KERBSIDE - REACTION - Game 65 @ CAR - Breakdown, Highlights, Reaction, a 3-1 WIN

0:00The Bleacher Report app is your destination for sports. Right now, the NBA is heating up, March Manus is here, and MLB is almost back. Every day there's a new headline, a new highlight, a new moment you've got to see for yourself. That's why I stay locked in with the Bleacher Report app. For me, it's about staying connected to my sports. I could follow the teams I care about, get real-time scores, breaking news, and highlights all in one place. Dallow the Bleacher Report app today, so you never miss a moment. A 31-safe, unbelievable performance from Jordan Bennington, Snuggeroot gets two goals

1:03before Butch Navich added the empty netter, and the Blues have now won five in a row on the road. That follows a stretch where they had lost ten straight, and they are six-one-one in their eight games since the Olympic Breaks, the gold-tending leading the way with the best goals against average in the NHL since the Olympic break for the St. Louis Blues. Hello, everybody. I'm Chris Kerber. Welcome into Curbside Reaction. Your next day, post-game podcast featuring everything, St. Louis Blues. Quick turn around here is you're listening to the broadcast, you're into the podcast, because the Blues fly home after the game against Carolina and tonight at seven o'clock. They've got a face-off against the Edmonton Oilers at Enterprise Center, and that's before they'll head up to Western Canada for a three-game road trip. Before we get to the highlights from last night in the reaction, don't forget about Bellman on a motorventory where you get the best price on a new Buick, GMC, Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram, or a top-quality used vehicle. If you need service, tires, and you know what, collision repair.

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3:06Jack Kowski went wine on the Blues defense, and it's one nothing, Hurricanes. Snuggaroo scored, brings it in over the blue line, and he launched it from the high slot. Bussie didn't blink at it, and the Blues have tied the game one-one, 14th of the year for Snuggaroo. Brink wide, Snuggaroo snuck it through somehow, a fourth liner will make that same pass, so it'll get picked off and goes the other way. They're on the bench going really? That's not fair. Come on. Blues into the middle, Snuggaroo shoots he scores! Underneath the blocker. And Bussie looks behind of his Snuggaroo to has two in the game, and the Blues lead, two to one, four to eight to go, and the third. And the shot blocked, Blues get to it, Toro Chico, Finley, Far Wing, but you name it

4:07score, empty netter for the Salua's Blues. Three to one, the score smiles on the Blues benches, and the young fans behind it, and the Blues up by two with 50 seconds to go. Three seconds to go, and this one carries a shot blocked out, and you can bring out the Zamboni, and drive Jordan Biddington off the ice, what a game tonight for the Blues gold tender 31 saves, and our Hyundai player of the game in a three-one win. Following the game with reaction from the locker room Jordan Deacon brings you on the locker room report. Thank you, Curbs. Let's go ahead and kick off this locker room report, hearing from the Blues forward that had his fourth straight, multi-point game last night. This is Jimmy Snuggaroo. They're just building a game by game, I think. Tom Russo skills with the puck, he can make plays, and Holly's so quick, and they both win battles. It's important, especially against a team like this, so I feel like that's where it's kind

5:07of helping from. Just bring more energy, I'd say, honestly, kind of nothing to lose mentality. I think just coming out each game with energy and just excitement to win hockey games. Yeah, I mean, I'm just honestly trying to get a shot off in that situation. He's a smart skilled demon, and I'm just trying to shoot through his screen there, you know. Same enjoy the time, he gets a stick on that, and luckily I got it through and found its way. Unreal, I mean, he kept us in the game, honestly, from breakways to two on ones to anything you can think of. Honestly, he was stellar back there, and I'd say both of our goalies have been electric for us lately. Yeah, 100%. I mean, it brings energy to our team. You know, goalies, it's a hard position, it's not easy to play goalie there, and they're the whole game. And when they're making saves like that, it brings energy to the whole group. Once again, that was Blues Forward, Jimmy Snuggaroo. Let's next hear from the goal tender. This is Jordan Bennington. Yeah. They come out hard at home, come out hard at home, usually every game. So we knew we'd be in the weather to storm there, and I think we did a good job. You know, they throw all the pucks to the net from anywhere, so we did a good job boxing

6:11out and staying with our game plan, and there are tough team play games, so proud of our group here. You know, we stuck to our plan and ended up capitalizing on some of our chances, and yeah. So we were making good plays. You know, plays on the boards, just getting it to the centerman, or the D-man getting up to the winger, the D-zone, and moving updates connected, and you know, getting in their offense in their zone, and getting on the forecheck, I think was good, and you know, they're a good forechecking team, so the better we can do on just going in there, and that's better. It's kind of got that new age quick twitch shot and skill, and it's good to see him using his shot, and you know, I think the more impressive part of that line is just how they're hunting pucks, and forcing turnovers, and then getting rewarded, and using that third man high there to shoot the puck. Once again, that was Blues Goldtender, Jordan Bennington. Let's wrap up this locker room report, hearing from a forward that had two assists last night. This is Dylan Holloway. I mean, it's a lot of fun, I think. We just compliment each other, all in our own unique, good, like separate ways, obviously

7:13Thomas, an incredible player. I think he's one of the most underrated players in the league. You know, he's always making good plays, he kind of controls the middle, and such a good disher, and so smart, and then obviously Snuggie's been unbelievable. His shot is second and none, you know, and you don't really see guys coming to the league and beat NHL goal, always like he does. So it's just super fun to play with those guys, and I just try to, you know, buzz up the wing and try to make plays. We've definitely kind of dug in for each other a bit. Not that we weren't doing that before, but it seems like right now we're really pulling through together as a team, and you know, we're playing smart hockey, we're playing kind of the way that our team's built and playing to our identity. So once you get a couple of games like that, and you kind of get that feeling, then, you know, everybody kind of like feels it, and knows what it takes to win, and then you just kind of try and keep that momentum going. They came out as so hard to start, and it just seemed like there was no room out there, and then once we kind of got used to that, we knew that was their game plan, and you know, kind of could understand where they're coming from. That I think that's when we made our adjustments, and we knew we just had to play fast, and you know, get Pucks low down below their goal line, and you know, kind of go to work. So I think that was kind of our mentality after the first 10 minutes, and I thought we

8:13did that and played a great game. He's so good. You know, him and Hope have been, you know, our backbone all season, and Benner was coming up here, just some big saves, some timely saves, and, yeah, I thought he was unbelievable tonight. It's a lot of fun and playing games when you know you got your guys back there kind of being yelled. So he was awesome. Once again, that was Blues Forward, Dylan Holloway following his team's 3-1 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes last night. Let's get you back to Curbs. Jordan, thank you. Time to hear from the head coach of your Saint Louis Blues, Jim Montgomery with his thoughts on last night's win. Well, they're one of elite teams in the league and coming in here, it's one of the hardest places to play. They start fast. It's like a hornet's nest, and they overwhelmed us a little bit in the first 9 minutes. And then we started to play our game. We started to get to positions, get to spots where we knew that we had to get to coming out of our own end and getting into their end and getting to the goal line and having two to their ones so that we could extend some ozone time. And once we started doing that, we started getting more chances. While they're all working people, they're relentless on pucks, they're very confident,

9:18they're demanding pucks from each other. They know where each other is going, so it allows them to continue to possess. And then they're all looking to shoot pucks. They're looking to take pucks to the net, especially 21, and 81, and 18 is one of the best pastors in the league. His release is released so quick and he gets a lot on it. So not only is it hard to pick up the shot, but it's coming at you hard and fast. A little more resilient, we're playing a little more loose, but we're managing the game significantly better. And that's given us an opportunity, even when we get out shot like the last two games to get points or win games. I'm not only in the first, I thought he was sensational all game, make key saves and big moments. They had a lot of scrambles at the net front. He's so common poise, it gives us confidence. That's Blue said coach Jim Montgomery, we head now to the breakdown of the game. Well, the Blues are getting it done since the break. A lot of youngsters in the lineup, but it is starting on the goal line with the goal tenders. And that's where we start with Joe Vitale. Well, since the Olympic break right now, there are tops in the league as far as goals

10:21against 1.86 goals against since the Olympic break and give you a perspective for fans out there. What does that number even mean? You know, for a team to be under three, you're going to give yourself a great chance to win. If you score more than three, you're going to give yourself a great chance to win. So right now, defensively, with this goal-tending tandem of hope for Endorn Bennington, under two goals against on average since the break, those are winning numbers. You don't even need a ton of offense to find wins. Heck, it was last week in San Jose where they had the 14 shots on net and really didn't take many goals for them to win in that shark's game because the goal-tending was so good. So that's the bread and butter right now on the road. They're defending hard and they are just trusting and leaning on their goal-tending and the chances they're getting, the opportunistic chances they're getting, they're simply taking advantage of. I mean, that's Nuggeroo goal in the second period, really caught Bussie off guard and then a goofy bounce, puck on end, somehow finds the back of the net in the third period for the go ahead goal before the Bush-Navish empty net or the seal the deal here tonight. So curbs, great goal-tending one end. You're not getting a ton of chances.

11:22You're not getting a lot of shots, but you're taking advantage of the little that is given to you. Two assists in the game for Dylan Holloway. He's been on fire since coming back from injury. Robert Thomas now has games and or points in eight straight games that he has played. Jimmy Snuggeroo, two goals in the game, 15 on the season, ties him for the team lead in that category. But on that play, prior to the goal, he sent a pass-jow from the near wing to the far wing that somehow got through. We made a comment during a broadcast that if that's a fourth liner, that puck gets picked off and it's going the other way and the guy's probably sitting on a bench for the rest of the game. But it's Snuggeroo, it gets through and then again, a goal scores goal somehow finds a way to get in, but he is feeling it, his confidence. And when you see young players like him get confidence, what is their talent come through? You know, we talked about it on the broadcast as far as what this rookie campaign means for him. It's a shame he got hurt for as long as he did because I think those numbers would be a lot higher. I think we're looking at a rookie that's probably leading the team in goals if he doesn't miss some time with that risk injury.

12:22But you know, he's got a long way to go. York and Pederson, we brought up with 37 goals, which leads all blues rookies. So he's not going to quite get there. I don't know if he would get there, even with staying healthy, but what stands out about his game is that one day he will get to that number because you are seeing greatness out of this kid. And curb, it's not just finding the sloths areas in front of that. It's not just getting those little F3 spies and just getting that great shot off. You know, right before that goal, you mentioned the pass, but then how about his quick little three stride forecheck to beat Jordan stall on the puck to the right corner of us just to the left of the goal tender bussy, a 50, 50 puck, you see him just go. He just shoots out like a can of one, two, three hard strides. He beats all to the puck, keeps the play alive. And then of course, he gets right to the front of that before he is set up. And of course, that awkward little bounce goes in for him and everything he's touching right now is turning to gold. And if I'm his line mates, I'm trying to find them all over the ice. Once again, a top line of Hollywood snuggler, Robert Thomas, they are the difference makers here in a big win. And I think it's worth noting to when you look at him do it and you think of a Robert

13:23Thomas who, you know, was picked 20th overall. And Keith Kachuck said at the time, Blue's got a guy that could go to gone in the top five in that draft. And if you look at where he's at, he's fifth in points, you really get the sense that Jimmy Snuggler would may end up being one of those kind of players where before too long you start to see his point totals being range where he could be top five or six in his draft class. Well, and listen, you know, every player is going to develop at different stages because of the team that's in front of him. You know, for Robert Thomas, remember his rookie campaign, he was a scratch a lot, right? He didn't even play games seven, the Stanley Cup final, people often forget that. You know, he had his ups and downs rookie season because his blue team was very, very good. You know, the silver lining with the blue team, like you're having this year that has fallen, you know, below in the standings and play off hopes, get harder and harder as the season continues, is that opportunities are going to be given for young players. You know, I'll compare it to Dallabort of Oarski last year. We got two games on a call up when the blues were as hot as can be in the second half.

14:25There was really no room for Dallabort. So it really hindered, I think, his development this year, you're, you're seeing the opposite. You're seeing a team that's was to the bottom of the standings come Olympic break and they brought up Linstein. You bring up Stenberg. You give Dallabort big assignments against Celebrini. You put, you know, Jimmy Snuggler on a top line. I mean, that is the silver lining in a developmental sense for what Jim Montgomery is now going to do for the rest of the season. So it is going to be great reps. It's going to be great opportunities for him. You know, we saw three first round draft picks from the 2023 draft all in the game here tonight. I expect to see the same three in the game tomorrow night against Conor McDavid. And you know, curves for a young player like Snuggler, top line, Linstein in a second career game against a great Carolina team. He's going to play against Conor McDavid tomorrow. You just can't ask for anything more if you're a young prospect in this organization because opportunities are out there and then you got to hand it to the players. You can make you as well. Top pair did a great job tonight because they are taking full advantage of the opportunity given to them. Last thing for you here, Joe, you, you know, right now the New York Rangers are watching

15:27this game going all right. And so are the Chicago black cocks and the Calgary flames because every time the blues get some points, it helps them secure a higher draft pick. And if you're a blues fan, maybe you're thinking, hey, this is you they need to do it. The one thing that I would caution everybody with. And this is why you want to see your team compete right to the end no matter what. When losing creeps in, it could be hard to get out. You want to make sure that guys are playing a winning brand of hockey the rest of the way through. So these young guys know what they've got to do in the off season to be better. Yeah, dog on right. Dog on right. I mean, a game like tonight, it's a two one game and he got Theo Linstein out there trying to protect the lead against Sebastian Ajo. You have any idea how good that is for his development? What that moment feels like? You know, for Jimmy Snuggaroo to have a puck on his stick in a one one game, the third period when he releases that shot, that's huge. For Logan, may you, when he cleared that puck with under two minutes to go and it barely just doesn't get all the way to get past the goal line, it shouldn't be an icing. But for him to have feel that puck, to lob it into the neutral zone, again, trying to

16:31secure a lead, those are the moments that you just, you can't mimic. You can't replace. I don't care how much you train, how many weights you lift, how many sprints you do. That moment in the game, you can't replace it. So to me, having good goal tending, to keep your team locked in positions to win every single night, that is the greatest thing a young team with young players can do. Because in those moments, that's when players grow, they, they feel the heat, they feel the pressure. Close Julian, grab on the board with under two minutes to go and a time out, you know, grab in Snuggaroo, grab in Dillon Holloway here, Logan, this is what you're going to do here on this draw. You're going to punch it to the neutral zone. I mean, all those are great teachable learning moments, curves, and there is nothing greater I'm telling you in a franchise when you have a young team developing team than winning hockey. So I know that fans can be disappointed at times, and I understand the frustration. But clearly, you saw Jim Montgomery, this team's reaction, they want to win, and they're going to do it at all costs, and that's the kind of culture you want to create. All right, Joe. Thank you very much.

17:31You know, two final thoughts here of, you know, before we wrap things up, kind of continuing what we were talking about with Joe at the end of the wrap up, number one, Jim Montgomery. You have to coach a certain way. You're going to be the head coach of the St. Louis Blues for the next little while. You want to make sure that whatever process you need to open up next year, you're starting that process now. You are embedding the expectations you have of these players, game in, game out, shift in, shift out, no matter what the score, no matter what the standings, and that is a standard that you set as a franchise when you try to rebuild the winning culture. Having said that, the biggest challenge for Jim Montgomery right now is knowing that to do that and to give young guys a chance when your initial reaction might be to tap a paraco on the back, maybe tap a of butch, butch, a veteran forward on the back. You know, sometimes you just got to tap the young guy and get him out on the ice in the experience too. That's one of the biggest challenges, but an important one for the Blues to take advantage of where they are in the standings and what kind of experience they want their young guys to get.

18:32But there's another part of that. And the Blues did not trade Jordan Bennington at the deadline, and I don't know if there was even talks that he could be traded. But the reality of it is, is you know you have two goal tenders. I know the numbers are off, and especially for Bennington this year, and especially in that month of October, when we talked about it all season long, you've got two goal tenders. You want to turn things around, you want to keep your team in it, you want to stay competitive, you need goal tending to help young guys learn in the national hockey league. A game like tonight easily could have been a 4-1, 4-0 game after the first period, and you would have been playing Lucy Goosey chase it down hockey the rest of the way, and that's not good for the process. The goal tending they got allowed the process to happen tonight, and man the Blues goal tending has been really good over the last couple of weeks. So next up, the Edmonton Oilers counter, McDavid come in to Enterprise Center tonight, and then the Blues head up to Winnipeg, Calgary, and Vancouver with three games over the next week. Our thanks to our executive producer Jordan Deakin helping put the podcast together,

19:32and a big thanks to Belman Automotive helping us bring it to you as well. Thanks for tuning in. We'll have another one for you after the game against the Oilers, Blues beat the Hurricanes 3-1. They swept them in the season series. I'm Chris Kerber. Have a great Thursday night, Friday morning, and we will see you at the ring. Thanks for listening to the Curbside Podcast, presented by Belman Automotive for the best price on a new Puehick GMC Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram or a used vehicle, Shopped Belman Troy online at bellman.com. You can't do better than Belman. Catch you episodes after every Blues game at 101espn.com or on your 101 mobile app.