EDMONTON — The St. Louis Blues have two goalies who can play, but only one seems to have a chance to win tonight as the team tries to climb back into its playoff series against the Vancouver Canucks.
Through process of elimination, that goalie is backup Jake Allen. Because starter Jordan Binnington has followed his average regular season with a dismal Stanley Cup tournament.
Blues coach Craig Berube said Saturday he would name his starter “later,” but if he doesn’t go with Allen in Game 3 it may be too late.
Binnington was a magical part of the Blues’ resurrection story last season, when his promotion from the minors preceded St. Louis’ surge from bottom of the National Hockey League standings to Stanley Cup champions.
But since arriving in Edmonton for the summer Stanley Cup tournament, the 27-year-old is 0-4 with an .862 save percentage. Binnington has allowed nine goals on 47 shots (.809) while losing the first two games to the Canucks.
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This followed a regular season in which Binnington’s save rate plummeted to .912 from last season’s .927. Allen, meanwhile, had a quietly-strong bounceback season after losing the starting job, posting a .927 save percentage in 21 starts.
Viewing St. Louis’ goaltending from a distance, it’s hard to see how Berube can do anything except give the crease back to the 30-year-old Allen, who stopped 37 of 38 Dallas shots in his only round-robin start in Edmonton.
“With Binnington, I mean, (normally) he stops a lot of those pucks,” Berube said in Saturday’s conference call, the Blues’ last media availability before tonight’s 8:30 p.m. local start. “At the same time, we’re giving breakaways up, too. I think it goes hand-in-hand with our team and Binner. We’re giving up too much defensively.”
Canucks goalie Jacob Markstrom has stopped 63 of 68 St. Louis shots (.926). Reverse the goalies in this series and the score may be opposite, too.
SOS ON VAN D
Vancouver coach Travis Green offered no update Saturday on injured defenceman Tyler Myers, who left Friday’s 4-3 overtime win early in the third period after crashing shoulder-and-neck first into the boards on an unpenalized shove-from-behind by Brayden Schenn.
If Myers is unable to play tonight, his spot on the right side of defence could be taken by veteran Jordie Benn, who has yet to play a playoff game after spending part of the qualifying round in quarantine and isolation following the birth of his child in Texas.
Myers is an easy — and at six-foot-eight, big — target for analytics criticism. But he also led Canucks defencemen in even-strength time on ice this season (18:35), was easily the most physical Vancouver blue-liner in a series in which the Blues have been getting away with a lot, and is trusted by Green in all situations.
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LAST CHANGE
If hockey doesn’t work out, Blues centre Ryan O’Reilly could open a magic show in Las Vegas because he has made one of the NHL’s most dangerous forward lines disappear at even strength.
The Canucks’ trio of Elias Pettersson, J.T. Miller and Brock Boeser has been bullied by O’Reilly and his linemates, who last game were wingers David Perron and Jaden Schwartz.
In 23 minutes of five-on-five ice time for Vancouver’s Lotto Line (Nos. 6-40-9) over the first two games, the Canucks have been outshot 20-4. O’Reilly’s personal shots-for percentage of 81.8 leads the playoffs.
But St. Louis has been unable to capitalize on this territorial landslide, and Pettersson, Boeser and Miller are still making an impact on the power play, combining for nine points in two games as Vancouver’s man-advantage unit has five goals on nine chances.
All of this leads to the question: With last change as ‘home’ team in Games 3 and 4, does Green just let things ride or does he try to put Bo Horvat head-to-head against O’Reilly, which could risk the game-changing production the Canucks’ captain has managed against other lines?
Horvat has four goals in two games and been the best player in the series so far.
“It depends on what they try to do, if they want to get Pettersson away from O’Reilly,” Berube said. “We’ll see what happens early on in the game. We’ve just got to play. You can’t get caught up in too many matchups. I mean, it’s important, but at the same time they’re going to have last change so I’m not going to worry about it too much. I want to get our players out there and get them playing and get them rolling.”
QUOTEBOOK
Blues defenceman Carl Gunnarson: “Looking at both the games, I think we should have just won one of them. That’s just how it goes. (Friday’s loss) stung really bad. But you’ve just got to get back up again. I feel like we can take this over. I think everyone feels like that, too.”
