St. Louis Blues Win in Shootout Against Avalanche

The St. Louis Blues (6-3-1) won 3-2 in a shootout against the Colorado Avalanche (3-4-5). This win puts the Blues on a four game streak and has moved them to the third spot in the central division. The last meeting against Colorado left a sour taste in the Blues’ mouth and a war of words between coaches Hitchcock and Roy.

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Colorado played an aggressive game for the first three minutes but went a little too far and took an early interference penalty. The Blues did a good job of keeping control but came out of the power play with only 2 shots. Both teams played tight, allowing few shots and giving each other pressure. Around 11 minutes, Vladimir Tarasenko fed Jaden Schwartz a solid pass for their best scoring chance to that point. The Blues held the puck in Colorado’s zone and it took Tarasenko a few good chances before he managed to get one in the net with 3:31 left in the period. The Blues maintained the momentum and Colorado took a hooking penalty with a little over two minutes left. The Blues couldn’t score on their second power play and left the period with a one goal lead.

Colorado entered the second with a little more determination and kept the puck in the Blues’ zone for the early minutes of the period. Avalanche player Cody McCleod broke his stick in his defensive zone about five minutes in which gave the Blues a pseudo 5 man advantage and a chance to take a few more shots. After 8 minutes, Jori Lehtera took a slashing penalty which Announcer Darren Pang called, “a bad call.” The Blues killed the penalty allowing only a handful of shots. The teams played an even game for the rest of the period not allowing either too much of an advantage with the exception of a scoring chance for both sides in the last minute. The Blues maintained their one goal lead.

Not wasting any time in the third, Alex Pietrangelo took a solid shot that Tarasenko deflected to earn his second goal of the night. Following this, Magnus Paajarvi took a holding penalty to put the Blues at a disadvantage for the second time in the night. Colorado moved the puck around well which allowed Ryan O’Reilly to put it past Brian Elliot for Colorado’s first goal. After a little over three minutes, Ian Cole took a crosschecking penalty to give Colorado their third power play. Colorado made the Blues pay for this penalty as well, with Nathan MacKinnon tying the game at 2. After 9 minutes, Ryan Reaves took a high hit and replied with a crosscheck behind the play, which earned Colorado their third straight power play. The Blues killed the penalty but allowed Colorado to take the lead in shots. With six minutes left the Blues got a chance of their own after Nick Holden shot over the glass for a delay of game. They managed to keep pressure in the Avalanche zone but came up empty.

The Blues controlled most of overtime play. Each team got two shots but no goals moving the game to a shootout.

Alexander Steen shot wide. Gabriel Landeskog put a slapshot into Elliot’s pads. Joakim Lindstom scored through the five hole. Matt Duchene went five hole but Elliot kicked it away. Vladimir Tarasenko hit the glove. Ryan O’Reilly hit Elliot’s pad wide giving the Blues the win.

The Blues had to adapt to a new challenge tonight, which was the speed of the Avalanche players. This gave them less time with the puck before they had an Avalanche player giving them pressure. Colorado’s speed brought to surface one of the weaknesses we saw with the Blues earlier in the season. The Blues don’t handle the puck well when challenged and tend to make panicked passes or just toss the puck away. Fortunately, the Blues played strong defensively and didn’t allow dangerous Avalanche breaks.

Defenseman Jay Bouwmeester displayed his strength tonight. Despite losing his stick in the defensive zone twice he was able to still play a crucial role in the action. Tarasenko continued his hot streak by scoring the game’s first goal, being in the right place to deflect a second and overall being integral in putting shots on goal. While it is great to see Tarasenko do well, the Blues can’t keep relying on him, Schwartz or Lehtera to continue to score the goals. Players get injured, and if one of these guys goes, the Blues don’t have many play-makers to fill the void.

Clearly, penalties were a problem for the Blues tonight. Even though Lehtera’s hooking call was debatable he’s been putting a lot of time in the box. The Blues managed to break Colorado’s power play momentum following Reaves’ crosschecking call, but this was still a situation where a cooler head from Reaves would have been beneficial.

Compound this with the inability of the Blues to take advantage of the opposition’s penalties it would seem that they need to work on their power plays. Averaging out penalty kill and power play performances, there is also some evidence that the Blues are outmatched when at even strength. The Blues offense needs work.

We’ve started a new poll. We want to know, how can the Blues improve? Add your vote or leave a comment with your own ideas.

103. 3. 99. Final. 2

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