The beautiful thing about pre-season hockey, is that the games don't count. Four months from now, no one is going to remember this game, and that's probably a good thing.
The Blues came out flat in the first period, allowing four goals in the first period, three of which with Columbus on the power play. Ken Hitchcock put it bluntly. "There is a difference between digging a hole and digging a ditch and we dug a ditch and had to dig out of it."
Mark Letestu, Jared Boll, Ryan Craig and Fedor Tyutin all scored in the first period for Columbus. They were on the ball and ready to go, the Blues were not. "Columbus has a lot of guys who are right on the edge of making their team and they wanted to prove it. They came out really hard and we took some penalties because of it."
The Blues took four penalties in the first period, Alex Pietrangelo and Cody Beach each sat two minutes for interference. Yannick Veilleux took a slashing penalty because of wasn't moving his feet. Magnus Paajarvi was tagged with a double minor for high sticking which really hurt the Blues.
The Blues got on the board late in the first period, as Joakim Lindstrom scored his first goal of the pre-season after being set up beautifully by Paul Stastny. This was Stastny's first point of the pre-season as well.
"It was nice to get the first set up out of the way" Stastny talked about his assist on Lindstrom's goal. Yet despite the assist, Stastny knows that they can do better. "The result wasn't the best. We were a bit choppy, really up and down. We didn't have as much control, but that's to be expected in the first pre-season game."
It wasn't just Stastny's first game of the pre-season either. David Backes, T.J. Oshie, Jay Bouwmeester, and Alex Pietrangelo were making their pre-season debut's as well.
"It was a great pass," Lindstrom said after the game. "It was right where I wanted so I could shoot the one-timer so it was really a great pass. I just tried shooting it and lucky enough it went in."
Lindstrom is also happy about being back in North America as well. "It feels great (being back in the NHL). This is where I want to be, it's where I want to play. I get to play against the best players, so it's great to be back."
In the first period, the Blues fourth line didn't see a lot of ice time, and when they did, they seemed to take penalties. Both Veilleux and Beach saw time in the box, but by the end of the game, both players took steps forward.
Cody Beach dropped the gloves with Columbus defensemen Thomas Larkin and really got the better of him. Beach landed a strong right hand to the chin of Larkin which dropped him to the ice. Larkin didn't quit though, stood back up and took another right to jaw. That fight pumped up the crowd in a big way.
Veilleux really started moving his feet in the second period, he was playing physical, and seemed to impress both Hitch, and Blues captain David Backes.
"He's fast and really hard on the puck. He reminds me a lot of Chris Porter." Backes wasn't the only one who had words of praise for Veilleux.
Hitchcock liked his game, as well as Petteri Lindbohm's. "I thought Veilleux played really well. There some flashes on some of the guys. Lindbohm again did some really good things.
However, Hitch didn't hide where his main focus is. "I'm more focused where our veterans are at mentally. This is a good wake up call, and not the score. This is a good wake up call about if you're not ready to play, you might get hurt. We have one more day of this stuff and then we really get to work. It'll be a great week next week.
The Blues are off until Saturday, when they "host" the Dallas Stars at the Sprint Center in Kansas City. As always, you can follow me on twitter
@Blues_Buzz.
St Louis Blues Blogger • 
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