It was a clean sweep of a brief Western Canada road trip for the St. Louis Blues.
The Blues followed up a second win in as many games after opening at home last Thursday with a solid 5-2 win over the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Arena on Monday.
Jimmy Snuggerud scored his first two goals of the season and first multigoal game in the NHL; Brayden Schenn had a goal and an assist; Nick Bjugstad scored his first goal as a Blue; Jake Neighbours scored his team-leading third this season and Jordan Binnington rebounded from allowing five goals on 21 shots in the opener against the Minnesota Wild to finish with 27 saves for his first win.
Let’s break down the observations and key points to this victory that sends the Blues to 2-1-0 on the season:
* Snuggerud has arrived — You’ve just kind of been waiting for Snuggerud to crack the net at some point and he did so in a big way in this game.
In the first two games, the rookie started on a line with Robert Thomas and Pavel Buchnevich before getting flipped with Neighbours, but this time, coach Jim Montgomery started Snuggerud on a line with Pius Suter, playing against the Canucks for the first time since signing with the Blues on July 2, and with Mathieu Joseph and I thought that trio played fantastic in this game.
Each brings something different and unique to the line and it seemed to blend well together.
All three touched the puck on Snuggerud’s first goal to put them ahead 1-0 at 8:48 of the first period that happened after a turnover by the Canucks in the offensive zone and quick transition, started by Cam Fowler cross ice to Snuggerud into the zone on the right. Snuggerud has his head up seeing Suter going to the net and just missed the tip in off the pass, but he never gave up on the play, and when Joseph retrieved the puck and shot it in one quick motion, Suter got a stick on it with a touch pass to Snuggerud, who quickly wired a wrister short side on Kevin Lankinen, who the Blues beat for the first time in regulation in five games (3-1-1):
That line had jump all night with Joseph buzzing around, Suter playing his typical responsible game at both ends of the ice and Snuggerud led all players in this game with six shots on goal. That line combined for 10 shots on goal of the Blues’ 35 and had 17 attempts.
This is a line Montgomery is likely to stick with moving forward for the time being and should.
* Transition game was crucial — Montgomery has not been secretive about wanting the Blues to get up and down the ice in five-man units.
The Snuggerud goal started it, but they also got two other transition goals, one from Schenn at 2:10 of the second period for a 2-0 lead and one from Bjugstad at 13:45 for a 4-2 lead.
On the Schenn goal, it started with Logan Mailloux’s check in the D-zone that initially freed up the puck for Philip Broberg’s beautiful stretch pass to Jordan Kyrou, who didn’t try to force a play and instead was patient in waiting for Schenn to fill the slot. Despite Kyrou’s pass getting deflected a bit by Drew O’Connor, but Schenn deposited his first into the top of the net:
But the Blues are getting these pucks and going, just like they did on Bjugstad’s goal when the Canucks put the puck into a crowded crease that Bjugstad picked up and was off to the races getting it to Alexander Texier. Texier was also patient despite moving it up ice quick, but the key was Bjugstad’s middle lane drive that opened up Nathan Walker coming down the interior of the slot and his one-timer got a piece of Bjugstad on the way in:
* Blues had proper answers — When the Blues would go up by two goals in this game, the Canucks would cut a 2-0 lead and 3-1 lead down to one on each occasion.
The second could have been deflating when Kiefer Sherwood’s second of the game came off a mistake/fumbled puck on the power play that turned into a breakaway goal at 12:12 of the second period.
But on each occasion, Snuggerud’s second goal, a power-play goal, being the first at 8:13 of the second, and Bjugstad’s goal, the Blues responded quickly. Snuggerud’s was 1:40 after Sherwood made it 2-1 and Bjugstad’s came 1:33 after the Sherwood shorty.
* Change on D looked noticeable — To start the season, Broberg was paired with his usual partner, Justin Faulk, and Tyler Tucker had been playing with Mailloux. But Montgomery flipped Broberg and Tucker and gave Faulk someone that’s more meat and potatoes, and the Broberg-Mailloux pair has more ability to skate freely, and with Mailloux being the bigger of the two, he looked more in control and not out of sorts in this game.
* Bottom six pulled its weight — Not only was the Joseph-Suter-Snuggerud line solid, so was the Texier-Bjugstad-Walker like. It played roughly 10 minutes in this game, but the three were out there much more in the third period that they were on Saturday in the 4-2 win against the Calgary Flames. They protected pucks, cycled it and didn’t give Vancouver any momentum when on the ice. Their last shift was the perfect example of, despite the game well in hand after Neighbours iced it with an empty-netter at 17:47, strong usage of possession and cycle.
* Thomas, Schenn set up power play goal — The Canucks had been a perfect 6-for-6 on the penalty kill this season, one of five teams entering Monday to not allow a power-play goal. But on Snuggerud’s goal that made it 3-1, when Fowler gets the puck in deep, it was Thomas’ initial forecheck, then Schenn’s that separated Tyler Myers from the puck, and Buchnevichgot it to the net quickly and Snuggerud was there for the finish:
Perfectly executed, something that looks great at 5-on-5, but to see it with the man advantage is going to look great on video for the coaches to show the players.
* Fowler-Parayko shut down Canucks top line — We focus so much on the offensive side of things, but it has to be noted that when Fowler and Colton Parayko were on the ice, the Vancouver top line of Jake DeBrusk-Elias Pettersson-Brock Boeser was virtually non-existent.
Parayko, who had five shots on goal and three blocks playing 21:21, and Fowler (20:50) with three shots on goal and eight attempts, limited the Canucks top line to four shots on goal, no points and a combined minus-4.
* Binnington bounced back — I thought Binnington looked sharp in this game. You can tell when he’s challenging shooters and at the tops of his crease, he’s locked into the game, and as we mentioned for his preseason games, when he makes hard saves look easy, he’s in for a good night.
* Hear Montgomery, Snuggerud and Schenn postgame:
