Blues Get Big Win in Dallas. Tarasenko, Lehtera Shine.

The St. Louis Blues (4-3-1) won a big game against the Dallas Stars (4-2-3) Tuesday.  This win gives The Blues their first two game streak of the season and is another step in climbing the standings.

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The Blues have a nasty habit of taking penalties in the fist minute of play.  This is what got them in trouble early last game when the Blackhawks scored after having a 5 on 3 advantage.  Lehtera took hooking penalty to put the Blues in this troubling position again.  Fortunately they were able to kill the penalty.  These early penalties could be flukes but the Blues could benefit from a little more self control.

The first period was strong for the Blues.  They kept the Stars on their heels for the first half of the period and killed the aforementioned penalty.  The Blues lost their momentum after failing to score on a power play and allowed the Stars to score.  Tarasenko answered back immediately and tied the game with some nice handling.  Overall, the players did an excellent job of anticipating passes and closing lanes.

Oct 28, 2014; Dallas, TX, USA; St. Louis Blues center Jori Lehtera (12) chases the puck during the third period against the Dallas Stars at the American Airlines Center. Lehtera scores a goal. The Blues defeated the Stars 4-3 in overtime. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

The second was less steady and the Blues couldn’t keep their passing game solid.  Dallas showed some amazing handling of their own to score their second, to which the Blues answered with a Lehtera goal.  Despite even having a 5 on 3 advantage at one point, the Blues couldn’t keep Dallas out of their zone and from dominating them in shots.  Without the stellar performance from Brian Elliot the Stars could have left the period with a few more goals.

The Blues struggled early in the third and allowed the Stars to take over in shots, took a hooking call and couldn’t kill the penalty which gave the Stars the lead.  This seemed to fuel to Blues a little.  Despite this, the Stars executed a lot of successful stretch passes into the Blues’ zone, allowing them quite a few quality scoring chances.  But the Blues made their own stretch from Lehtera to Tarasenko, who got his second goal of the night and tied the game.  Their game tightened after this and both teams put forth a strong effort.  Again, Elliot gave a five star performance in goal and held the game.

Fortuned favored the Blues in overtime as they got an early power play.  After a little work, Shattenkirk set up Tarasenko for hat trick game winner.

“He knows where I am and I know where he is, so it makes it easier.” – Jori Lehtera on teammate Tarasenko

Jori Lehtera and Vladimir Tarasenko were a power duo on the ice tonight with each scoring and assisting the other.  Lehtera joked with Darren Pang between the second and third periods about his goal saying, “…Vladi gave me an awesome pass, and I know the holes in Finnish goalies.”  Lehtera went on to say, “He knows where I am and I know where he is, so it makes it easier.”  Tarasenko echoed this to Pang after the game.  These two kept the game alive all night.  What’s even more impressive is that Tarasenko and last game’s hero, Ryan Reaves, were possible scratches due to illness.  Shattenkirk and Steen also assisted Tarasenko and Lehtera for their first goals, respectively.  Shattenkirk for Tarasenko’s third.

The Blues still have some work to do if they want to maintain their momentum.  Even though they gave up more shots this game than they have in any prior game, they’ve been good at keeping the shot gap low.  Their passing and aggression have also improved.  However, the Blues allowed Dallas to gain a lot of turnover breakaways which were all scary.  Fortunately Elliot held off the shots.  The other area the Blues could improve in is their power play.  Granted, they did win the game tonight with a one man advantage but their power play isn’t as fearsome as it was last season.  Remember their 10 second face-off shot clock?

I opened up a poll a few days ago asking which Blues vet hasn’t been pulling his weight.  It will stay open until November but as of now T.J. Oshie leads with about 40% of the votes with Steen and Berglund nearly tied at 25% a piece.  Add your vote and let us know why you think they’re not playing to their potential or why you disagree.  Or tell us where the team is lacking or doing well overall.  We always want to hear from you.