The St. Louis Blues shut the Calgary Flames out 3-0 on Thursday, Oct. 26. The Blues are now 3-2-1 on the season and 1-1-0 on their current road trip that finishes it out on Friday, Oct. 27 against the Canucks.
Related: 3 Overreactions From Blues’ First 5 Games of 2023-24 Season
This game was defined by the Blues’ terrific effort in all three zones. This is the best they’ve looked all season, and it showed in a full 60-minute effort. Here are three takeaways from the victory in Calgary.
Blues Make Big Lineup Changes
The Blues made a few surprising changes to their lineup for the game against the Flames. They healthy scratched Jakub Vrana, Nikita Alexandrov, and Tyler Tucker while inserting Scott Perunovich and Robert Bortuzzo into the lineup. Let’s start with Vrana, who was scratched after putting up three points in five games to start the season. This move came as a surprise to many, especially given a couple of explosive performances from him in the early parts of the season. Blues head coach Craig Berube is clearly frustrated with his performance, “We need more from him. It’s all honest play on the ice, and he’s got to be better.” I understand Berube’s thoughts given the team’s emphasis on defense this season, but Vrana is one of their best offensive players, so I don’t think he should have been scratched. But this could serve as a wake-up call of sorts for him.
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As for the other changes, Bortuzzo dropped the gloves with AJ Greer in the first period prior to the Blues’ first two goals. His physicality is huge for the club and shows a lot of why he’s lasted a long time in the NHL. Perunovich had a solid game as well but played just under 10 minutes. Overall, I think the lineup changes were a nice change of pace, but Vrana should reenter the lineup in their game against the Canucks on Friday, Oct. 27.
Joel Hofer & Blues’ Defense Locked Flames Down
It was the first career NHL shutout for goaltender Joel Hofer, who tallied 27 saves. He was fantastic, but so were the Blues in front of him. This looked like a game that went exactly how Berube would have drawn it up. They outshot the Flames 35-27 and outhit them 18-14. They made the right plays all night and the numbers back that up in more ways than one.
Another thing that stood out with Hofer was his puck handling, which was especially fun to watch on the Blues’ three power plays. They didn’t score on any of them, but the passing was much improved and generated more chances than it had in previous efforts. In the win, the Blues got goals from Kasperi Kapanen, Nick Leddy, and Oskar Sundqvist. Kapanen’s goal came on a fantastic shorthanded play by Sundqvist, who had two points in this one. Leddy’s goal came on a great effort by Kevin Hayes, who moved the puck along the wall to him, and Leddy finished the rest with a shot through traffic. Sundqvist’s goal was a long-range empty netter to silence the crowd in Calgary.
The Blues’ defensive effort from both their forwards and blueliners has been much better this season. Even players like Leddy, Colton Parayko, and Torey Krug look a lot better. The defensive play from the forward group has helped take pressure off the defensive unit and goaltenders too.
Blues’ Most Complete Performance of 2023-24 Season
The Blues can build off of a performance like this. They take this momentum into Vancouver to finish the Canadian part of their road trip. It remains to be seen whether the lineup will stay the same after drastic changes, but there is no doubt that Jordan Binnington will be back in net off of a loss to the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday, Oct. 24.
The Blues have only surrendered 15 goals in six games this season. In comparison to last season, they allowed 18 goals in six games. They are clearly focused on allowing fewer goals this season and a full team effort has shown improvements thus far. It’ll be interesting to watch how the Blues perform in their first back-to-back of the season against the Canucks.
