SAN JOSE, Calif. — When you see a San Jose Sharks team with the NHL’s worst record the last five years sell out the SAP Center, and you hear 17,435 fans roar every time Macklin Celebrini, 18, and Will Smith, 19, touch the ice, it makes you wonder if the St. Louis Blues should have gone into a full rebuild of their own roster.
Celebrini, the No. 1 pick in the 2024 NHL Draft, and Smith, the No. 4 pick in 2023, have brought much excitement to the Bay Area. They aren’t the future for the Sharks — they are the present.
At the moment, the Blues aren’t generating the same level of love for their young prospects. Dalibor Dvorsky, the No. 10 pick in 2023, was shipped back to AHL Springfield recently, and Jimmy Snuggerud, picked No. 23 in 2022, went back to the University of Minnesota for his junior season this year. They could turn out to be terrific players, but, for now, they’re not the stars that suited up for the Sharks Thursday night.
Macklin Celebrini introduction in San Jose. #nhl pic.twitter.com/SAUhnGUlJu
— Jeremy Rutherford (@jprutherford) October 11, 2024
Blues general manager Doug Armstrong didn’t want to strip his organization down to the studs like San Jose. He didn’t want to convert Enterprise Center into an empty cavern, like SAP Center has been much of the past three seasons with an average attendance of 13,373. He didn’t want the Blues to miss the playoffs for five straight seasons, like the Sharks have done since losing to the Blues in the 2019 Western Conference finals.
In St. Louis, management has decided to try to be competitive, even if it means finishing in the mushy middle, barely missing the playoffs, and drafting midway through the first round, as the Blues did last season.
So it’s hard for Blues fans not to be jealous when Celebrini has a goal and an assist in the first period of his NHL debut, as he did Thursday. After all, the Sharks not only have two of the top prospects in the league, they also won all three head-to-head matchups with the Blues last season and were on their way to a fourth straight with a three-goal lead in the third period Thursday.
But what transpired in the final 20 minutes — actually the last 17:06 — is why Armstrong and Co. are comfortable with the approach they’re taking.
The Blues rallied for three goals and then got the game-winner from Brayden Schenn for a 5-4 overtime victory, and on the heels of Tuesday’s 3-2 triumph over the Seattle Kraken, in which they trailed 2-0, they’ve now won their first two games of the season with multi-goal comebacks.
“We’re playing for one another,” Schenn said. “I know it’s early, and it’s only two games. But we have a lot of new faces in here. We have a good feeling in our locker room, where guys are speaking up, guys are bringing energy and guys are just essentially playing together, and when do that good things happen. We’re getting contributions from everyone right now, and our fourth line has been great for two games for us.”
Thursday morning, when Blues coach Drew Bannister was asked about the Sharks having his team’s number lately, he didn’t want anything to do with that storyline.
“Nope,” Bannister said. “New team, move on. This is a new year. Last year has nothing to do with it. Like anything, we’re here to win. We know we’re going to have a tough task ahead of us with an opening game and the youth they have on their team.”
But despite the Blues having 22 shot attempts in the first period Thursday, the Sharks still had their number, leading 2-1 with the help of the aforementioned goal and assist from Celebrini.
If you didn’t turn off your TV back home in St. Louis when San Jose scored a shorthanded goal for a 4-1 lead late in the second period, you were probably one of the few. But while many were grabbing for the remote, the Blues were in the visiting locker room trying to press their own buttons.
“It was nothing crazy,” defenseman Justin Faulk said. “We weren’t happy with the second period, and we knew it. We just kind of challenged ourselves to not let that continue in the third period. See what we can do. We had a good first period. We thought if we could replicate that, start with one (goal) and continue on.
“I don’t have the exact words (that were said in the second intermission). It was just holding us accountable, telling us ‘It’s not good enough.’ Yeah, we just had to find a way and see if we could dig deep and find something in the third period, and we did.”
Remember Schenn’s reference to the Blues’ fourth line having a big impact in the first two games? Yep, Nathan Walker, Alexey Toropchenko and Radek Faksa were back at it again Thursday.
In the second period in Seattle, Walker was the one who instigated a scrum with Kraken defenseman Vince Dunn and invigorated the Blues, who then rallied from a 2-0 deficit with three goals in a span of 1:55.
In the third period against San Jose, it was Faksa scoring that one goal that would make it a 4-2 deficit, but would get things started as they had said in the locker room.
“We had the feeling after the goal that we can do it,” Faksa said.
After Faksa had netted his first goal as a Blue, it was Ryan Suter’s turn, on a pass from Toropchenko, for a 4-3 deficit.
The Blues, however, were running out of time with under three minutes left in regulation and goalie Joel Hofer on the bench for an extra attacker.
But they got set up in the offensive zone, and on a nifty pass to Faulk from Robert Thomas, the defenseman tied the score 4-4 on a shot that beat Sharks goalie Mackenzie Blackwood with the help of a net-front screen by Jake Neighbours.
“Just throw it at the net, and we got the good bounce,” Faulk said.
It only took 45 seconds in OT before the captain, weaving his way past Celebrini in the neutral zone, capped off the comeback.
“Big goalie, you’re just trying to find something,” Schenn said. “Actually (Colton Parayko) was calling for it back-door, so I don’t know if the D-man or the goalie was thinking the pass was happening, it was a great play by (Parayko) to drive the net and keep the goalie guessing.”
NIGHTY NIGHT. #stlblues pic.twitter.com/lDcD25tx0T
— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) October 11, 2024
Who are these cardiac Blues?
“You have to give the guys credit,” Bannister said. “They showed a lot of resiliency as a group. We showed it in Seattle, but this was a big test for us. We go down 4-1 in a game against a team that’s playing well. It’s their home opener, they’re playing with a lot of energy. We were on our heels a bit and were able to settle things down, so you’ve got to give the group as a whole a lot of credit.”
And particular the fourth line, which was recently dubbed the “WTF” line, as in Walker-Toropchenko-Faksa.
“That’s funny,” Faksa said. “I think it’s hilarious. I love stuff like that. It’s nice when fans recognize you and they talk about it. Whoever figured that out, I love it. I hope it catches on.”
What do their Blues’ teammates think about the line’s nickname?
“There you go,” Schenn said. “Whatever works. They’re playing great hockey for us. It’s not just playing great hockey; they’re making an impact blocking shots, scoring, stirring it up and bringing energy. When you have an identity line like that, there’s no reason for everyone else not to follow guys like that.”
The Blues don’t have a Celebrini or a Smith. There are Blues fans who might prefer the Sharks’ future over their team’s future.
But through two games, you can’t say Armstrong isn’t getting what he wanted. His club competes.
(Photo: Ezra Shaw / Getty Images)
