It was said earlier Saturday that a message was sent to the players "loud and clear." If anything, the message was just really loud, but incoherent and confusing. Mike Yeo decided to make Thomas Vanek and Jason Zucker healthy scratches into the game against the St. Louis Blues. Scratching two players that were said to be deficient defensively makes sense, but when those players are also the few that also help stir the drink offensively, the sub-optimal line-up was already offensively shackled.
Vladimir Tarasenko, Jori Lehtera, and Troy Brouwer all netted power play goals.