Remarks to Kadri in ‘no way acceptable,’ Berube says

Before he answered any hockey questions following the Blues’ morning skate on Wednesday, coach Craig Berube wanted to set the record straight about his “no comment” on the subject of online threats and racial slurs directed at Colorado forward Nazem Kadri.

“I’m not on social media,” Berube said. “I was aware of a threat made to Nazem, not the racist stuff. And in no way is it acceptable by the St. Louis Blues or anybody else for him to have to go through that.

“Being a Native American myself, I’ve heard it all; I’ve been around it. It’s not a good thing. So I just wanted to get that out there that there’s no room for it anywhere. And that’s it.”

Asked Monday about the threats to Kadri, prior to Game 4 of the playoff series with the Avalanche, Berube issued a “no comment” and was criticized for not saying something.

Kadri instigated a collision in Game 3 that resulted in an apparent knee injury to Blues goalie Jordan Binnington, who was ruled out for the rest of the series. Emotions ran high entering Game 4, in which Kadri scored a hat-trick in an emphatic 6-3 victory by the Avalanche, but Berube and Blues centre Brayden Schenn said that’s behind them.

“The play happened. Obviously the emotions are high,” Schenn said before Game 5. “People are frustrated. It is what it is, and now we have to focus on winning hockey. I know we said that before last game, but that’s obviously where your attention has to turn. Obviously, (Kadri) had a good game last game. We can’t go out there and just worry about him. We’re worried about winning a hockey game.”

Early in Game 4, Schenn circled Kadri looking for a fight. Kadri wouldn’t take the bait. And in the second period, David Perron drew a two-minute penalty for crosschecking that resulted in a five-onthree power play for Colorado — setting up the Avs’ fourth goal of the game. Perron later said he was just trying to generate some energy for his team and not necessarily go after Kadri.