St. Louis Blues Shutout Ducks, Gain 3 Game Streak

The St. Louis Blues (5-3-1) shutout the Western Division leading Anaheim Ducks (8-3-0) 2-0 in an important game tonight. In their prior meeting the Ducks shutout the Blues 3-0, which was the start of a demoralizing road trip. This match-up was important as the Blues had an ax to grind wanting to make up for the loss, earn another win and take down the division leader. As an added bonus any win against a California team is big.

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Early in the first the Ducks outplayed the Blues. They executed great passes and moved the puck to the net to out shoot the Blues. Though Ryan Reaves and Dmitrij Jaskin had excellent scoring chances. These chances paid off as Alexander Steen scored by redirecting a shot from Carl Gunnarsson. Following the goal the Blues regained their composure and played a much tighter game. Wherever the puck went the Blues seemed to be there first; especially Steen, Kevin Shattenkirk, and Jori Lehtera who had a lot of keep ins and carries. Both teams played strong for the rest of the period with no penalties until a holding call against the Ducks with a little under two minutes remaining. The Blues didn’t do much with the power play until the final seconds of the period, but came up empty.

The Blues didn’t carry this discipline into the second period as Lehtera took a tripping penalty a minute in. Fortunately they were able to kill it without allowing too many shots. Both teams played the first half of the period evenly, with the Ducks maintaining their overall shot lead. The Blues had a chance to make something happen after the Ducks took a kneeing penalty twelve minutes in. Again, the Blues came up empty despite strong passing and a few Vladimir Tarasenko drives. The last five minutes were intense as the Ducks lead a strong charge. The Steen/Tarasenko/Lehtera line responded by returning pressure of their own, which was maintained by Jaskin and Shattenkirk until the end of the period.

The Blues played strong at the start of the third. Ryan Reaves punctuated the momentum with a goal after the Ducks fanned on an attempt to clear the zone. They continued to dominate the period until Jaskin took a holding penalty that put them on their second penalty kill followed by a delay of game penalty to Jay Bouwmeester with :20 left in the power play. The Blues killed it, then the Ducks took a too many men penalty to nullify their one man advantage and give the Blues another power play chance when Bouwmeester got out. For the third time, the Blues failed to score. The Blues continued to out shoot the Ducks but both teams played a steady back and forth game. In the last minutes the Ducks pulled their goalie and Maxim Lapierre kept a close Ducks’ goal from scoring. Barret Jackman took a holding penalty to give the Ducks a 6 on 4 advantage. Fortunately Jake Allen defended the net well in the extremely intense last seconds to earn a shutout.

Despite the game being quite tame the Blues performed well considering their last meeting with the Ducks. The hot Steen/Tarasenko/Lehtera line continued to work hard and put a lot of pressure on the Ducks’ defense. While the last game was dominated by the power duo of Vladimir Tarasenko and Jori Lehtera, all players put on a great show tonight. This shows that with the absence of David Backes and T.J. Oshie the Blues are still capable of playing a strong game.

“…it looks simple, but it’s a hard pass off the pad and he did the right thing.” -Lapierre on Ryan Reaves

Ryan Reaves scored his second goal in three games and was part of some additional big plays. Whether it is a fluke or not, it is always nice when the enforcer works outside his resume. Reaves’ line mate Maxim Lapierre worked the circle hard and held the Ducks back during the crucial final minute of the game. Lapierre had this to say about Reaves to Darren Pang, “It’s tough to score goals in this league, and… the puck comes back fast on the rebound and it looks simple but it’s a hard pass off the pad and he did the right thing.”

Still, though, there is room for improvement. The Blues didn’t out shoot the Ducks by much and they can’t depend on goalies Jake Allen and Brian Elliot to always give an all-star performance when challenged. While the frequency of Blues penalties is low, Jori Lehtera has shown a pattern of taking early period penalties. Finally, the Blues still haven’t regained the fearsome power play performance they had last season. Despite all this, the Blues still play a clean game, which is best exemplified against teams like Dallas and Anaheim who also play fair. The Blues haven’t had a fight in a few games.

David Backes and T.J. Oshie are out of service for a while, and Steen appears to be finding his stride. Regardless, we still want to know which vet is under performing? The poll closes with the start of the new month and we want to hear from you. Add your vote and leave a comment.

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