Blue Jays forward Sammy Blais has the game down for his “bad play” in Montreal

MONTREAL, Quebec — Blues forward Sammy Blais was ejected in the first period of Sunday's 7-2 win over the Canadiens to bench Jordan Harris.

Blais was assessed a major penalty and game misconduct for putting Harris behind the Canadiens net, and Harris did not return to the game. Before Blaise could make contact with Harris, he began to fall to the ice, and then he hit his head on the ice after being hit by Blaise.

It was 5:18 into the game and Blaise's third shift of the afternoon. He finished with just 53 seconds of ice time.

“I was trying to finish my inspection as usual,” Blaise said. “He fell while I was hitting him. It's unfortunate that he was injured. I'm just mad at the guy. I texted him and asked how he was doing. He replied to me, “It will happen,” and that it was all right, and that he should be back soon.

“I'm just upset with the guy. It was just quick, you know how I play. I didn't want to hurt him, just wanted to be quick and finish my shot as usual. Kind of a bad game.”

It was Blaise's first foul in his seven-year NHL career. He was suspended once in January 2022 at Devon Towns, Colorado for an illegal head check.

“It should ring a bell,” Blues interim coach Drew Bannister said. “I thought we had a player who was ready to step up and finish the check. Unfortunately for the player, he got sidetracked or he went down and finished the check. It's a hockey game, but a player is injured, so I understand what they're thinking. I don't know what else you could do at this point.”

Even though he had already been ejected, the Blaze got within five seconds of a Blaze major penalty when Nick Suzuki scored at 10:23 of the first period.

The Blues didn't put anyone in the penalty area to fulfill Blaise's penalty, so when it expired, there was no one to come out of the penalty area and bring the game back to five-on-five. If the “blue” player came from the substitute, there would be a two-minute penalty for illegal substitution.

Bannister said he was waiting for another whistle to put someone in the box.

“My first decision here was to leave my guys on the bench and make the decision that way,” Bannister said. “We only had one whistle, which was strange. I have it. If the penalty was awarded the other way and we went four-on-four, let's say I had Jordan Kyrou (in the box). He's the kind of guy I'd want on the ice in that situation. It was my calling and it really happened to me.”

The only shutout of the game came 23 seconds into the power play when Jordan Binnington made a save on Alex Newhook. During the stoppage, the Blues were allowed to send someone into the box to take the penalty.

Suzuki's goal was officially counted as a pair of goals, but the Blues only had four skaters on the ice. They were not allowed to shoot the puck as in the penalty shootout and had to wait for the whistle to add a fifth skater.

Blues forward Jake Neighbors recorded his first career Gordie Howe hat trick on Sunday, with a goal, an assist and a fight, all in the third period.

Neighbors assisted on Robert Thomas' power play goal with 31 seconds left, then scored his own power play goal at 7:14. With a minute left, Neighbors tackled Canadiens defenseman Jonathan Kovacevic.

“A kid who did everything for us, especially a young guy,” Blues defenseman Torey Krug said. “The way he plays; you can't really teach it. To have a guy like that on our side, you want to keep that guy around for a while. He does the little things for us, and sometimes it's not on the table. Sometimes it happens, like tonight.”

The neighbors scored twice as the Blues beat the Sabers 3-1 on Saturday afternoon.

Neighbors now has 18 goals this season, and Thomas is tied for the most on the team. Kiru and Pavel Buchnevich are just behind with 17 goals.