TEAM SNAPSHOTS
BLUES It was a successful return to play for the St. Louis Blues, who kicked off their season with a 5-2 victory against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Opening Night at Enterprise Center. The teams took a 2-2 tie into the third period before the Blues scored three unanswered goals to pull away.
"It's an exciting time of year," said Colton Parayko. "It's always fun to get a new (season) going, and we're looking forward to a good one."
Pavel Buchnevich, Ivan Barbashev and Jake Neighbours each scored a goal in the Home Opener, and Vladimir Tarasenko got off to a hot start with a pair of his own. Neighbours, a 20-year-old forward aiming to stay on the NHL roster all season, impressed Head Coach Craig Berube in his season debut.
"(Neighbours) got a nice goal there," said Berube. "I thought he was on top of things - doing his job, working, being heavy on pucks, things like that."
The Blues head to Seattle on Wednesday to take on the Kraken, which starts a three-game road trip. The team will continue on to Edmonton and Winnipeg before returning to St. Louis on Oct. 26.
In the early days of the season, the Blues are 1-0-0, worth two points as the Central Division begins to shake out.
KRAKEN The Seattle Kraken, in their second season as an NHL franchise, are off to a busy start. In the same time that the Blues have played just a single game, the Kraken have already taken the ice four times.
Andre Burakovsky, who signed in Seattle on a five-year, $27.5 million deal following his Stanley Cup run with the Colorado Avalanche, leads the team early on with five points.
Former Blue Jaden Schwartz, who played just 37 games last season due to injury, is off to a solid start with two power-play goals already. Schwartz missed all three matchups against the Blues last season, so this will be the first time he'll play against St. Louis in his 12-year career.
The youth is still Seattle's main focus as they work to establish a franchise identity, seeing positive early returns from Matty Beniers, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2021 NHL Draft. The 19-year-old forward has four points in four games thus far, second-most on the team.
Seattle goes into Wednesday's matchup with a 1-2-1 record, worth three points and fourth place in the Pacific Division.
HEAD-TO-HEAD The Blues are 3-0-0 against the Kraken in the matchup's young history, including a 5-0 win in their only bout at Climate Pledge Arena last season.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
BLUES Colton Parayko, who is set to become the 21st player and seventh defenseman in franchise history to play 500 games with the Blues. Parayko made history the last time he played in Seattle, becoming the club's first defenseman ever to score on a penalty shot.
KRAKEN Jaden Schwartz, who is suiting up against the Blues for the first time after 10 seasons in St. Louis. Schwartz has 26 points in 41 total games since signing with the Kraken in 2021.
BLUE NOTES
The Blues outscored the Kraken 11-2 in their three games last season, including a power-play goal in each game... They also killed off all eight of their penalties against Seattle... The Blues scored on one out of three power-play opportunities in their season opener vs. Columbus, keeping up their historic efficiency from last season... The Blues converted a franchise-record 27.0 percent on the power play last year, ranking second in the NHL... Last season, they posted a 37-12-5 record in games where they scored at least once on the power play.
While some NHL teams have played four games already this season, including the Seattle Kraken, the St. Louis Blues are the lone team to have played just once.
The Blues, who opened with a 5-2 victory against visiting Columbus on Saturday by scoring three unanswered goals in the third period, will return to the ice Wednesday night in Seattle, opening a three-game trip that includes stops in Edmonton and Winnipeg.
"It's an exciting time of year," said defenseman Colton Parayko, who is set to play in his 500th game for the Blues. "It's always fun to get a new (season) going and we're looking forward to a good one."
Vladimir Tarasenko scored twice for St. Louis, Pavel Buchnevich added a goal and an assist and goaltender Jordan Binnington made 23 saves in the opener.
The Blues' Ivan Barbashev and Jake Neighbours tallied 20 seconds apart to spark the third-period rally.
"We were better in the third period," Blues coach Craig Berube said. "Stronger on pucks and controlled the play a little bit more in the offensive zone and competed harder on things. Played the game the right way."
The Blues won all three games against the expansion Kraken last season, outscoring them 11-2.
Kraken forward Jaden Schwartz, who spent the first 10 years of his career in St. Louis, missed all three meetings with the Blues last season because of injuries. This will be the first time he plays against his former team.
The Kraken opened the season by taking three of a possible four points on a Southern California swing to Anaheim and Los Angeles, but have struggled since returning home to Climate Pledge Arena.
They fell behind by five goals in a 5-2 loss to Vegas on Saturday, then dropped a 5-1 decision to Carolina on Monday.
Against Carolina, the Kraken fell behind early for the second straight game and never caught up.
"We have to find a way to bounce back earlier," said forward Andre Burakovsky, who scored Seattle's lone goal against the Hurricanes. "We've got to fight back. ... I think we need to stay on top of what makes us successful and what makes us find ways to create offense.
"We're four games in and this is still a new team, a lot of new guys. I think it's up to every single individual to be at their best."
The score was just 1-0 midway through the game before the Kraken allowed three goals in a span of 2:23, two on the power play.
Kraken coach Dave Hakstol said giving Carolina nearly four minutes with the man advantage due to a pair of high-sticking penalties was akin to "playing with fire."
"You make mistakes against good teams when they put you under pressure and that's going to come back to haunt you," Hakstol said. "We took three minor penalties in a row but what led to the first one of those was a turnover and a poor track (of the errant puck) on that play. It's little things that got us (Monday) and that's what happens against good teams."
