The St. Louis Blues have broken their three-game losing streak as they took a 3-0 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday night. It has been a struggle of a season for the team, leading to rumors that the Blues are willing to trade almost all of their players. Regardless of the difficult campaign, the Blues played inspired on Tuesday night, and head coach Jim Montgomery knows why.
“Fifteen of our players were in attendance last night and when you’re hearing the Hall of Famers that are getting inducted, Barret Jackman and ‘Steener’ did a great job, and then ‘Chaser’ with everything that he’s done for the Bluenote and the stories about Bobby Plager by Brett Hull, Al MacInnis, [Chris] Pronger, [Keith] Tkachuk. Garry Unger, Red Berenson, there was a lot of history there last night,” Montgomery said about the pre-game Hall of Fame ceremony for Jackman and Alexander Steen, according to Jeremy Rutherford of The Athletic.
After a scoreless first period, Nick Bjugstad opened up the scoring in the second period with a shorthanded goal. Dalibor Dvorsky and Jimmy Snuggerud also added goals in the frame to make it a 3-0 lead. Joel Hofer stopped all 33 shots he faced in the inspirational performance.
“I think it really soaked in about how special it is to play for this city and for our fans, and I thought our players played with that passion and intensity of a lot of the great players and teams that have played here before wearing the Bluenote,” Montgomery continued.
Players also took note of the monumental occasion. Bjugstad, who has played for multiple other teams before joining the Blues this year, spoke of the power of the Blues' former players.
“I've played on a few teams and I've never experienced an alumni like this. It's a strong culture and you can tell everyone kind of keeps tabs on what's going on even if they've been out of the league for a while. It's fun for the players to get to know guys and hear stories and hear about the history of the Blues. I’ve been on a decent amount of teams and they do an amazing job of involving the alumni and making it a communal thing with us,” Bjugstad told the media, according to Lou Korac of The Hockey News.
