ST. LOUIS — The night began with memories, and after 54 years with the Blues, there were no shortage of them when it came to Bobby Plager.
The Blues players took the ice Friday night in the team’s powder blue heritage jerseys, all with Plager and No. 5 on the back. The team’s game jerseys for the remainder of this season have a 5 inside a heart on the right breast.
Kelly Chase, a Plager disciple, narrated a tribute to his former minor league coach on the scoreboard before the game, as both teams stood on each end of the rink, watching, and the crowd of about 4,000 in Enterprise Center responded with a standing ovation, which then segued into a moment of silence for Plager. When that was done, members of the Plager family, who were assembled in the stands on the concourse level, were introduced, and the Blues players came over to the glass to salute them.
Throughout the game, at most stoppages of play and in both intermissions, it was a constant tribute to Plager, who died of a cardiac event while driving on Highway 40 (Interstate 64) on Wednesday. Retired NBC hockey broadcaster Mike Emrick recorded a message, part tribute to Plager, part inspiration to Blues fans that the sadness will be fleeting and the memories of the good times will win out.
Meanwhile, there was an addition to the Plager family on Friday with the birth of a great grandson to Barclay Plager, Bobby’s brother and another Blues legend, Sullivan Barclay Hecht.
The on-ice times for the Blues have been tough as well, and the memories there are more basic. Once upon a time, the Blues could score goals.
The Blues avoided their second straight shutout but couldn’t avoid their third straight loss, falling to Anaheim, 4-1, on Friday night, though two empty-net goals by Anaheim in the final 63 seconds made it look worse than it was. The Blues have just two wins in their past 10 games, with one of them coming in a shootout. They have scored one goal or less in six of their past seven games. The defense has tightened up, but so has the offense, almost to the point where it can’t breathe. The Blues were shut out on 37 shots by Minnesota on Thursday and scored once on 34 shots on Friday.
In a fitting comment on the affair, as Derek Grant’s puck slid into the net with 1:03 to play, the pursuing David Perron whacked his stick against the just-vacated goal, leaving the blade of his stick sitting forlornly just outside the crease.
Though with a sea of games against division heavyweights Vegas, Colorado and Minnesota coming up, Blues coach Craig Berube sensed the importance of the game for the struggling Blues and came back with Jordan Binnington for the second night in a row. Binnington had faced only 11 shots on Thursday night in St. Paul, Minn., so he was as well rested as a goalie could be coming off a game, but it was more than that.
“It’s a big game so we’re going to go with our top guy,” Berube said.
For the second game in a row, there was a fight early in the game, though this time it was more spur of the moment than Brayden Schenn’s bout at the drop of the puck in St. Paul on Thursday. This time, Anaheim’s Jani Hakanpaa had knocked down Vladimir Tarasenko and Schenn, got in his second fight in as many days and third of the season when he went after Hakanpaa.
The Blues went almost eight minutes in one stretch in the first period without a shot on goal as they completed their fifth consecutive scoreless period. And then, for the eighth straight game, the Blues opponent scored first. This time, Jakob Silfverberg threw a puck from the corner toward the netfront, where it hit the skate of Sam Steel and caromed in with 17:37 to go in the second.
Six seconds later, the Blues fought again, this time with Jacob de la Rose going at it with Ben Hutton, as a team that had seven fights in its first 33 games now has four in two days.
It was, like Thursday, a period where the Blues created chances but couldn’t finish them. In the final minute of the second period, the Blues fell further behind. Torey Krug couldn’t keep possession of the puck in the corner and it popped out to Max Jones, who had no Blues other than Binnington between him and the goal. He went to his right, to his left and then got around Binnington and tucked it in the goal to make it 2-0. Fifty-two seconds later, when the period had ended, the Blues' drought had hit six periods.
The team’s drought ended at 144 minutes, 8 seconds when Ryan O’Reilly scored after 45 seconds of a delayed penalty on Anaheim, when he put in the rebound of a shot by Marco Scandella. It was the team’s first goal since Vince Dunn had scored in the second period in Las Vegas on Monday.
