Joel Hofer did not blink, and the St. Louis Blues did not waste the opening night of the 2026-27 season.
Hofer stopped all 25 shots he faced for the ninth shutout of his career, Mason McTavish scored 94 seconds into his Blues debut, and St. Louis left American Airlines Center with a 4-0 win over the Dallas Stars on Friday. Jimmy Snuggerud and Pius Suter each finished with a goal and an assist. Dalibor Dvorsky scored the other. Attendance was 18,532.
It was the first season-opening start of Hofer’s NHL career, and it looked like a goalie who has decided the net is his. The Blues were not dominant for 60 minutes — they managed only five shots in the second period — but they were in front early, stingy in their own zone, and opportunistic when Dallas came apart. Jake Oettinger stopped 20 shots before the empty-netters.
“He’s just ultra competitive,” Blues coach Jim Montgomery said of Hofer. “He’s really focused, he’s really matured. I think we’re starting to see a goalie that is blossoming into a potential top-10 goalie in the League.”
McTavish, acquired from Anaheim in June for the 15th and 29th picks in the draft, needed less than two minutes to make the trade look tidy. Colton Parayko’s shot was stopped. The rebound slid free as Parayko tried to corral it, and McTavish tapped it in from just outside the crease at 1:34. Snuggerud drew the other assist.
The Stars had not lost a season opener since 2019, a six-game streak that was the NHL’s longest active run. They also had not been shut out in a home opener since the franchise moved to Dallas before the 1993-94 season. Tyler Seguin was back from an ACL injury. Mikko Rantanen, Jason Robertson and the rest of a high-end group generated volume. They did not generate a goal.
The second Blues goal was a gift and a finish. With 6:55 left in the middle period, Roope Hintz clipped Oettinger and the goaltender went down. Dvorsky, set up by Philip Broberg and Suter, scored from the inside edge of the right circle on what was only St. Louis’ second shot of the period.
The night was not clean. Alexey Toropchenko was helped off 3:28 into the second after being pinned along the boards behind the Blues’ net and did not return; the injury looked like an arm or shoulder, and he is expected to miss at least the next game. Early in the third, Brandon Carlo caught Hintz knee-on-knee, drew a kneeing major and a game misconduct, and was done for the night. Hintz returned minutes later. Dallas still could not cash a power play, including a stretch after the major when the teams played four-on-four and then Dallas had the man advantage.
Snuggerud and Suter closed it. Snuggerud scored into the empty net at 17:37. Fifteen seconds later Suter did the same, with Connor McMichael and Hofer assisting. The Stars won the faceoff battle and blocked shots. They did not win the game. Glen Gulutzan’s club called it a clunky start and a series of miscues. That was generous to the details and accurate about the result.
Tonight: at Colorado, 8 p.m. CT
The reward for a road shutout is a back-to-back in Denver. The Blues visit the Avalanche at Ball Arena on Saturday, the first of 12 back-to-back sets on the schedule. Puck drop is 8 p.m. Central. The game is on Blue Note+ locally.
Colorado is rested and already loud. The Avalanche opened Wednesday with an 8-4 win over the Los Angeles Kings, Nathan MacKinnon scoring twice. They won the Presidents’ Trophy last season with 55 wins and 121 points, then were swept by Vegas in the Western Conference Final. MacKinnon, Cale Makar, Martin Necas, Artturi Lehkonen and Gabriel Landeskog are still the problem. Colorado scored 298 goals a year ago. St. Louis scored 230 and went 10-16-0 in the Central.
Jordan Binnington is the expected starter after Hofer took the opener. Toropchenko is out. The Blues went 8-3-2 in the second half of back-to-backs last season, a useful number that will not impress a building that just watched an eight-goal night.
Friday was the statement available to them: a debut goal, a shutout on the road, and two points against a team that has owned this opener for years. Saturday is the harder sentence. The Avalanche do not hand out rebounds the way Dallas did, and they do not go a period without an answer. If Hofer’s calm and McTavish’s first touch travel, St. Louis has a puncher’s chance. If the second period in Dallas is the version that shows up on no rest, Ball Arena will make it obvious quickly.
