Like Western Conference rivals Edmonton and Minnesota, the St. Louis Blues became revitalized by their coaching change.
The Blues are 5-1 since general manager Doug Armstrong fired coach Craig Berube and promoted Drew Bannister from his AHL post to interim coach. They will try to sustain that newfound momentum Friday when they host the Colorado Avalanche at Enterprise Center.
“My guess is, we’re a work in progress,” Armstrong said. “We want to continue to build a foundation. I know Drew is working towards that. … It all starts with communication and building relationships and I think he’s done a really good job of doing that.”
High on Bannister’s to-do list is developing winger Jake Neighbours and defenseman Scott Perunovich, two young players who Armstrong hopes can grow into nucleus pieces as the team transitions to a younger group.
Neighbours scored a goal in the Blues’ 2-1 victory over the Dallas Stars on Wednesday and Perunovich earned two assists. Neighbours has 12 goals this season and he has scored in back-to-back games.
“Jake’s a goal-scorer,” Perunovich said. “No matter where he’s at on the ice, I’m going to try and get it to him. He can score from anywhere, as he’s shown.”
Perunovich won the Hobey Baker Award in 2020 as the top player in college hockey. Injuries have derailed him at the pro level and he is trying to establish himself as a Blues regular.
He had a strong game against the Stars while paired with veteran Marco Scandella. “I feel like Scotty’s playing really well right now just creating space out there and moving his feet, so I’m kind of reading off him,” Scandella said.
Jordan Binnington will start against the Avalanche in goal, with Joel Hofer slated to play Saturday in Pittsburgh.
The Blues split two games against the Avalanche in Denver, losing 4-1 on Nov. 1 and winning 8-2 on Nov. 11. Pavel Buchnevich had a hat trick, Robert Thomas had four assists and Binnington made 36 saves in the latter game.
Colorado came out of the holiday break with a disappointing 5-4 overtime loss to the Arizona Coyotes. The Avalanche blew a 4-0 lead in that game and settled for a single point.
“They pushed in the third (period), and we didn’t push back,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. “We need to be a little bit smarter with the puck. … We just fed into it. We fed into their press and eventually they got the goals they needed.”
Avalanche defenseman Devon Toews noted that his team got careless with its lead.
“They’ve got some dangerous guys over there that can turn plays and turn offense quickly, and we kind of handed a few to them tonight,” Toews said. “We made it easier on them with how we were giving it to them and how we were allowing them to generate offense.”
With the Avalanche looking to deliver a rebound performance, the Blues will have to pay extra attention to red-hot Colorado forwards Nathan MacKinnon (13 goals, 23 assists during his 19-game point streak) and Mikko Rantanen (six goals, seven assists in his last eight games).
–Field Level Media