DENVER — Sheer chaos is the only way to describe the Blues’ situation entering Game 2 of Wednesday's first-round playoff series with the Colorado Avalanche.
Less than an hour before the team took the ice for their morning skate at Ball Arena, general manager Doug Armstrong issued a statement regarding discrepancies in the NHL’s COVID-19 testing.
“We have discovered discrepancies in COVID test results relating to multiple players,” Armstrong said in the statement. “We have been in touch with and are working with the league to address these discrepancies with additional testing and expect to have further information later this afternoon.
“The league will provide a further update when we have more information.”
And then in a highly unusual move, Armstrong said neither coach Craig Berube nor any Blues players would be available to the media for Zoom interviews after the morning skate.
At the team’s morning skate, which actually began at 1 p.m. Central, among those not on the ice were goalie Jordan Binnington, forwards Vladimir Tarasenko and Jaden Schwartz, and defenseman Marco Scandella.
None of those four were on the ice for Tuesday’s practice either, but that was a lightly attended optional workout that included only a few players who played in Monday’s series opener, a 4-1 loss to the Avalanche.
So for Binnington, Tarasenko, Schwartz and Scandella — did they all test positive and are part of what Armstrong called “discrepancies in COVID test results relating to multiple players?”
Or were some taking a maintenance day? Which would be unheard of if Binnington, as expected, was going to be the goaltender Wednesday night.
The most likely to fall into the “maintenance” category would be Scandella, who took a maintenance day at Monday’s morning skate but then played 20 minutes, 5 seconds that night against the Avalanche.
The Blues already have three players on the NHL’s daily COVID-19 list — and that has been the case for several days — in David Perron, Jake Walman and Nathan Walker.
From the press box setting high above the ice surface at Ball, this is what was seen during line rushes:
Forwards
— Sammy Blais-Ryan O’Reilly-Brayden Schenn
— Mike Hoffman-Tyler Bozak-Jordan Kyrou
— Kyle Clifford-Zach Sanford-Klim Kostin
Based on who was on the ice, that would left Ivan Barbashev-Robert Thoams-Mackenzie MacEachern as another line, and Dakota Joshua as an extra.
All of which could be totally meaningless if Tarasenko and Schwartz show up in the lineup Wednesday.
Defensemen
— Torey Krug-Justin Faulk
— Nikko Mikkola-Colton Parayko
— Vince Dunn-Robert Bortuzzo
— With Steven Santini as an extra defensemen.
Keep in mind, the Blues went with just 11 forwards and seven defensemen in their final two games of the season series against Colorado on April 24 and April 26, and won both games. So that could be a possibility Wednesday if the Blues end up short on forwards.
Here’s how the power play units lined up:
— PPI: Krug, Hoffman, Bozak, O’Reilly, Schenn
— PPII: Faulk, Thomas, Kyrou, Sanford, Barbashev
Normally, Tarasenko would be on the first unit — not Bozak. And Schwartz would be on the second unit, with Sanford and Barbashev not on the second unit.
If Binnington does not play Wednesday, Ville Husso would make his first NHL postseason start after recording his first NHL shutout in his last start, March 12 again Minnesota.
In another unusual move, Berube called the group closely together on the side of the ice — along the wall at center ice opposite the benches — to address the team after the morning skate.
