The St. Louis Blues hit quite the sour note to begin 2025-26, getting shut out in a season opener for the first time in the franchise’s 58-year history.
After seeing their 15-game home winning streak (playoffs included) come to a halt, the Blues take their show on the road Saturday when they visit the Calgary Flames.
“You obviously want to win the home opener in front of your fans,” St. Louis captain Brayden Schenn said following his team’s 5-0 setback to the Minnesota Wild on Thursday.
“(But) you know what, it’s a long season. We can’t dwell on one game. We have to turn the page, and the best part about it is we have a game (on Saturday). We can go right back at it and make some adjustments, and we know we can be better.”
There were stretches when the Blues were better than the Wild, including a sequence in which they registered the first 14 shots of the second period and appeared poised to cut into a two-goal deficit. Alas, the momentum was halted once Joel Eriksson Ek scored on the power play at 12:27 of the second.
St. Louis was unable to solve Minnesota goaltender Filip Gustavsson, who turned aside all 26 shots he faced.
“Well one (reason), we weren’t taking away his eyes,” Blues coach Jim Montgomery said of Gustavsson. “(But) I don’t have an answer. We have a lot of good players that score a lot of goals, and for whatever reason, we weren’t on our mark tonight.”
During Thursday’s loss, rookie Jimmy Snuggerud was shuffled from the top line with Thomas and Pavel Buchnevich to the third with Pius Suter and Mathieu Joseph.
“I think it’s really important with young guys that you encourage, not discourage, and you talk to them about what their strengths are,” Montgomery said. “If we go down to two lines because we’re trying to protect a lead, and he’s not out there, tell him about it on the bench. ‘It’s nothing you didn’t do, I’m just going to go with guys that have been here before and done it before.'”
The Flames followed up their season-opening shootout win over the rival Edmonton Oilers on Wednesday with a 5-1 drubbing by the host Vancouver Canucks on Thursday.
In addition to the loss, Calgary defenseman Kevin Bahl departed early in the third after he took a wrist shot to the back of his head. The Canucks promptly scored to take a 2-0 lead, and the momentum changed from there.
There was not an immediate update on Bahl’s condition.
Dustin Wolf has yielded eight goals on 61 shots playing on back-to-back nights.
“Early in the year, there should be ton of energy in the tank,” Flames coach Ryan Huska said after Wolf’s 21-save effort on Thursday. “I wouldn’t say this was Dustin’s best game, but he always gives us a chance to win.”
Backup Devin Cooley is waiting in the wings after a less-than-stellar preseason. The 28-year-old has just six NHL games under his belt — all with the San Jose Sharks in 2023-24.
–Field Level Media
