The St. Louis Blues have been the NHL’s worst team on home ice so far this season. They lost their first two games at Enterprise Center by the combined score of 13-3.
The Blues will try to reverse that trend Saturday night when they face the Dallas Stars to continue a four-game homestand.
“At the end of the day, we have a chance here where we’re 2-2, turn the page and go and play a good team coming into your building,” Blues captain Brayden Schenn said. “(It’s) a chance for us to regroup and prove to each other that we can play hard for one another and play hard in front of our fans and give a solid effort on Saturday night.”
After falling 5-0 to the Minnesota Wild in their opener, the Blues won 4-2 at Calgary and 5-2 at Vancouver with goaltenders Joel Hofer and Jordan Binnington each earning a victory.
The Blues finished with a strong third period against the Flames and played three good periods against the Canucks. They appeared to be trending in the right direction.
Then the Blues returned home and suffered an ugly 8-3 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks.
“I just think through two road games, six periods on the road, we played four good periods,” Schenn said. “So we need to clean up a lot of things with our habits and details, tracking, puck play, willingness to compete for one another. I think it just starts with that.”
Blues coach Jim Montgomery will likely start Binnington (1-1-0, .860 save percentage) against the Stars after Hofer (1-1-0, .824 SV%) allowed seven goals on 22 shots against the Blackhawks.
The Stars will also be seeking a rebound performance in this Central Division showdown. After winning their first three games this season, they lost 5-3 to Vancouver at home Thursday.
Dallas took a 2-0 lead over the Canucks, then broke down during the second period while allowing four goals.
“We’re going to have to look at how the goals went in. Maybe some tough (line) changes. We’ll check them out,” Stars forward Tyler Seguin said after the loss. “It’s early in the year and we’re looking for our first full game. Tonight, the issue was the second period.”
The Stars earned two one-goal victories (one via shootout) during their 3-0 start, so coach Glen Gulutzan was pushing for more complete efforts even before this loss.
“This has been brewing,” Gulutzan said. “If you want to take an objective view of our record, 3-1-0 is probably where it should stand. The problem we’re getting into isn’t so much structure, it’s just managing the game. We need to manage leads.
“We came out (against Vancouver), we started well. We looked good, we were in control. It’s these leads where we tend to flatline a little bit, and that’s going to be our challenge.”
Backup Casey DeSmith started in goal for Dallas on Thursday, so the Stars are likely to come back with Jake Oettinger (3-0-0, .905) against the Blues.
