On bench and on ice, Blues looking forward to energy that Mathieu Joseph brings

When Mathieu Joseph is on the Blues bench, you may know about it.

Chatter, back-pats or words of encouragement are commonplace, and the Blues found out about it when Joseph played in his first preseason game with them on Saturday night in Dallas.

I feel like Im just trying to be a positive influence out there, Joseph said.

Ive always been like that.

Ive always been involved in the game, telling the boys, Lets go, and, Keep going.

Its not going to change, I feel like.

You also dont want to be too annoying, but I feel like at the same time, its never bad to be positive on the bench.

I think I want to be a leader in that sense.

The Blues acquired Joseph and a third-round draft pick from Ottawa this summer with the idea that not only would he bring energy on the bench and in the dressing room but that he would also deliver it on the ice.

As the team restructured its forward depth around the ability to skate well, Joseph was a big part of that.

On Saturday night, Joseph helped the Blues score their only goal of the game, disrupting a Dallas breakout with a relentless forecheck, ultimately leading to Kasperi Kapanens third-period goal.

Joseph did not pick up an assist on the play (Zach Dean did), but he was instrumental in breaking up two of Nils Lundkvists attempted passes beneath the goal line.

If you look at the details of what happened there, whether it was the start of the faceoff, guys are jumping on their toes, the stick details are really good to break up plays, which we felt at times wasnt great, Blues coach Drew Bannister said.

We had guys on the forecheck that were working hard to get there, arriving on time and their sticks were off ice, the puck bypassed us, and its easy for the team to break out.

That line in particular had a couple of real good shifts where they broke up plays and had some quality scoring chances.

Joseph finished the game with 13:18 of ice time, which included 4:29 of shorthanded time on ice.

He had two shot attempts, one hit and one giveaway.

Joseph called the game a little chaotic.

There were eight combined power plays between the teams (neither team scored), which led to disjointed time at five on five and a lack of flow throughout the game.

Not great ice, not a ton of execution from both teams, Joseph said.

Youre just trying to have good sticks and be on top of guys.

Hopefully, stay on the puck.

Sometimes, that comes back to you, hunting pucks.

I feel like we had a couple chances during the game with our forecheck.

I think our line, we had some ups and downs in the game, but on that goal, we hunted pucks and stayed on it and we got rewarded.

Bannister said he thought Matty was great.

I thought he brought a lot of energy, especially on the bench but (also with) his skating, his speed, Bannister said.

Did a great job on that first goal we scored.

I think they turned the puck over two or three times before it ended up in the back of the net.

Overall, I was really impressed with him.

When the regular season starts, its unknown who Joseph will end up playing with, but he began camp with other fellow offseason additions Dylan Holloway and Radek Faksa, forming a line that brings speed on the wings, size down the middle and defensive awareness throughout.

Joseph likely will play a decent chunk of time on the penalty-killing unit, on which the Blues are looking to alleviate some of the defensive responsibility from top offensive threats like Robert Thomas and Pavel Buchnevich.

Well know more as camp goes on who fits where, Joseph said.

Obviously, I think our PK was pretty good (Saturday) night.

We gave them a couple chances, but in general, we did a pretty decent job for the first game.

We never really practiced it.

Thats definitely something Im going to be part of this year.

I hope I can do an even better job next time.

On Saturday night, Tyler Tucker led the Blues with six shot attempts as he logged a team-high 18:24 of ice time at five on five (2:33 more than the next-closest teammate).

Jordan Binnington stopped all 10 shots he faced in the first period, while Colten Ellis made 14 saves on 16 shots in the final two periods.

The effort was there, Bannister said.

Some of the details in our game kind of held us back from getting more momentum, more pressure.

Just little things that weve got to clean, but our young guys competed, our veteran guys led the way..

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