A bright orange ladder could be found leaning against the wall outside of the Enterprise Center media room Thursday, but it’s not like Blues coach Craig Berube opened it up and walked beneath it.
No black cats were spotted darting across the hallways.
Steven Santini, hustled to St. Louis from the minors to backfill for an injury-caused erosion of defense, was not assigned No. 13.
So, can these Blues catch a break, please?
Hockey gods, if you’re reading, take Friday night off. Quit tilting the scales against the locals. You have influenced this series enough as it is.
Chief is not much interested in a cosmic conversation. This was as close as he came Thursday, after the Blues returned home tied, but having paid a big price.
“Who knows if we don’t break that stick on that goal?” Berube said, referencing the detonated piece of defenseman Robert Bortuzzo’s equipment that might as well have been given an assist on Joel Eriksson Ek’s first-period strike in Game 2.
The goal set the stage for the Wild's 6-2 series-tying win. Unfortunately, it was not the worst thing that happened to Bortuzzo. He later left the ice after taking a puck to the face. It looked bad Wednesday night and did not sound better Thursday. What are the Blues missing when Bortuzzo does not play? They are missing the kind of defenseman who will block a puck with his face.
"You have to move on from that game," Berube said. "Take some things out of it that we can do better, some adjustments we can do better, and we go play the next game.”
Berube is big on the Blues controlling what they can control. The man has an impressive pair of playoff blinders, and he does a great job of passing them out to his players. The to-do list for Game 3 includes keeping those talented Wild forwards from spending so much time in front of Ville Husso's net. And yes, it will be Husso in net, Berube strongly hinted. Getting more action going in front of Wild goalie Marc-Andre Fleury is a must, especially action propelled by David Perron. He was the X-factor in Game 1 but was not nearly as noticeable in Game 2. Fleury, called The Flower, can be pruned if the Blues capitalize on some of the rebounds he allows. What Berube doesn't want, though, is for the Blues to totally abandon their Game 2 game plan. They spent a good chunk of their loss playing better than they did in their win.
That's hockey, as they say.
So is one team in a series catching more breaks than its opponent.
The biggest problem the Blues have at this moment appears to be some no-good, old-fashioned bad luck. That's not to be confused with bad puck luck, either. Shots have hit posts for both teams, making this a much closer series than a four-goal Blues win in Game 1 and a four-goal Wild win in Game 2 have indicated. What we are talking about is a list of ominous stuff that is out of the Blues control, and how that list continues to lengthen.
Defenseman Nick Leddy, who has been a great in-season addition, was hurt in Game 1. We just didn’t know it at the time. He played on. But he didn't appear in Game 2.
Wild captain Jared Spurgeon’s clean image helped him skate by a suspension after he tried to snap Pavel Buchnevich's Achilles late in Game 1.
Officials have twice through two games missed Minnesota sending a puck over the boards, costing the Blues two power plays that should have been awarded after a delay of game.
Bortuzzo's Game 2 injury combined with Leddy's Game 1 injury combined with the Marco Scandella injury that has kept him from appearing in this series means the Blues could be without three of their top-six defensemen in Game 3.
Blame the Blues, the Wild or the officials if you like, but some of this is beyond anyone's control. None more so than an insanely expensive hockey stick designed for a professional crumbling at the worst possible time.
Bortuzzo wasn’t flexing the stick to shoot. He wasn’t using it to sword fight with an opponent. He was pretty much just skating with it, when, bang! And the Wild were off and running.
“Sometimes sticks, they break,” Berube said. “Maybe he dinged it up a little before that. Who knows. Unfortunate bounce."
And that was before Bortuzzo left the game holding his head.
Bad breaks, in more ways than one. They’re adding up for Berube’s Blues against an opponent that can and will take advantage. If the list keeps growing, it will start looking like the hockey gods just had it out for the Blues this time around. Perhaps a change of scenery and a raucous home crowd could help. Some good pregame news on the injury front would be a pleasant surprise.
Better bring some sage when you make the trip to Enterprise Center, just in case.
