It’s probably not unusual for the Blues to have a meeting before practice, as was the case Saturday at Centene Community Ice Center. But the tenor of this one was probably just a bit out of the ordinary.
With the Blues down two games to one in their best-of-seven playoff series with Minnesota, suffice it to say it didn’t involve passing out juice boxes and singing “Kumbaya.” After an embarrassing 5-1 loss Friday, the Blues have issues to resolve and not much time to do so.
Two more losses and one of the best regular seasons in franchise history will have been wasted in an all-too-brief postseason.
“We had a tough meeting this morning, which I think was needed,” coach Craig Berube said following Saturday’s practice.
Berube isn’t one to sugar-coat things. And that certainly wasn’t the case Saturday morning.
“But these guys know,” Berube said. “They’re smart guys. They know what’s going on. They know where we’ve got to be better.”
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And however unpleasant it may be at the time, the players know exactly where they stand with Berube, which they appreciate.
“It’s nice to get a little spark sometimes,” forward Jordan Kyrou sad. “Get a little fire under your butt and get you a little (ticked) off, so it’s good.”
And so was Kyrou, uh, “ticked” off?
“Yeah, it’s just like a motivation kind of thing, too,” Kyrou said. “It just kind of gets you going, gets you fired up.”
There was more talking after a brief but energetic practice devoted almost entirely to the power play. Only this time, it was a one-on-one with Berube and Vladimir Tarasenko for what might have been 5-10 minutes — which is an eternity for such practice chats.
“Just going over stuff with him and what I’m seeing,” Berube said. “It’s all good.”
Communication obviously can help during trying times. But talk will take you only so far. Starting with Game 4 at 3:30 p.m. Sunday at Enterprise Center, the talk must translate into results. Otherwise, the Blues will head into St. Paul, Minnesota, facing elimination in Game 5 on Tuesday.
“We have to turn the page right away,” forward David Perron said. “I think it was good to get on the ice quickly, briefly today. Just to kind of help do that and talk about some of the things that we did successfully in Game 1 versus obviously the last two (games).”
As Perron saw it, the Blues “came unglued a little bit” after Minnesota jumped out to that quick lead Friday.
The Blues have had no answer in Games 2 and 3 for Minnesota star Kirill Kaprizov, who scored four goals in those games. The same holds true for the so-called “GREEF” line of Jordan Greenway-Joel Eriksson Ek-Marcus Foligno, which has given the Blues fits on both ends of the ice.
“They’re a heavy line in the offensive zone,” Berube said. “The one thing you’ve got to make sure is you don’t give them the time there. We’re allowing them to get there too much.
“We’ve got to do a better job there because when they get there, they’re hard to handle. Again, the goals that they’re getting are all around the net. We didn’t protect our net good enough.”
Defensively, three of the first four Minnesota goals Friday came on either breakaways or odd-man rushes. And once the Wild have gotten a 2-on-1, the Blues haven’t defended them very well.
“Early on in the game, we had a lot of energy and we got caught with ... our ‘D’ and forwards not being in a good position to reload,” Berube said. “And there’s some turnover plays, too, just from forcing the pucks.”
If it’s not there, Berube wants the Blues to be patient and just work the offense.
The offense has dried up since Game 1. The Blues were incredibly consistent scoring over the course of the 82-game regular season. The fewest combined goals scored in successive games was three during the regular season — and that happened only twice.
Well, it’s already happened once in just three postseason games with the Blues scoring twice in Game 2 and only once in Game 3. Their per-game average over the regular season was 3.77 goals per game.
The offensive drought at least partially explains why the team spent most of Saturday’s practice working on the power play. Since Perron scored two power-play goals in the Blues’ 4-0 Game 1 victory, the Wild have been giving him a lot more attention, shading their defense his way on the penalty kill.
“I think after the first game they made a good adjustment, and it’s been a little bit tougher getting looks that I want from that side, in the areas that I know I can score from,” Perron said.
Berube has noticed it, too, with the Wild collapsing their defense and keeping it tight in response to Perron’s expertise from the left circle.
“We’re going to have to pound some pucks,” Berube said. “We’ve got to get it through, and we’ve got to get some rebounds around the net. That’s what a lot of it boils down to, especially in playoff time.”
In addition, Tarasenko was back on the same power-play unit as Perron for the first time in awhile. Having Tarasenko’s dangerous shot on the opposite flank could keep the Wild from overplaying Perron.
The Blues didn’t run lines Saturday, but don’t be surprised if Berube sticks with some of the changes he made in the third period Friday — most notably playing Kyrou and Robert Thomas on the same line.
“Obviously I love playing with Thommer,” Kyrou said. “He’s a good player. Obviously our friendship off the ice — we’re really close buddies. But the way we play, I think we play real similar.
“We’re always moving our feet and looking for quick little passes, quick little plays. So I think we just have that real good chemistry.”
May 08, 2022 at 07:00AM
https://www.stltoday.com/sports/hockey/professional/blues-regroup-with-a-little-extra-urging-from-berube/article_f66dc692-b66c-53e3-984d-25d3947ce9ef.html
Blues regroup, with a little extra urging from Berube - St. Louis Post-Dispatch
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