The fans came back to Enterprise Center, about 1,400 of them, the first paying fans the team has seen since March 9, almost 11 months ago.
They sat, mostly in pairs, occasionally in a group of four, spread around the Plaza Level, with some placed in the suites at the top of the level. (The upper level remained unused.) The players welcomed it as a sign of more normal days, even if the pumped-in ground noise overwhelmed most reactions from the actual humans.
“The chatter in the locker room is just about the excitement of having people back in the building,” defenseman Torey Krug said Tuesday morning. “I know as an opposing player coming in here how hard it is to play here. We want to continue that excitement and the roll that we’re on and give them something to cheer about. The guys are really pumped up.”
The Blues didn’t offer much at the start but came through for the few fans on hand with a 4-3 win over the Arizona Coyotes, as big a nemesis as they’ve had the past few years, for their fourth win in a row and fifth in six games. The teams will go at it again on Thursday at Enterprise Center.
Arizona came into the game having won six of its past eight against the Blues, which has gone against what the NHL standings would suggest was the likely result of games between the teams. For whatever reason, the Coyotes have been a team the Blues just didn’t match up well against.
From the start, that’s what it looked like. But after being outplayed severely in the early stages of the first period, the Blues turned it around starting with a late first-period goal from Mike Hoffman. He got the puck in his own end, skated it up ice, saw Arizona defenseman Alex Goligoski fall down as he got back on defense, which gave Hoffman the opening he needed to slam it home from the right dot.
It was only the second goal of the season for Hoffman, who has had trouble getting his offense into the gear that was expected when the team signed him as a free agent right before camp began. He got his first goal in the Blues’ third game of the season, the team’s home opener, but didn’t score in the next six games and had just one shot on goal in each of the past three games.
Early in the second, Justin Faulk got his third of the season, in an unexpected way, as he stickhandled through the Coyotes defense, leaving two players in his wake before sliding the puck between Darcy Kuemper’s legs.
The Blues had been controlling the offense to that point but 26 seconds after the goal they got in trouble. First Ivan Barbashev was called for tripping and 30 seconds later, Marco Scandella was called for hooking, giving the Coyotes 90 seconds of a two-man advantage. The Blues managed to kill that, but five seconds into the five-on-four, Christian Dvorak (on his 25th birthday) got his second goal of the night, setting up down low and tipping in a pass from Nick Schmaltz.
The Blues kept the pressure on the Arizona net and with 8:15 to go in the period, were rewarded. Jordan Kyrou kept the puck in at the blueline, got it to Jaden Schwartz along the boards, who found defenseman Vince Dunn moving down the slot who fired it in for the goal. It was the second goal for Dunn in three games since he was a healthy scratch and his name began circulating in trade rumors. It was also the eighth goal this season by a Blues defenseman and Dunn’s third, bringing him even with Faulk.
Oskar Sundqvist was laid out by a high stick by Arizona’s Drake Caggiula 31 seconds into the third (after some treatment on the bench, Sundqvist returned to action) that got the Blues a four-minute power play and a chance to get some insurance. They got it, but not the way anyone expected. Just over a minute into the penalty, David Perron was called for holding, sending the game back to even strength at four-on-four for two minutes.
But not long into that, Colton Parayko skated the puck into the Arizona zone, got it to Kyrou in the middle who quickly got it to Ryan O’Reilly alone on the right wing who had an empty bit of net to put the puck into for his second goal of the season.
Arizona got within a goal with 2:40 to play on a goal by Schmaltz from near the goal after the Coyotes had brought on a sixth attacker. After play resumed, Arizona pulled Kuemper again to go for the tying goal and while the Coyotes spent most that time in the Blues end, goalie Jordan Binnington made three saves in the closing two minutes to protect the win.
