St. Louis Blues Defeat Kings 5-2, Tarasenko Nabs Hat-Trick

The St. Louis Blues (21-8-2) beat the Los Angeles Kings (15-11-6) 5-2 tonight in St. Louis. Both teams came well-rested with Blues’ last game on Saturday in a win against the Avalanche. The Kings last played on Sunday in a loss to the Maple Leafs. Goaltender Brian Elliot and Defenseman Carl Gunnarsson missed the game due to injuries. T.J. Oshie joined them as a scratch because of a family situation. As a result Chris Porter was added to the fourth line and a lot of players were bumped forward. Jake Allen received a second straight start.

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Tonight’s win allows the Blues to maintain their one-game/two-point lead over the Nashville Predators in the Central Division. Unfortunately the Chicago Blackhawks were also in a position to win which would keep the Blues in the second spot.

GAME RECAP

Within the first 20 seconds Jay Bouwmeester took a hooking penalty. The Blues allowed only one shot then dominated play following the penalty kill. At 13:56 Steve Ott took a slashing penalty. The Blues killed the second penalty only allowing two shots. The period ended with no score but with the Kings outshooting the Blues 11 to 6.

The game’s momentum evened into the second period. After some poking in the crease Marion Gaborik scored the first goal of the game at 5:39 to put the Kings up 1-0. At 9:48 Petteri Lindbohm was called for interference. Gaborik found an opening and scored his second of the period on the power play to widen the Kings’ lead 2-0. At 12:29 Vladimir Tarasenko scored on a shot in the slot which cut the lead 2-1. Ott and Chris Butler earned assists.

At 16:30 Dwight King took and interference penalty to give the Blues their first power play of the night. The Blues were unable to score on the power play. With 40 seconds left Kevin Shattenkirk was called for slashing. The Blues left the period down by one with 1:20 left on a penalty kill.

The Blues killed the rest of the power play in the third allowing no shots. The Blues made some plays until Alex Pietrangelo was called for high-sticking at 8:58. At 10:35 Dustin Brown took a high-sticking penalty with 23 seconds left in the penalty kill. Shortly in to the Blues power play, Tarasenko was taken down by a high stick. Robin Regehr went to the box to give the Blues a 5 on 3 advantage for 1:32. Shattenkirk scored on the power play at 11:20 to tie the game at 2 and put the play at 5 on 4 about 1:30. Tarasenko and Jori Lehtera earned assists.

Then at 13:00 Tarasenko scored the second power play goal, putting the Blues up 3-2. Pietrangelo and Jay Bouwmeester got the assists. The Blues carried to momentum and at 13:50 Alexander Steen scored to bump the Blues lead 4-2. Backes and Patrik Berglund received the assists. This was a three goal rally in 2:30. With two minutes left, the Kings pulled Jonathan Quick from the net. With 1:24 left Tarasenko baggged a hat-trick with an empty net goal to put the score at 5-2. Jaden Schwartz got the assist. With 51 seconds Ryan Reaves was given and interference penalty. Despite this, the Blues closed the game with the 5-2 lead.

HOW THEY PLAYED

Without a doubt, tonight’s game belongs to Vladimir Tarasenko. He had his hand in four of the five goals with three of his own and a hat-trick. Tarasenko has been somewhat cold up until tonight. He’s earned points in past games but most of those have been assists. While Tarasenko was responsible for tonight’s win he wasn’t alone in scoring which has been the case in past games and has been a problem. Tarasenko is great but the Blues should also focus on secondary production.

T.J. Oshie’s absence may have messed with some of the line chemistry. Most lines got a bit of a shake-up tonight. In the past, when the lines were adjusted the team didn’t play as tight of a game. This wasn’t much of a problem tonight but could explain the slow start the Blues had.

The team’s special units worked strong. The Blues did well in scoring on power plays and killing penalties. It was the power play production that really helped them take control of the game. Having a strong penalty kill is a great attribute for a team but putting that unit to the test six times in a game is too much. Despite killing the penalties, the box time forced the Blues to play nearly 20% of the game short-handed which limited their scoring chances.

Overall, as the game went on the Blues ramped up their performance and played an excellent game. Their win streak has extended to five games which means they have regained their stride and have the potential to climb the standings. Here’s to hoping they can keep the momentum going as long as possible and continue to give fans excellent shows.

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