Blues would take the momentum into the third with a second power play when Gourde was called for hooking, a very modest one at best, on Broberg, with 22 seconds left in the period.

* THIRD PERIOD -- St. Louis was 29-1-1 last season when leading after two, the fewest losses in the league; Seattle was 2-29-5 when trailing. The numbers don't lie.

And despite a Schenn interference minor, the only time the Blues had to kill a penalty, it was pretty textbook playing the final 20 minutes with the lead.

They didn't score on their own power play but it didn't matter because the Blues would only allow four Kraken shots and none in the final 11:50 to secure the win and move on to San Jose, where they'll face Macklin Celebrini and the Sharks on Thursday.

Hear what Bannister, Kyrou, Walker and Broberg said following the win: