Blues Suffer Loss In Chicago

The St. Louis Blues (16-7-2) lost to the Chicago Blackhawks (16-8-1) 4-1 in Chicago tonight.  These teams last met in St. Louis five weeks ago with the Blues winning 3-2.  Tonight’s game had a tremendous impact first three spots in the Central division standings.  While no team moved their position, tonight’s loss stalled the Blues at 54 points and prevented them from taking over first from the Nashville Predators.  The Blackhawks closed in on the point lead the Blues had on them to put the Hawks 1 point behind the Blues and a solo win away from taking first in the central division.

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GAME RECAP

The game started with a lot of physicality and the Blues controlling most of the action.  At 3:03 Vladimir Tarasenko gained a break and was high-sticked by Niklas Hjalmarsson which gave the Blues and early power play.  The Hawks killed the penalty.  At 8:31 Daniel Carcillo hit Steve Ott high in response to a hit Ott had on Andrew Shaw which earned Carcillo a penalty.  The Hawks killed their second.  David Backes was called for slashing at 11:26 to allow Chicago their first power play.  The Blues killed the penalty. Following the penalty, the Hawks took over the play momentum.  At 15:57 Marcus Kruger scored on a 2 on 1 breakaway to put the Hawks up 1-0.  At 17:31 Shaw took a crosschecking penalty to give the Blues their third power play.  The Hawks killed their third.  The period ended with Chicago holding their 1-0 lead.

At 1:57 into the second, Kruger hit T.J. Oshie in the eye with a stick to give the Blues and early power play.  The Hawks got out without giving up a goal.  After five minutes the Hawks regained their control of the game.  At 12:38 on a delayed penalty against the Hawk, Ian Cole scored in front of the net with a sixth attacker.  Patrik Berglund and Ott earned assists.  Cole then earned an interference penalty at 14:03.  The Blues held the Hawks back to kill their second.  Right off the faceoff at 17:11 Jonathan Teows took a hooking penalty.  With 19 seconds left in the power play Tarasenko took a hooking penalty.  The Blues held them back, but would be short handed at the start of the third.

After 52 seconds of playing short handed in the third, the Blues killed the penalty.  At 59 seconds Kris Versteeg scored after playing a passing game to give the Hawks a 2-1 lead.  Then at 2:47, on a carry in to the Blues’ zone Patrick Kane scored  to widen the Hawks’ lead to 3-1.  At 5:19 Kane scored again on a 1-1 break to extend the Hawks’ lead to 4-1.  The teams juggled possession until the late minutes of the game.  At 18:26 Michel Rozsival took an elbowing penalty following a skirmish ignited by Carcillo hitting Tarasenko high.  With 58 seconds left David Backes was given a misconduct penalty for hitting Brent Seabrook after the play.  Chicago held on to their lead and won the game 4-1.

HOW THEY PLAYED

Tonight’s game was a steady decline in performance from the St. Louis Blues.  The team struggled in three areas: passing, defense and power plays.  Coach Hitchcock made some adjustments to the lines and recently broke up the two that had been producing the most.  It could be because of this that the players’ chemistry isn’t 100%.  There were a lot of blind passes to empty ice, many off the mark and a few that were too high.

The Blues seem to allow a lot more odd man rushes than they earn.  Tonight, the Hawks showed that they are very good at putting the puck just on the Blue line from a distance.  The Blues defense didn’t adjust well for this and ended up giving away the puck while trying to settle it like they were deeper in their own zone.

Finally, no team should be scoreless on power plays when given five or more chances.  The Blues’ power play game hasn’t been working well for a few weeks now.  This is crucial when you’re playing a team like Chicago who is good for a handful of calls a game; perhaps more when playing a bad-blood team like the Blues.  It is disappointing to watch a player like Backes take a penalty on a power play, although I suppose that in the last two minutes of the game when you are down by three, it doesn’t matter.

What were your thoughts on the game?  Leave your comments below.