BLUES AT KRAKEN
When: Wednesday, Oct. 19 at 9 p.m. CT
Where: Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle, WA
Watch: TNT, TNT App
Listen: 101 ESPN, Blues App and 93.9 fm Q94
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.
