Preseason hockey came to Kansas City tonight, and it was the St. Louis Blues and the Minnesota Wild, and yes, I watched this game. The first period saw the Blues and Wild exchange goals on really good passes, with Brayden Schenn feeding Vladimir Tarasenko on the power play to make it 1-0. The Blues were exposed on the power play in the Nashville series last year, and putting Schenn with Tarasenko can only help matters, as evidenced by that goal. Charlie Coyle fed Luke Kunin, who was cutting in on goal to even the score late in the period, one of the rare times in the game that Jake Allen was unable to stop the puck. Curiously, Allen was pulled in the middle of the second period so backup Carter Hutton could get some time. A Blues goal in the second period left the score at 2-1, but the Wild would score early in the third period, as Kunin would cut to the net and force a shot from the point to go off a Blues player trailing him and past Hutton. With 4.3 seconds to go in the game, Coyle would take a Blues turnover in their own end and bury it past Hutton to make it a 3-2 final.
So, what can be taken from this game? For the Blues, fixing the power play saw some fruit with Schenn and Tarasenko together, the blue line is going to need some time to gel, particularly if either or both Jake Walman and Vince Dunn get time in the NHL due to injuries, Jake Allen is in mid-season form, and despite getting power play time, Tage Thompson is better served starting in the AHL. For the Wild, Mike Reilly is still not ready for NHL duty, as he had some lapses in his own end, Kunin impressed by going to the net on the first two goals despite being credited for just one of the two, and Devan Dubnyk may be needed to bail out the team once again, as they mostly had trouble getting the puck past Allen and Hutton.
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