In St Louis, the Arizona Coyotes picked up a much needed win Thursday night when they defeated the Blues, 4-3.
Antti Raanta made 40 saves, in a busy night, for the win.
“We played a really good game, 55 minutes we played really well,” Raanta said. “We blocked shots and did everything right, and then last five minutes wasn’t that great anymore.
“But I felt good. I’ve been trying to get that game-like feeling out there in practice. It’s always hard to come in from a little break, but I’ve been doing a good job in practice, and it helps to go into a game.”
Mike Hoffman struck for two goals and added a single marker for St Louis.
The Blues dropped to 7-3-1.
“Probably just a learning lesson,” Hoffman said. “Not too many times you’re going to come back from three goals against any team in this league. You’ve got to respect your opponent every single night; teams are too good if you’re not coming ready to play from the drop of the puck to the end. Teams are going to bury you like they did to us tonight.”
Conor Garland, Tyler Pitlick and Nick Schmaltz gave the Coyotes a 3-0 lead.
“I don’t have the answer for you,” St. Louis head coach Craig Berube said of the Blues’ slow start. “You’ll have to ask the players that. They’re the ones that play.
“It does have to come from each individual, and I believe there’s a bunch of individuals in there that do compete and work and are ready to play, but we have too many that aren’t. If that’s the case, you’re going to have a tough time winning. That’s the bottom line.”
Arizona improved to 4-5-1.
Christian Dvorak added an empty-net goal late in the third for a 4-1 lead to the Coyotes.
“It was nice to cash in on a few of those tonight,” Garland said. “I just think we stuck with it. We had a bunch of chances as well. … We had some chances as well late, but they’re a great team. We knew they were going to make a push. Obviously, you hate to see it get that close.”
The Blues went with an empty-net again and Ryan O’Reilly and Hoffman scored his second of the game with less than 30 seconds in the period for the 4-3 final.
Jordan Binnington made 26 saves in the loss.
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