ST. LOUIS — One minute, St. Louis Blues captain Brayden Schenn was accepting a Rolex from his teammates, and the next minute he was clocking the Anaheim Ducks’ Jacob Trouba.
Schenn played his 1,000th NHL game in Washington on Feb. 27, but the ceremony was Sunday at Enterprise Center. His parents, Jeff and Rita; wife, Kelsey; and boys Huxley and Braxton were in attendance and posed for pictures before puck-drop. Players brought flowers and the watch.
And then they all watched him do what he’s done his whole career.
Forty-one seconds into the game, Schenn scored. Before the first period was over, he volunteer-fought Trouba after the Ducks defenseman laid a questionable hit on the Blues’ Jordan Kyrou.
“You can’t write that stuff, can you?” Jeff Schenn said.
Actually, you can’t write any of the stuff happening with the Blues right now. Their 7-2 victory over Anaheim gave them 73 points, which tied them with the Vancouver Canucks for the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference. The Canucks hold the spot, however, because they’ve played one fewer game.
How’s this for an anticipated matchup? After traveling to play the Nashville Predators on Tuesday, the Blues will return home to host Vancouver on Thursday. The Canucks will be playing a team that, before Tuesday, was 9-2-2 in its last 13 games, had scored three-plus goals in 11 of those games and hadn’t allowed the opposition more than 29 shots in any of them.
Could Blues coach Jim Montgomery, who took over the team in late November, have predicted the Blues would be playing this together and this well toward the end of the season?
“I’d be lying if I said yes,” Montgomery said. “It’s been fun to witness and watch. I thought it would’ve happened by January 10th, if I’m going to be honest, and it didn’t. That’s why I can’t say I saw this coming. I don’t know the stats. Does anybody have a better record than us since the break?”
Yes. Since the 4 Nations Face-Off, the Blues have the third-highest points percentage in the NHL (.750), behind the Montreal Canadiens (.800) and Colorado Avalanche (.773).
Could Kyrou, who had three assists Sunday and has back-to-back 3-point games, have seen this coming?
“I mean, just like (Montgomery) said, it’s hard to tell,” Kyrou said. “We’re just jelling really good right now. We just want to keep that up. I think our mindset as a team is we’re just focused on each day.”
Normally, that’s one of the most overused cliches in sports. But Sunday, it could not have been more appropriate.
After the Blues’ 5-1 win over the Minnesota Wild on Saturday, they were supposed to fly back to St. Louis. However, their scheduled plane suddenly was not available, so they stayed an extra night in Minneapolis and returned home Sunday at 11:30 a.m.
“As soon as they said that something was wrong with our plane and we couldn’t get home, I said, ‘We’re going to win tomorrow night,’” Montgomery said. “It looks like our group is looking for challenges now — looking to accept them and overcome them.”
As captain, Schenn is leading that charge, and it was a special night for him. When he arrived at Enterprise Center, he was welcomed by digital video boards with pictures that captured his hockey career, from his youth days to the Los Angeles Kings, Philadelphia Flyers and Blues.
This is what Brayden Schenn was greeted by when he came to the rink tonight. #stlblues pic.twitter.com/cATNlnxRyD
— Jeremy Rutherford (@jprutherford) March 16, 2025
The Blues came out for pregame warmups wearing jerseys that had “Schenner” on the back with the No. 1,000. There were gifts during the ceremony and messages on the JumboTron from Sidney Crosby, Ryan O’Reilly, Robert Bortuzzo and others.
“It’s just one of those things where you can’t really draw it up better,” Schenn said.
The captain picked up the script from there.
Saturday in Minnesota, Schenn scored the Blues’ first goal 4:17 into the game. Sunday, he needed only 41 seconds.
“You play a lot of hockey, and you usually don’t score on the first shift,” Schenn said. “Tonight, with family and friends, just after the ceremony, it’s pretty cool how it all works out.”
Kyrou had the secondary assist on the goal.
“For him to do it at home,” he said, “in front of the fans … he’s our captain, right? We all loved it for him.”
Schenn’s parents hadn’t even made it to their seats when their son scored.
“No,” Jeff said. “I did watch it down here in the family room, so I did get to see it. I yelled, ‘Hey, that was Brayden that scored.’ That was awesome.”
BRAYDEN SCHENN HAVE YOURSELF A NIGHT! #stlblues pic.twitter.com/v7hnM0LsZ0
— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) March 17, 2025
But the day Schenn celebrated his milestone achievement couldn’t have been complete without sticking up for a teammate. This time, it was Kyrou, who was on the receiving end of a high hit by Trouba. Schenn dropped the gloves for his fifth fight of the season.
“That’s just instincts,” Schenn said. “You see him laying there, you don’t know if he’s hurt, if he’s not. You don’t really see the hit in real time. Yeah, just instincts, stick up for a teammate.”
Kyrou, who left the ice after the hit but returned for the second period, appreciated it.
“Nothing much you can say other than he’s just an unbelievable guy, an unbelievable captain,” Kyrou said. “He’s done that more than me multiple times in my career, and I have nothing but so much respect for him. He’s just awesome.”
“That’s a Brayden Schenn game,” teammate Justin Faulk said. “He means a lot to this group: the team, the organization, the city, each guy individually. He does everything for everybody. If you want to pick anyone in the city and say, ‘Is that guy qualified to be the captain of the Blues and represent what this city is all about?’ — he’s that guy. So for him to go do that tonight — score right away, step up for Kyrou … I don’t expect anything different.”
Neither did his dad.
“He doesn’t even think twice when it comes to that,” Jeff said. “That’s part of his DNA, right?”
When Montgomery was asked after the game about Schenn’s embodying the Blues’ long tradition of blue-collar players, he rattled off the names of legends to whom he compares.
“There’s so many guys that have left an imprint,” he said. “And when you look at Brayden Schenn, the way he plays the game, he has the skill, the will, he fights, he checks. … I tip my hat off to him because he’s made my job a lot easier coming in here, the way he grabs ahold of that dressing room.”
Jacob Trouba vs Brayden Schenn from the Anaheim Ducks at St Louis Blues game on Mar 16, 2025 https://t.co/mTuTov1j2C
— hockeyfights (@hockeyfights) March 17, 2025
Thus, true to form, Schenn said after Sunday’s win that although the Blues have put themselves in a good position, there’s still a long way to go.
“We’ve worked hard, we’ve clawed back, but at the end of the day, we have 14 left, and you just can’t be happy that you’re in the wild card,” he said. “Teams have games in hand, so at the end of the day, you need a strong week here.”
The Blues will head to Nashville having scored 15 goals in their last three games. They were 3-for-4 on the power play Sunday, and since the Winter Classic on Dec. 31, the club is No. 4 in the NHL (29.9).
“We’ve got two pretty competitive units, and it’s kind of like we’re battling against each other to see who can try to score,” Kyrou said. “We’re also just attacking the net more. We’re not really looking to make the three or four passes, the backdoor passes. We’re just shooting, crashing the net, getting rebounds and creating from there.”
Meanwhile, with Anaheim registering 25 shots Sunday, the Blues have not allowed 30 or more since the Florida Panthers had 34 against them on Feb. 6. They’re averaging 23.3 shots against, the fewest in the league in that stretch.
“The forecheck is huge defensively,” Faulk said, explaining the reason behind the success. “It sets everything up coming through the neutral zone and back into the D-zone. It allows us to spend more time in their zone and tire them out and make them change.
“When we get into the D-zone, guys are blocking shots and doing the things that are necessary to limit chances and limit those shots. It’s selfless hockey, and it’s been happening. We’re going to continue that, I know that.”
Here’s what it has come to with the Blues these days: They won 7-2 on Sunday and weren’t satisfied.
“It definitely was not our A-game,” Faulk said. “But given the circumstances of back-to-back (games), having to stay overnight, travel this morning … there was room for excuses, and we always say there’s no excuses in this game. The guys showed up and did enough to get a win and make it a real good weekend for us.
“It’s a good feeling in here right now, but we know it’s got to continue. There still needs to be a lot more wins, but I know there’s the confidence in this group to go get it done.”
