It’s only the preseason, right?
Yes, it is, but the St. Louis Blues are still searching for their first win after being blanked by the Columbus Blue Jackets, 3-0, on Wednesday at Nationwide Arena in Columbus.
It was a game in which a number of Blues, who have been outscored 10-4 in losses against the Blue Jackets, Dallas Stars and Utah Hockey Club, once again got stellar goaltending from Joel Hofer (two periods) and Colten Ellis; Zack Bolduc continues to grab the moment and show that he belongs in the NHL and there were some other good performances.
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As for the good:
* Hofer/Ellis — They combined to give the Blues a chance again. Again, I liked Hofer’s positioning, his ability to swallow up rebounds and his play-making ability with the puck is in mid-season form. He stopped 26 of 28 shots, and neither goal was the fault of Jordan Binnington’s backup; Hofer made seven of eight saves on high-danger chances. And Ellis is making a case to see more action in Springfield with another solid outing, stopping all 12 shots he faced.
Ellis is taking the necessary steps, as is Will Cranley, to provide some nice depth goaltending in the organization. Right now, you have Binnington, Hofer, Vadim Zherenko, Ellis and Cranley. Not bad at all.
* Bolduc deserves to be here — The kid has taken advantage not only playing in 25 games last season to continue to crave for more, but he’s carried that over to this season.
Bolduc was a shooter tonight, and even in saying that despite leading the Blues with six shots on goal on 11 attempts, he can fire it more. But early in the game playing with Robert Thomas and Jordan Kyrou, he looked comfortable there, and Bolduc had dangerous early in the game.
* Justin Faulk looked good in his first healthy game since last season. And what looked even more favorable, Faulk was solid as the quarterback on the top power play unit tonight; he had five shots on goal. Faulk skated well, he didn’t have any hits but for a first game back feeling good health-wise, it was a good performance in a team-leading 26:44.
* The ageless Ryan Suter looked good in his Blues debut. He was only behind Faulk playing 25:52 and took Matthew Kessel, who had a couple puck fumbles early in the game but a terrific hip check (see below), under his wing. Suter had five shot attempts and two hits but the 39-year-old looks like he will be a solid addition to the blue line.
* Let’s get to the Kessel hip check. Columbus defenseman Jake Christiansen didn’t see it coming and was waylayed with perfect technique.
Now of course, d-partner Erik Gudbranson came in to defend his partner, as he should, and took a minor penalty for it, but you love to see the physical nature that Kessel will need to play with. The coaching staff will applaud him for that one.
* The power play, despite going 0-for-6, looked really good early on. The first two, virtually each one was spent in the Columbus zone. It did everything but score, but started to fizzle as the game went on. Eight shots is nice but out of six opportunities, you’d like to see more rubber at the net.
As for the mixed results:
* This trend of not sticking up for teammates just can’t continue, and it’s been an issue with this group that simply has to stop. Bolduc cannot be a punching bag like he was 32 seconds into the third period by Columbus forward Sean Kuraly. Doesn’t matter if it’s immediate, like Gudbranson’s response to Kessel’s clean hip check, but one has to come, and it once again didn’t. Can’t happen. There were enough players with a physical presence (Tyler Tucker?) to make a stance for one of your prized young players.
* The Blues had 16 giveaways in the game, and Thomas had five of them, including one that seconds into it, negated a four-minute power play down 2-0 that could have put the Blues right back in the game.
* Trying to find the edge that Dalibor Dvorsky is surging in his efforts to make the opening night roster but it’s just not there after two games. The No. 10 pick of the 2023 NHL Draft did play 17:55 and had three shot attempts in the game but there wasn’t that difference-making bite in the game tonight. Perhaps it might help to play the skilled center with skill players and not fourth-line wingers in Nathan Walker and Kasperi Kapanen, who play different games. Dvorsky was a minus-2 and won just 3 of 8 draws (38 percent).
* Thomas (21:51) and Kyrou (20:35) each played his first game of the preseason and there just wasn’t much there from either. They combined for five shots on goal and Thomas won just 12 of 29 face-offs (41 percent). Kyrou did block a pair of shots. Yes, it’s preseason.
* Tucker — On the second Columbus goal scored by Kirill Marchenko at 15:59 of the second period, it was a good redirect by Kuraly through the crease for Marchenko to basically have a slam dunk shot, but Tucker has the chance to box out Marchenko on the play and easily gets beat on the play.
With an intense battle for the depth on the blue line, Tucker, who was minus-2 and played 22:20 with three shots and three hits, had a couple decent moments but these are the ones that can make or break his chances of making the squad.
Injury update — Defenseman Scott Harrington sustained an upper-body on his third shift of the game and did not return after playing just 2:42.
Hear from Hofer and Bolduc after the game:
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