Tarasenko helps thwart Hawks
Scores twice as Blues flip script, win battle of mirror-image teams
ST. LOUIS — A head coach on the hot seat. Salary cap hell. A season going nowhere.
It wasn’t too long ago the Blackhawks checked off every one of those unwanted items. Well, things have changed. Coach Joel Quenneville has been pushing all the right buttons to get his team to play inspired hockey, general manager Stan Bowman maneuvered to get $4 million in cap space to work with and the Hawks are one of the NHL’s best stories in the early going of this season.
Now let’s take a look at the Blues: Head coach on the hot seat. Salary cap hell. A season going nowhere.
Check, check, check. After 10 games, the Hawks and Blues appeared to have undergone a wholesale swap of how their seasons were expected to go. But beware, circumstances can change again. They already might be changing.
Ryan O’Reilly scored 18 seconds into the game and Vladimir Tarasenko had a pair of goals as the Blues pulled off a desperately needed 7-3 victory over the Hawks on Saturday night at the Enterprise Center.
“The game was there to be had,” Duncan Keith said. “But unfortunately we weren’t good enough.
Embattled Blues coach Mike Yeo had a long team meeting after Thursday night’s 7-4 loss to the Blue Jackets, a game they led 2-0 before coming unglued over the final two periods. They were 2-4-3 and in last place in the Western Conference’s Central Division entering the game 5 p.m. Sunday, NBCSCH
against the Hawks.
“It seemed like they were playing with a little bit more intensity than we were,” said Patrick Kane, who scored two goals to up his season total to 11. “We just didn’t match it.”
O’Reilly shoved a pass from Zach Sanford just past Corey Crawford to put the Blues up 1-0 on their first shot on goal. The Hawks also scored with their first shot on Blues goalie Jake Allen when Kane’s shot through traffic went in at the 16 minute, 13 second mark for his 10th goal. Kane added his 11th late in the second and also had an assist on Artem Anisimov’s first period goal to give him 17 points.
Allen left the game late in the second after Sanford, who scored the Blues’ second goal, hit him in the head while defending Brandon Saad’s rush to the net.
Entering the season the Blues were considered a playoff lock. They had signed free agents Tyler Bozak and David Perron and made a widely praised trade for O’Reilly. Along with superstar Tarasenko, the pieces seemed to be there but victories haven’t followed. And with no cap space, roster changes aren’t likely to come.
That still may be just fine. Tarasenko’s power-play goal, his fourth of the season, and Bozak’s second early in the second period put the Blues up 4-2. Tarasenko, Alex Pietrangelo and Alexander Steen each scored in the final 4:20 to seal the victory.
“Obviously they were disappointed with what’s going on here and they had a good response,” Quenneville said.