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Observations from Blues' 3-0 Win Vs. Sabres

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Laying a stinker the night before and their coach setting an example by healthy-scratching one of the top players, the St. Louis Blues needed a result.

A positive result.

They got it.

Led by a strong outing by Joel Hofer and getting secondary scoring by Mathieu Joseph and Nick Bjugstad, the Blues downed the Buffalo Sabres, 3-0, at KeyBank Center in Buffalo on Thursday after just a dreadful performance on Wednesday against the Washington Capitals.

Blues coach Jim Montgomery made healthy scratches of Jordan Kyrou and Oskar Sundqvist, with Kyrou being the most shocking one obviously. He also assumingly sat Robert Thomas for the final 9:18 of the second period. It’s holding players accountable, no matter who it is. And on the second of back-to-back, it's uncommon that a team takes the ice for a morning skate, but this group did after the performance in Washington.

Depending on how one looks at it, you can say the Blues (5-8-2) have won two of three or only their second win in the past 10 (2-6-2). We’ll go with two of three.

Let’s jump right into Thursday’s observations:

* Message sent to the team – Montgomery wanted guys digging in, life, juice, compete and battle from his players and got it.

The Blues were obliterated on loose pucks, wall battles and 1-on-1 battles against the Capitals on Wednesday. Not so much on Thursday. OK, they were outshot 27-17 for the game, but they managed the game the way you’re supposed to manage a road game, especially after getting a lead.

They defended well for most of the game and got sticks on pucks, blocked 20 shots in the game and didn’t ask Hofer to stand on his head.

A much-improved effort all around.

And then there was Tyler Tucker, stepping into a role again to set some emotion. He and O’Fallon’s own Josh Dunne talked about it in the pregame skate and the two decided to drop the gloves in the first period:

* Hofer was strong – Now getting to Hofer, he was sharp. And getting into the game early and making some solid, not spectacular saves early in the game helped him stay calm and relax into the game. His glove save on Rasmus Dahlin 29 seconds into the game was the save that enabled him to begin the relaxation and calmness.

But then how many times do you see it when a goalie makes a terrific save at one end and that team scores on the other?

Well, when Hofer made this really good glove save on Josh Doan, instead of being down 1-0, the Blues go back the other way not long after and grab the lead instead:

Hofer also made this beauty of a right pad save on Alex Tuch in the second period from the slot.

The Blues got those key saves at key times, and Hofer, who relieved Jordan Binnington on Wednesday and allowed two goals on 17 shots, was sharp in the game and picked up his first win since Oct. 11 against the Calgary Flames.

* Joseph seized the moment – Now let’s get to Joseph, who probably had a chip on his shoulder and a sour taste in his mouth after being a healthy scratch against the Capitals for the first time this season.

Montgomery said he wanted more physicality in the lineup against the Capitals and put Nathan Walker in.

Instead of fretting the move, Joseph was right back in there, and how did he respond? How about a hand in all three goals.

His shorthanded goal after Hofer’s save on Doan, at 12:38 of the first period, was the Blues’ second shorthanded goal in as many games (Alexey Toropchenko had one Wednesday), and it was a perfect example of digging in and battling.

Joseph stopped on a dime, stripped Jack Quinn just inside the D-zone blue line and was off to the races, using his speed to keep his distance before wristing one by Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen above the right pad:

He a plus-3 player in 12:21 and was just exceptional throughout the game as part of the fourth line that brought some terrific energy with Walker and Bjugstad.

* Depth scoring – Without Kyrou in the lineup, the Blues were suppressed someone off their top six.

So you need depth guys to step up, and Bjugstad supplied that when he made it 2-0 at 2:42 of the second period, taking a quick up pass from Faulk and using Dahlin as a screen to beat Luukkonen about the left pad:

The Blues’ fourth line was a combined plus-7 on the night, with Walker also being a plus-3 and Bjugstad a plus-1.

* Real well-rounded game by Faulk – Forget the fact that Faulk had a goal and an assist – well we’ll focus on the assist here – but his game was strong in this one.

He and Cam Fowler each played over 24 minutes on Thursday on the second of back-to-back nights, but the two plays that really stood out for me were Faulk’s breakup of a 2-on-1 late in the third period with the Blues on a power play leading 2-0. You give up a goal there, and it’s a chaotic finish. But he played Tuch’s pass to Quinn perfectly that could have resulted in a shorthanded goal.

And his assist to Bjugstad was so smart because the Blues had just had a 2-on-1 of their own with Walker nearly scoring, the Sabres were at the end of a shift and got a clear, but Faulk smartly upped the puck back the other way. You can see Dahlin was going off for a change but had to stay on and his gap on Bjugstad was enough to allow him to shoot the puck through a tired defenseman.

Just simple, smart from Faulk throughout the game, finishing as a plus-2 in 24:16 with three shots and two blocks in the game.

* Penalty kill did the job – Coming in, the Blues' penalty kill was 30th at 67.6 percent and had allowed a goal in five straight, eight of nine games and 11 of 14 on the season. Not good.

On Thursday, they didn't allow any Grade A chances despite the Sabres getting five shots on total, but the Blues did a much better job of staying aggressive and not giving time and space and go a perfect 3-for-3.     

* Only negative was lack of O-zone time, but credit Sabres – This was particularly in the third period where the Blues just didn’t get a ton of O-zone time because they were protecting a lead, but Buffalo was doing a good job of not allowing the Blues to get too many sustained shifts on the forecheck. It wasn’t for lack of trying, it’s just the Sabres did a good job of retrieving and moving pucks out. But guys were likely short on gas after playing Wednesday. 

But the Blues alleviated the lack of pressure by what we mentioned earlier, and that’s having good sticks in the neutral zone and when the Sabres did enter the zone, they didn’t allow too much in the middle of the ice.

It’s one win, a much-needed win, not anything to declare the Blues are back, but a starting point. Like Monday, let’s see how they respond moving forward.

I would expect to see Kyrou back in the lineup on Saturday.

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