THE CHEAP SEATS with STEVE CAMERON: Blues took the fight to the Kraken

You know the old saying. 

Let sleeping hockey teams lie.

The St. Louis Blues were snoring and scratching their ears Tuesday afternoon, with the whole roster wearing a “Do Not Disturb” signs. 

Meanwhile, the Kraken had an opening day crowd of 17,151 at Climate Pledge Arena rocking and rolling with a sudden two-goal outburst at the beginning of the second period. 

The way the Blues were daydreaming, a 2-0 goal advantage looked like it would last for months. 

Seattle just missed a couple more great scoring chances — an unpleasant habit that carried over from last season — but it didn’t seem to matter. 

The notion that St. Louis might actually win this thing seemed almost hilarious. 

For quite a while, Kraken goalie Philipp Grubauer may have been upset that he wasn’t being paid by the save, as the Blues managed just four shots in the first period. 

It was scoreless at that point, but the Kraken came back flying again in the second, with Vince Dunn potting his own rebound and Eeli Tolvanen scoring after a slick, four-pass move in the Blues’ zone. 

Those two goals came in the first 2:20 of the period, and the Kraken totally controlled the game (and their 2-0 lead) for the next 11 minutes. 

The Blues seemed to be dozing away, waiting for their flight out of town. 

AH, BUT out of nowhere, a scrum started in front of the Kraken net. 

In long-standing hockey tradition, players from both teams began grabbing, shoving, swinging and, you know, exchanging addresses for Christmas cards. 

The Kraken probably should have apologized, shaken hands and asked if they could get back to some laid-back hockey. 

You know, let’s keep taking it easy, lads. 

That sound OK? 

Nope. 

You can’t just stand around and take it in the NHL, and by the time the chaos had ended, multiple players were in the box with St. Louis being handed a two-minute power play. 

And the Blues were awake. 

Exactly 22 seconds after play resumed, Jordan Kyrou had stuffed a shot past Grubauer to cut the deficit to 2-1. 

Now the Blues were REALLY awake. 

Defenseman Philip Broberg, one of the Blues’ key off-season acquisitions, promptly slipped a wrist shot past Grubauer, who probably should have gotten a piece of it. 

But that’s momentum in hockey. 

The puck had barely been dropped after Broberg’s goal — with score now even — when Kraken D-man Jamie Oleksiak lost the puck under pressure from Alexandre Texier. 

Kyrou swooped in, skated in alone on Grubauer and whipped a clever shot past the big German’s glove side. 

Anybody in the arena who had gone off to the concession stand to grab a cold one would have gotten a shock. 

In just 1:55, barely time to hand over a credit card, the Blues had scored three times and taken a 3-2 grip on the game. 

It really WAS a shock, too. 

More than halfway through the game, St. Louis trailed 2-0 and never looked alive enough to make things competitive. 

WOW, IT’S amazing what a brawl can do. 

That’s truly a hockey vibe. 

I can’t think of another sport where 10 guys get after one another, and somehow it changes the momentum of the whole affair. 

Seriously. 

Baseball players come wandering out on to the field, but nobody’s really up for getting hurt. 

More like milling around. 

Football players have too much armor to fight. 

Basketball? 

Meh. 

But in hockey, kids are taught from toddlerhood to stand up for themselves and start throwing left hooks if that bully down the street trips you with his stick. 

In big boy hockey, a fight CAN turn a game around — especially with two fairly equal teams. 

And if one of them has been auditioning for the Ice Capades instead of battling for the Stanley Cup, you’re almost certainly going to have a change in attitude. 

On Tuesday, it happened to the Kraken and ruined their opener. 

It will be a while before we can say this for certain, but Seattle may have a young and exciting team this season. 

New coach Dan Bylsma has made a point to add speed and energy to his roster, and there are some legit prospects like Shane Wright, Ryker Evans and Berkly Catton under contract. 

That doesn’t even count third-year center Matty Beniers, who the Kraken hope will be a pillar of the franchise; or free-agent signings Chandler Stephenson (center) and Brandon Montour (defense), who combined to cost $84 million. 

There isn’t a ton of speed on this team, but Bylsma believes he’ll get his energy. 

Lesson No. 1, though, will be to keep that fire burning when you’re up 2-0. 

NHL teams will hand you a 3-2 loss if you don’t. 

Some good news? 

The Kraken still have 81 games to get that right.  

Email: scameron@cdapress.com 

Steve Cameron’s “Cheap Seats” columns appear in The Press four times each week, normally Tuesday through Friday unless, you know, stuff happens. 

Steve suggests you take his opinions in the spirit of a Jimmy Buffett song: “Breathe In, Breathe Out, Move On.”