It’s officially Stanley Cup Playoffs season, and the St. Louis Blues kicked things off with—yep—a big ol’ L. The vibes were hopeful until Kyle Connor decided to go full clutch mode, breaking the tie just 1:43 into the third with a one-timer that had ‘sniper’ written all over it. That pass from Perfetti from behind the net? Nasty. Mark Scheifele also pulled up with a goal and an assist like it was just another Monday. And just to pour a little more salt in it, Hellebuyck was out here swatting pucks like summer flies—21 saves, cool as ever. And that’s the story of how the Jets extended their series lead with a 2-1 win over the Blues at Canada Life Centre.

But let’s talk about the St. Louis Blues’ bench energy for a second. Rookie Jimmy Snuggerud finally lit the lamp for his first-ever playoff goal, giving the squad a little fire before the third got messy. Binnington held it down with 20 saves, but the squad still couldn’t crack the Jets’ wall. Now with Game 3 sliding into St. Louis on Thursday, the players are keeping it light, throwing some lowkey shade at their coach while joking about their next move. Word is, the locker room’s new “strategy” is part roast, part comedy show—because when the pucks aren’t bouncing your way, you might as well lean into the chaos and laugh through the madness.

BarDown dropped a lil’ gem from St. Louis Blues coach Jim Montgomery—and let’s just say, man’s got jokes and a whole lotta self-awareness. With the Winnipeg Jets’ blinding whiteout lighting up Game 2, Coach Monty casually revealed what went wrong while he was trying to get a word across to his skaters. “Well, our players were talking about it because the white was shining off my bald head when they were changing, it was blinding them, they couldn’t hear me, they were squinting the whole time.” Absolute gold.

Then came the best part—the ‘tactic’ to survive the glare, if you will—when the reporter hit him with the follow-up, asking if he was gonna throw on a cap to dim the shine. And without missing a beat, Montgomery fired back, “No, I’m going to wear one of my scally caps.” Legendary. The man’s not just out here coaching—he’s dropping stand-up material mid-playoffs. Forget the X’s and O’s, we’re calling this the Scally Cap Shuffle, and honestly? If it gets the dub, we’re all in.

Alrighty, it’s almost showtime again—Game 3 is rolling in hot! The St. Louis Blues are gearing up to dance with the Jets yet again on March 24th at 9:30 PM EDT, right in their own backyard at Enterprise Center. The ex-Bruins boss? Optimistic: “We’re going to go home, we’re going to be in front of our frenzied crowd, and we’re going to have an opportunity to hold serve at home. We’ve got to get to Game 3.”

But if you are mistaking his jokes and his optimism for complacency, then you’ve got another thing coming. Reflecting on the L in the first game, the man gave himself and his squad a reality check, knowing that the squad needed a bit more fire in the belly.

St. Louis Blues’ coach opens up about the first loss!

Starting off the NHL Playoffs with a fat L? Yeah, that’s not exactly how any squad dreams of launching their postseason saga—and sadly for Jim Montgomery’s St. Louis Blues, that was their reality after getting handed a cold one in Winnipeg. The vibes were off, the performance was meh, and the Jets had them packing without much mercy.

But credit where it’s due—Coach Montgomery didn’t sugarcoat a single thing. Man stepped up and owned it, no fluff, just raw honesty. He broke it down after that 5-3 loss, pointing out all the pieces that didn’t click. “We are going to grow and get better from this. That’s what we have to do. If we want to make it a series, we’re going to have to get better,” he shared, via Jeremy Rutherford. “We’re going to have to control our emotions better. We’re going to have to win more battles. I didn’t think we managed the game very well in the third period. Penalties. Puck management. A little bit of our emotions.”

And hey, he wasn’t just saying things—Montgomery came with context too. With a crew full of fresh playoff faces, growing pains are real. “It’s a little bit of execution, and it’s a little bit of getting used to the Stanley Cup playoffs. We’ve got a fairly young team out there, a lot of guys playing in their first game in the Stanley Cup playoffs. So that’s why I know we will get better from it.” So yeah, it wasn’t pretty—but this coach isn’t hitting the panic button just yet.