Jim Montgomery capped his homecoming week by stepping behind the bench for his first game at Enterprise Center as the Blues' head coach.
"It's been such a crazy week that way with the emotion of being back in St. Louis," he said before the Blues faced the Philadelphia Flyers Saturday night. "Actually, I think it's going to be more peaceful tonight because this is home."
But he didn't get the happy ending on this night. The Flyers prevailed 3-2 in overtime at Matvei Michkov's goal to hand Montgomery his first coaching loss with the Blues.
The Blues honored goaltender Jordan Binnington before the game for becoming the franchise's all-time victories leader.
This game was Binnington's last chance to make his case for selection to Team Canada for the 4 Nations Face-Off, since the rosters will be submitted Monday.
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Binnington did his best. He made 28 saves, including another remarkable one for his career highlight reel. With 58 seconds left in the second period, he reached back with his glove to snag Sean Couturier's follow shot toward the open net.
Montgomery made some lineup changes for this game. Defenseman Philip Broberg came off injured reserve and paired up with Justin Faulk in his first game back from his lower-body injury.
With Pavel Buchnevich sidelined with a lower-body injury, Alexandre Texier returned to the lineup and got a look on the top forward line with Robert Thomas and Jake Neighbours.
Mathieu Joseph got the nod over Nathan Walker to play on Radek Faksa's line with Alexey Toropchenko.
Those changes failed to deliver the hoped-for result. The Blues suffered a sluggish start while falling behind 1-0.
Flyers' team defense slows Blues
Philadelphia arrived on the heels of a 3-1 victory over the New York Rangers Friday night. The Flyers blocked 12 shots in that game and allowed just 23 shots on goal during a classic John Tortorella-coached game.
They allowed two or fewer goals in three of their previous four games before reaching St. Louis.
"They're on the right side of pucks," Montgomery said. "They have five guys above the puck at all times. In the D zone, they are collapsing, they are eating pucks, they're blocking shots a lot."
So that made Montgomery's mandate to funnel pucks at the net more critical.
"It's even more important that you look to shoot quicker so that they don't get into lane," he said. "You know they are going to sacrifice. So if you wait and you look for a passing option instead of having a shot-first mentality, it allows them to get into shot lanes."
But the Flyers throttled the Blues early on, holding them without a shot for the first 11:46 of the game.
Philadelphia strikes first
The Flyers took at 1-0 lead 9:15 into the game after Faulk got caught up ice attempting to pinch in from the right point. Morgan Frost's outlet pass from the right corner gave Michkov and Owen Tippett a 2-on-1 opportunity against Broberg.
Michkov moved in on left wing and fed Tippett for his redirection goal breaking to the right post.
The Blues finally began generating offense during the second half of the first period. Thomas set up Neighbours for a clean break-in, but Neighbours couldn't control the puck.
The Blues' one good forecheck shift of the period created an open shot for Brandon Saad coming in from the right circle. Jordan Kyrou broke in from the left wing for a clean look in transition, but Flyers goaltender Aleksei Kolosov stopped that shot too.
Blues start generating chances
Zack Bolduc energized the Blues by throwing a big hit on Travis Sanheim early in the second period and drawing a retaliatory penalty. The Blues nearly converted their power play, but Kyrou failed to shovel a loose puck behind Kolosov into the open side of the net during a goalmouth scramble.
Ryan Poehling got a breakaway coming out of the penalty box, but Binnington denied him to keep the Blues within a goal.
The game opened up with the teams exchanging scoring chances. Kolosov stopped Mathieu Joseph on a clean break-in, Toropchenko on a 2-on-1 shot off the right wing and Brayden Schenn on a shorthanded rush.
The Blues got an early power-play opportunity in the third period, but their best chance came from Kyrou shooting from the right wing off the rush -- but Kolosov stopped that one too.
Blues stage comeback
The Blues finally tied the game 1-1 with 8:49 left when Schenn retrieved the puck along the right wall and set up Dylan Holloway's goal from the slot.
Just 51 seconds later, Tyson Foerster put the Flyers up 2-1. After the Blues turned the puck over at their blue line, Binnington made a sprawling save to stop Bobby Brink.
But Foerster tapped in the loose puck at the left post.
With Binnington off the ice for an extra attacker, Neighbours tied the game 2-2 with 19 seconds left by jamming home the rebound of Justin Faulk's shot.
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