Preview: Game 2 vs. Canucks

GAME 2 VS. VANCOUVER

When: Friday, Aug. 14 at 5:30 p.m. CT
Where: Rogers Place in Edmonton
Watch: FOX Sports Midwest, FOX Sports GO, NHL Network
Listen: 101 ESPN, NHL App

Vancouver leads best-of-7 series, 1-0

After posting an 0-2-1 record in the round robin games, the St. Louis Blues were determined to raise their level of play for Game 1 of their best-of-7 series with the Vancouver Canucks.

They did that, no question.

Just not enough.

"We didn't think we were going to walk over anyone here," David Perron said after a 5-2 loss to the Canucks in Game 1. "They're a good team over there, they played a pretty good game, good power play obviously. I thought the intensity (and the) compete level was there. We talked about raising that and we did. We didn't have enough, but it was a good step."

"We had three (round robin) games to try to get our pace and we just weren't good enough. It's obviously not the result we wanted," Brayden Schenn said. "We're going to continue to try and build here and get better, try and wear them down. That's what the playoffs are about. Even all last year, we were down in (a few) series. It is what it is. They're a good team over there and we're going to have to find a way to be better."

The Blues found themselves in the penalty box six times in Game 1 and surrendered three power-play goals despite Head Coach Craig Berube's earlier warning that the team would need to stay out of the box. Vancouver's power play ranked fourth overall in the regular season.

Limiting Vancouver's power-play opportunities will be a big key for the Blues in Game 2.

"In the playoffs, you've got to move on from things. You can't dwell on a loss or think about a win too much. You've got to move on," Berube said. "It's a new game (Friday). We've just got to play a little bit better. Going into the third period (in Game 1), I thought we carried the play. We made a few mistakes as we've been doing in some of these games, and it cost us.

"We've got to clean that up."

BLUE NOTES

The Blues trailed in two of the four best-of-7 series in last season's run to the Stanley Cup. San Jose and Boston each took a 1-0 lead in the best-of-7 series in the Conference Finals and Stanley Cup Final, respectively…Jordan Binnington was 8-2 with a 1.78 goals-against average and a .937 save-percentage following a loss in the 2019 postseason…The Blues are attempting to become just the second franchise to repeat as champions since 1999. The Pittsburgh Penguins won back-to-back titles in 2015-16 and 2016-17.