The St. Louis Blues brought in Kevin Hayes for this very reason: to be an impact player for them.
There have been moments, but Wednesday night at Mullett Arena against the Arizona Coyotes, Hayes came to play.
The veteran center scored a crucial goal, the eventual game-winning goal in the third period of a wild 6-5 victory that helped the Blues (10-7-1) level their road trip at 2-2-0 after starting it losing their first two, but it was the small intangibles that fueled Hayes on this night.
His line was effective throughout the game, and when push came to shove, coach Craig Berube had Hayes taking crucial face-offs when the game was on the line and why wouldn't he?
Hayes won 79 percent of his draws on the night (15-for-19) and took the last five in the game, winning three of them.
Hayes also registered three shots in the game and had a hit but his line, whether it was with Alexey Toropchenko and Kasperi Kapanen or Oskar Sundqvist and Brandon Saad for stretches of third period, were effective with the puck.
If there ever was a time where I'd give co-players of the game, Joel Hofer deserved one too for stabilizing things when everything seemed to get chaotic entering the game with a 5-4 deficit, but Hayes was outstanding from start to finish on Wednesday, even though he got beat around the edge and needed a key save from Hofer on Jason Zucker moments before his breakaway goal.
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