How many times this season have the St. Louis Blues come out of the first period trailing and the reason being more times than not, not showing up on time ready from the drop of the puck?
Well in two games since Jim Montgomery has taken over as coach, that’s been a point of emphasis.
Dylan Holloway scored twice, Robert Thomas tied a Blues record for second-fastest goal to start a game and Binnington stopped 31 shots for his 16th shutout and set the franchise record for wins by a goalie in a 3-0 win over the New Jersey Devils at Prudential Center on Wednesday.
The Blues (11-12-1) took the last two games of the three-game road trip through the New York metropolitan area and second win in as many games after Montgomery took over as coach on Sunday.
Let’s jump into tonight’s three takeaways:
* Committed to starting on time — It was clear as day: the Blues were ready from the drop of the puck — literally — and the Devils (15-8-2) were not.
Montgomery has preached to the players being ready when the puck drops and it’s been evident for two games.
The Blues picked up where they left off Monday. They skated, they were connected, they checked, they hunted down pucks, committed to shooting it again and got traffic to the net.
Yes, Pavel Buchnevich, who was injured in the second period with a lower-body injury and did not return, got away with a trip of Johnathan Kovacevic’s skate that turned itto a 2-on-1 and Thomas scoring just nine seconds in to tie the record with Rob Ramage (Jan. 24, 1987 against the Detroit Red Wings) and Andy McDonald (Nov. 24, 2010 at the Nashville Predators), but it was just a prelude of things to come:
Then it was Holloway’s turn; he made it 2-0 when he sniped one short side on Jacob Markstrom, but it started with Brayden Schenn winning a loose puck off his own shot, putting the puck below the goal line before Holloway and Brandon Saad were able to win it back, Saad feeding Holloway for the snipe:
And the on Holloway’s second of the game and fourth point — he had two assists Monday — in two games, when Colton Parayko one-times a shot from the left point, watch how the Blues send three forwards to the net. Holloway, Jake Neighbours and Thomas all there puck hunting, and Holloway was able to finish after Markstrom couldn’t corral Parayko’s blast:
“I just want us to start on time,” Montgomery said. “The players were excited to get going again.
“I thought we ran out of juice a little bit in the second period, but I loved the commitment by the team in the third period to check.”
* Binnington holding down fort in the second — There comes a time when a team needs a goalie to make key, timely saves.
Binnington, who passed Mike Liut for most wins (152) in franchise history, did just that in the second period when the Blues were puck-chasing most of it and outshot 11-1.
He was making calm, cool and collected saves like this throughout the game:
“In the second period, ‘Binner,’ congratulations on breaking records and he showed why in the second period because he was fantastic,” Montgomery said.
* Commitment to blocking shots, clogging up the middle of the ice — The Devils, once down 8-0 on the shot clock and 2-0 in the game, wound up with 82 shot attempts to the Blues’ 35. But the Blues were committed to blocking shots (24), led by Ryan Suter’s six, and they made sure the Devils would not get any free ice in the middle, particularly in the neutral zone and the Blues’ zone.
“I really liked our third,” Montgomery said. “Our d-zone coverage and our neutral zone forecheck in the third period shows me signs that we’re going to be a good checking team over time, because the third period, the d-zone coverage, we kept it to the outside.”
The Devils had 13 shots in the third but just two high-danger chances.
Hear what Montgomery and players had to say after the game:
