Blues' new era begins in matchup with Senators

The host St. Louis Blues will get a fresh start with a new coach when they face the Ottawa Senators on Thursday night.

Blues general manager Doug Armstrong promoted Drew Bannister, coach of the team's AHL affiliate in Springfield, Mass., to serve as interim coach. Bannister made the trip to St. Louis on Wednesday and will take over the reins of the team on Thursday when Ottawa comes to town.

That move came after Armstrong fired coach Craig Berube on Tuesday following his team's 6-4 home loss to the short-handed Detroit Red Wings.

The defeat, the Blues' fourth in a row, dropped St. Louis to 13-14-1. It came on the heels of two losses to last-place teams, as the Blues fell 5-2 to the Metropolitan Division's Columbus Blue Jackets before losing 3-1 to the Central Division's cellar-dwelling Chicago Blackhawks.

"I haven't really slept much since the Columbus game, then the Chicago game was a sleepless night," Armstrong said. "Then you hope the Detroit game will be different, but your mind starts to work when you're everybody's homecoming game. It's not a good feeling."

The Blues have struggled in all facets of the game, especially with their power play, which has an 8.4-percent conversion rate that is second worst in the NHL. They also are struggling with defensive zone coverage.

"I feel personally responsible for the situation that we're in," Armstrong said. "I also hope that the people I just talked to feel personally responsible, too. If they don't, that's their decision. It's not a great day, but it's a new day. Now, we move forward."

St. Louis made one roster move ahead of Thursday's game, sending winger Jakub Vrana to Springfield after he cleared waivers on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the Senators will try to regroup after suffering a 4-1 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes at home on Tuesday night. That was their fifth loss in the past eight games.

"The second period was as bad as we've played, maybe this year," Ottawa coach D.J. Smith said. "And that team came ready to do it right. Disappointing after what I thought was probably 15 of our best periods of the year. We had a real opportunity here and we were just no good."

Smith was displeased with his team's defensive play against Carolina.

"Just not hard enough, just not desperate enough to keep the puck out of the net," Smith said. "If you're not bang-on in the NHL, you won't win. ... I thought from the compete level to the amount of chances we gave up, breakaways and what have you, you're not going to win if you play like that."

The Senators' power play also struggled, going 0-for-4 in the game. Ottawa struggled with zone entries and getting set up.

"We couldn't really get in," Senators center Josh Norris said. "Once we were in their zone, they had good pressure on us and we didn't really make many plays. Obviously, they pressured hard and credit to them, but we're skilled players and we've got to be able to figure that out."