St. Louis Blues captain Ryan O’Reilly was critical of his team’s effort in Friday night’s 8-0 loss to the Colorado Avalanche, saying that the Blues “embarrassed ourselves” in the second game of the season.
“That was very disappointing,” O’Reilly said. “We came into the game and you could just tell we didn’t have the detail. I think everyone right now, we’re embarrassed. That was not what we do. We stick with it. We compete to the end, and we didn’t. “
The blowout loss in Denver came two days after the Blues took their season opener with an impressive 4-1 win over the Avs.
Friday night was a different story. After a scoreless first period, the Avs’ offense broke out, scoring four goals in the second and four more in the third. Colorado went 5-for-7 on the power play.
Avs goaltender Philipp Grubauer faced just 21 shots in his 12th career shutout.
Jordan Binnington stopped 20 shots for the Blues before being replaced by Ville Husso to start the third period. Husso made six saves in his NHL debut.
“He was our best player tonight by far. It’s embarrassing what we did in front of him,” O’Reilly said of Binnington. “It’s a wakeup call for us. After the first game, we got some good bounces, we win, and we think it’s going to be easier. We need to find a way to respond.”
The Blues return home to host the San Jose Sharks for two games starting Monday.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.