After starting their season with a shootout loss to their Central division opponent, the Dallas Stars, the St. Louis Blues kicked off their first homestand of the season, returning to the Enterprise Center to face the Seattle Kraken. The Blues’ home opener was wet, windy, and overcast outside the arena, but that did not stop the fans from filing in with high spirits ready to see their home team take the ice.
Here are three takeaways from the club’s first home game of the season.
Buchnevich Early Injury
After playing only 5:27 of the first period, Blues forward Pavel Buchnevich exited the game with an upper-body injury with just over three minutes remaining in the period. Kraken defenseman Jamie Oleksiak did a number on the Blues forwards through his 21:24 of time on the ice throughout the game while issuing three hits and blocking two shots.
While the length of the injury is still unclear, Blues head coach Craig Berube did state that Buchnevich’s head can be ruled out as a part of the currently listed “upper-body” injury. This is good news as the head can oftentimes be considered deemed a concussion leaving the expected time to return unclear. Buchnevich has never played a full 82-game season in St. Louis and is still hopeful to not miss a game this year with five games until the team’s next game.
Blues Still Searching For Offensive Spark
The Blues are only two games into the season but have plenty of work to do on their power play. By the end of Saturday night’s game, the team was tied for a league-worst 0-for-8 with only two shot attempts to show for their efforts. What makes matters worse now is that the team has also surrendered two shot attempts against them as well, leaving them with nothing to show through 12:48 on the man advantage.
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The Blues have been collectively outshot by a total of 65 to 50 this season while being outshot 31-25 in their game against Seattle. In their game against the Kraken, St. Louis gradually got better as the night went along but took too long to get their legs moving, find any sustained pressure in the offensive zone against the Kraken, and allow themselves time to gather momentum. With only two goals scored through two games in the early season, the team’s collective 18 missed shots during their home opener has a bit of extra sting to it. The Blues have multiple offensive weapons at their disposal, and it should only be a matter of time before they start to find the back of the net.
Binnington Sharp Early On
The common theme remains that while the Blues have only played two games this year, starting goaltender Jordan Binnington has been sensational for his club. After making several highlight reel saves against the Stars on their opening night, Binnington continued to keep his team in a position to win their game against the Kraken. When asked about his performance and how Binnington has factored into the team earning three of four points in their opening two games, defenseman Colton Parayko said: “Big saves, big moments. Unreal in the shootout, penalty kill, 5-on-5, just overall kept us in the game the whole game. He was incredible. Nice to have him back there for us.” Two of his teammates, Brandon Saad and Jordan Kyrou echoed the same praise of their goaltender stating that his performance has been “unbelievable” and “excellent”
This season, Binnington is 1-0-1 with a 0.92 goals against average (GAA), owns a .969 save percentage (SV%), stopping 63 of 65 shots.
Odds & Ends
- Forward Alexey Toropchenko recorded 14:42 of time on ice while creating one rebound attempt, drawing one penalty, blocking two shots, and recording one takeaway.
- Forwards Kevin Hayes and Robert Thomas tied with eight faceoff wins. Hayes ended the night 72.73% successful, Thomas 42.11%.
- Defenseman Justin Faulk ended the night with a team-high 25:48 of time on ice. He also recorded two shots on goal and blocked four shots.
The Blues will continue their homestand on Thursday, Oct. 19 against the Arizona Coyotes at 7 p.m. CST.
