3 Takeaways from Blues 2-1 win over Coyotes

The St. Louis Blues (6-5-1) defeated the Arizona Coyotes 2-1 on Thursday, Nov. 9, in St. Louis. The Blues close out a four-game homestand 3-1 to add to their 5-2 home record.

Blues goalie Joel Hofer redeemed his first loss of the season (6-2 vs. Arizona on Oct. 19) by holding the Coyotes to one goal in 20 shots, extending his winning streak to three games.

“He was great,” Blues center Robert Thomas said. “A couple of times where he made mistakes and he stood on his head and made the saves he needed to make. So good job for him.”

Here are three takeaways from the Blues win over the Coyotes:

__Mr. November on Ice__

Thomas broke a 1-1 tie in the second period with his sixth goal of the season. The St. Louis center has now scored a goal in each of the Blues' four games in November.

Thomas, who the Blues selected with the 20th pick of the 2017 NHL Draft, was a rookie during St. Louis' Stanley Cup championship run. He led the Blues in assists during the previous two seasons and currently has a team-leading six goals to go with his five assists, also a team-high.

“He likes to shoot,” Blues defenseman Justin Faulk said. “I don’t think people give enough credit for him shooting because he doesn’t have as many goals as everyone else.”

__Just keep shooting__

The Blues took 33 shots on goal and scored twice against Arizona. The Blues struck quickly when Oskar Sundqvist scored a goal within the first three minutes of the game.

So far this season the Blues are 4-0 when they take 30 shots on goal or more.

Entering the homestand, St. Louis was 3-4-1 with only one 30-shot game. There’s a clear connection between the Blues winning at home and shooting at a more aggressive clip.

“When you’re shooting pucks, it’s easier to recover them for sure,” Blues head coach Craig Berube said. “I thought we did a good job of getting pucks to the net, recovering them, looking to shoot again right away. It’s something we’ve been harping on for quite a while but we’re starting to get a hold of it here. We got to keep pushing that. We got to love to shoot and then recover.”

__All power but no play__

When the team with the most penalty minutes meets the team with the least amount of shots on goal, you end up with a lot of chaos but little consequences.

The Coyotes saw seven skaters sent to the penalty box, starting with Liam O'Brien throwing Sammy Blais down to the ice. The Blues had seven power play opportunities but failed to capitalize on any of them. They even had a 5-on-3 advantage and it led to nothing.

“What I saw, which was a bad thing tonight but generally not, I think we saw guys that wanted to be the guy over not executing with the puck and not taking that extra second to make a good pass,” Blues defenseman Torey Krug said. “I was at fault for that one time. It’s up to that group, obviously important players for our team. You got to execute most situations and we didn’t.”

__Extra Note: Hometown kid__

Coyotes right winger Clayton Keller assisted in Lawson Crouse’s goal, which tied the game 1-1 with 4:16 remaining in the first period. The Chesterfield, Mo. native now has 27 points in 26 career games against his hometown Blues.