This is not Brayden Schenn’s first rodeo with a lot of things this season.It is his second time playing under Craig Berube as an interim coach
and the third time his name has been prominent in trade speculation. For Schenn
and the St. Louis Blues
Dallas Stars Hoodies Womens , those things are related.A bad start to the season cost coach Mike Yeo his job in November and started talk that just about anyone from
Schenn to star winger Vladimir Tarasenko to young defenseman Colton Parayko
could be dealt away. But over the past two month as interim coach, Berube has
turned things around — so much so that the Blues could make a run at the
playoffs and keep general manager Doug Armstrong from selling ahead of the Feb.
25 trade deadline.“Guys are playing hard right now and (Berube) obviously
commands a lot when it comes to the work ethic side of the game,” Schenn said
Monday in Washington. “We’ve had high expectations right from the beginning, we
didn’t meet them, then there’s tons of rumors about everyone. That’s kind of how
it goes when you’re not winning and you’re not meeting expectations.“Now we’re
in a position — closer, anyways — to make a playoff push, and we feel like we
can in this locker room. Now it’s up to us to try and save ourselves, each
other, from getting traded and staying here together.”Berube has pulled the
Blues together by getting them back to basics. They’ve gone 5-2-1 in their past
eight games to move within four points of the final playoff spot in the Western
Conference and can now think about the postseason.“This is such a good team
here, and we’re starting to get back to our game
Dallas Stars Hats Womens ,” leading scorer Ryan O’Reilly said. “We can get into the playoffs. We can make a difference.”After trading for O’Reilly and signing
forwards David Perron, Tyler Bozak and Patrick Maroon last summer, the Blues
were expected to make the playoffs and contend for the Stanley Cup. Twelve
losses in their first 19 games led to the coaching change, and Berube has
instilled some badly needed consistency.“He’s one of those guys that wants you
to make plays, but he demands a lot,” captain Alex Pietrangelo said. “He wants
you to work. And we’re working right now. That’s what we’re doing. That’s how
we’re winning hockey games.”Berube, who also was interim coach for Schenn and
the Philadelphia Flyers in 2013-14, has helped the Blues win games by changing
their mentality to become more of a north-south team. There was never a shortage
of talent, but now the direction of the action is straight toward the net with
the kind of direct style more suited to the group’s size.“We control the puck in
the offensive zone a lot,” Berube said. “We shoot the puck and get to the net.
That’s our game.”It helps that the Blues are getting stellar goaltending from
rookie Jordan Binnington and veteran starter Jake Allen of late. Binnington is
3-1-0 with a 1.55 goals-against average and .937 save percentage in his first
four NHL starts after getting called up at age 25 and being asked to steady the
ship.“With a little bit of pressure comes opportunity
Custom Dallas Stars Jerseys ,” Binnington said. “You try to do your best to feel confident and prepared for the moment, so you just work hard off the ice and on
the ice in practice, and when the moment finally comes, hopefully you’re
prepared. That’s kind of how I looked at it.”Blues skaters look at their rough
start not as a case of subpar goaltending but disastrous play in front of the
net. Schenn said it was “ugly” early on, and Pietrangelo said the team has done
a better job cutting down on rush chances against, which has made life easier
for the goalies.“We’re playing more of a 60-minute hockey game,” said Allen, who
has a .910 save percentage this season under Berube (it was .879 under Yeo). “We
were finding ways to shoot ourselves in the foot prior to that. We’d play 20
minutes of good hockey, 20 minutes of bad hockey, 20 minutes of mediocre hockey
and sometimes we win
www.redwingsshoponline.com , sometimes we lose. But right we’re getting goals and we’re hunkering down, but
at the same time we’re still finding a way to capitalize on opportunities.”More
than anything, the Blues need to pile up the points to go from last place in the
Central Division at the time of Yeo’s dismissal to the playoffs after missing by
one point last season. Berube gets a lot of credit within the locker room for
establishing a foundation of success.“He’s just brought some stability to the
group,” defenseman Robert Bortuzzo said. “He’s definitely made an emphasis on
character and compete. I think that’s something we all needed as a group and
something we’re going to need night in and night out.” SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — The
Columbus Blue Jackets overcame a shaky second period, scoring twice in the third
and spoiling the home opener for the Florida Panthers.Cam Atkinson’s goal with
2:46 left lifted the Blue Jackets to a 5-4 victory over the Panthers on Thursday
night.With traffic in front of the net, Atkinson swept the puck past goalie
James Reimer, who was flat on his back during the play. The Panthers challenged
for goalie interference, but the goal stood.“I wanted to do whatever it takes to
help this team win, and I did
Detroit Red Wings T-Shirts Womens ,” Atkinson said.The Blue Jackets gave up three goals in the second period after being outshot 22-5.“There is some great
teaching opportunity for us here as we found a way to win this game,” Columbus
coach John Tortorella said.Artemi Panarin had a goal and two assists for
Columbus. Boone Jenner, Anthony Duclair and Zach Werenski also scored, and
Joonas Korpisalo stopped 37 shots.“It’s probably one of the better goaltending
performances I’ve seen letting in four goals,” Tortorella said. “He gave us a
chance throughout the night, fought hard. I thought he was our best player.”The
Blue Jackets have won five straight over the Panthers.Evgenii Dadonov recorded a
goal and two assists and Aleksander Barkov had a goal and an assist for the
Panthers. Nick Bjugstad and Troy Brouwer also scored. Reimer made 27 saves for
the Panthers.“You score four goals at home, you should win,” Panthers coach Bob
Boughner said.Trailing 4-3, the Blue Jackets tied it on Jenner’s goal 1:45 into
the third. Jenner shot from the boards on the left side and the puck trickled
between Reimer’s pads.The Panthers took a 4-3 lead when Bjugstad poked in the
puck from in front with 8.3 seconds left in the second period.Columbus tied it
at 3 on a power-play goal by Duclair, whose wrist shot got inside the near post
at 12:16 of the second. The goal was Duclair’s first with the Blue
Jackets.Trailing 2-1 in the second
Detroit Red Wings Hoodies Womens , Florida tied the score on Barkov’s goal. Dadonov passed from the right circle between the skates of a defender to Barkov on the
left side. Barkov fired the puck past Korpisalo at 6:29.“We scored a couple of
goals, but we lost 5-4. It doesn’t matter. We need to learn how to win games,”
Barkov said.Brouwer’s tip-in of a shot by Mark Pysyk at 11:03 of the second gave
the Panthers a 3-2 lead.The Panthers outshot the Blue Jackets 15-0 midway
through the second period.The Blue Jackets took a 1-0 lead during a 5-on-3 power
play with 6:31 left in the first period. Werenski’s one-timer from the high-slot
beat Reimer on the glove side.Panarin stretched the Columbus lead to 2-0 when he
grabbed a loose puck inside the blue line, skated in and put the puck past
Reimer with 2:40 left in the first.The Panthers closed to 2-1 with 10.6 seconds
left in the first. Barkov passed across to Dadonov in the right circle and his
shot beat Korpisalo on the left side.NOTES: The Panthers celebrated the 25th
anniversary of their inaugural season by introducing members of the original
1993-94 team in a pre-game ceremony. . Panthers C Derek MacKenzie missed the
game with an upper body injury. … G Korpisalo made his second start in four
games for the Blue Jackets.UP NEXT:Blue Jackets: Visit the Tampa Bay Lightning
on Saturday.Panthers: Host the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday.
