St. Louis Blues Show Improvement Despite Loss To Ducks
By Brent Scott
The St. Louis Blues (22-13-3) lost to the Anaheim Ducks (25-9-6) 4-3 in Anaheim after the teams’ last meeting this season. The Blues hoped to start the new year with new energy and a winning momentum following their loss to the Predators. The Ducks also entered the game off a loss though they were top of the League’s standings. Earlier in the day the Blues removed Carl Gunnarsson from injured reserve and called up Colin Fraser from the AHL. Jaden Scwartz and Chris Porter remained out from injury.
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Luckily for the Blues, their competition within the Central division all had the night off. While the Blues didn’t make a gain in their position they didn’t fall behind either. Recently, the Winnipeg Jets have become the Blues’ closest competitor coming from behind in 4th. The Blues have lost their proximity to Chicago and Nashville, who had been neck and neck with the Blues all season.
GAME RECAP
The teams went back and forth at the beginning of the game. The Blues earned the first shot after three minutes of play. At 3:17 Devante Smith-Pelly took a holding the stick penalty. The Ducks killed the penalty but at 5:51 Jori Lehtera went to the box for interference. At 6:29 Ryan Getzlaf scored a power play goal to put the Ducks up 1-0.
After 8:24 of play Kyle Palmieri received a boarding penalty. The Blues were close with a wrap-around that went under review but failed to score on the power play. After ten minutes the Ducks took majority control of the play however the Blues increased their efforts with five minutes left.
At 17:58 Ryan Reaves and Clayton Stoner took matching fighting penalties. The period ended with the Ducks in the lead 1-0.
After 2:59 into the second period T.J. Oshie caught a rebound and put it in the net to tie the game at 1. David Backes and Alexander Steen received assists. However the Ducks returned the goal at 5:20 after Palmieri snuck one past Brodeur to put them up 2-1. Kevin Shattenkirk then tied things back up at 6:23 with a goal assisted by Jori Lehtera and Paul Stastny.
After a breakaway at 7:58 Alexander Steen took a slashing penalty. The Blues killed the penalty but at 10:11 Andrew Cogliano scored to put the Ducks up 3-2. At 11:07 Francois Beuchemin took a tripping penalty. The Blues were unable to score on the power play.
At 14:59 Palmieri earned Anaheim another penalty after tripping Vladimir Tarasenko. Forty seconds into the power play Sami Vatanen earned a delay of game penalty to give the Blues a 5 on 3 advantage for 1:20. Steen scored on the power play to tie the game at three and give the Blues a little over a minute of 5 on 4 play. Tarasenko and Shattenkirk earned assists.
The Blues were unable to score on the second power play. And left the period leading in shots and tied with the Ducks at 3.
Both teams put up a strong push at the start of the third period. At 4:25 Lehtera received a tripping penalty. The Blues killed the penalty but not without allowing a few dangerous shots. After ten minutes of play the Ducks were close to evening the shot count.
At 10:55 Matt Beleskey received a pass after a turnover and turned it into a goal to put the Ducks up 4-3. The Blues took another penalty at 12:08 after Stastny was called for holding. The Blues killed the penalty and denied the Ducks a chance to set up in the offensive zone.
The Blues put up an extended push in the last three minutes. With 1:30 left the Blues pulled Martin Brodeur. However fifteen seconds later the Blues took a too many men on the ice penalty. The Blues pulled Brodeur again in the last minute. They pushed hard but the Ducks still won 4-3.
HOW THEY PLAYED
Considering the Blues have been struggling for about a month and that as far as the rankings are concerned, the Ducks are supposed to be the toughest team in the league; the Blues played the first period well. Martin Brodeur took a heavy assault and maintained his composure enough to only allow one goal.
Two lines in particular played an excellent first period. Steve Ott, Patrik Berglund and Dmitrij Jaskin made some strong plays that would have been considered uncharacteristic earlier in the season. Ryan Reaves, Maxim Lapierre and newcomer Colin Fraser made the best first period attempts and continued to send the message that despite being on the fourth line that they can’t be called fourth line players. These two groups played great all night and eventually the rest of the team stepped up to join them.
The Blues did an exceptional job against a tough opponent. While the official result was a loss the Blues won their inner battle with play production and taking unneeded penalties. Conversely, Anaheim took a lot of penalties but the Blues could only score when it became 5 on 3. The special teams for power plays still aren’t working as well as they have. Maybe Hitchcock should consider making the 3rd and 4th lines the special teams and try something new.
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