The Blues played a terrible first period Saturday night. Their third-period start was pretty bad, too.
But they used a second-period rally and a strong finish to edge the Carolina Hurricanes 4-3 at Enterprise Center.
Mathieu Joseph, Jake Neighbours, Dylan Holloway and Kasperi Kapanen scored for the Blues, who are 2-1 on this four-game homestand.
Making his second straight start in goal, Joel Hofer made 37 saves and allowed the Blues to survive their rocky start.
There was no mystery about what the Blues would face. Under coach Rod Brind鈥橝mour, the Hurricanes have a well-established identity. They play the same way week after week, month after month, season after season.
鈥淲e鈥檙e going to have to be physical, we鈥檙e going to have to be strong along the walls,鈥 Blues coach Drew Bannister said beforehand. 鈥淲e鈥檙e going to have to be good in the net front, we鈥檙e going to have to get into shooting lanes, we鈥檙e going to have to win races to pucks here tonight. ... We have to be willing to skate and we have to use that ability to skate to match their intensity and their physicality.鈥
The Hurricanes defeated the Penguins 4-1 on Friday in Pittsburgh, then didn鈥檛 arrive in St. 亚洲无码 until the wee hours overnight.
The Blues hoped take advantage of their fresher legs. Bannister staged an optional practice Friday and gave key Blues extra rest ahead of this game.
鈥淭he first period is very important for us to really use our ability to skate,鈥 Bannister said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e going to have to get on bodies and slow them down. We鈥檙e going to have to find ways to slow them down through the neutral zone.鈥
That did not happen.
Carolina built a 5-1 shots advantage in the first 3陆 minutes and outshot the Blues 19-4 over the first 20 minutes. The Hurricanes built a 32-7 advantage in shot attempts and limited the Blues to 2:22 in offensive zone time.
Carolina took a 1-0 lead 1:21 into the game when Seth Jarvis picked Colton Parayko鈥檚 pocket in left corner and moved the puck to Sebastian Aho, who slid it over to Andrei Svechnikov for an easy goal on the weak side.
Blues spring to life
The Blues stabilized in the second period by drawing two penalties. They didn鈥檛 covert their power plays, but they finally got offensive zone time.
Then their forecheck went to work. Brayden Schenn鈥檚 line led the charge, with Joseph scoring on a turnaround shot from the slot.
Zack Bolduc stole the puck along the right boards and set up Neighbours鈥 laser shot for a 2-1 lead.
The offer-sheet boys struck next. Philip Broberg zig-zagged toward the goal from the left wing and slipped the puck to Holloway breaking to the goal.
In the first period Holloway lost control of the puck on a clean break-in, but this time he scored to give the Blues a 3-1 lead. He batted his rebound in out of the air for his first goal with his new team.
Broberg, meanwhile, has started his Blues career with a six-game point streak.
Carolina pushes back
Parayko made a save with Hofer caught out of the goal early in the third period, but he shot the puck over the boards. On the ensuing Carolina power play, Shayne Gostisbehere scored from the blue line.
After Nathan Walker turned the puck over coming out of this zone, the Hurricanes tied the game 3-3 with Jack Roslovic鈥檚 shot off the right wing.
But Kapanen answered with a clean break-in, converting Neighbours鈥 pass to put the Blues up 4-3. They held on to win a game in which there was skirmishing after the final buzzer.
Broberg and Holloway were at it again Saturday night, playing key roles in the Blues鈥 mid-game revival that led to their 4-3 victory at home o…
The Blues鈥 Dylan Holloway, left, controls the puck while under pressure from the Hurricanes鈥 Shayne Gostisbehere in the second period on Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024, at Enterprise Center.