Blues Lose To Detroit In Game Of Last Minute Goals

The St. Louis Blues (27-13-4) lost to the Detroit Red Wings (24-11-9) 3-2 in overtime tonight in St. Louis.  This match-up was the first of two regular season meetings between the Blues and the Wings.  These teams had a deep rivalry prior to Detroit moving to the Eastern Conference.  The players, analysts and fans expected the game to be rough.

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The Blues entered the game off a win against the Edmonton Oilers which extended their hot streak to five games.  The Red Wings, who have had a similar season as the Blues, came to the game after a win against the Buffalo Sabres.

Prior to the game news came out that Martin Brodeur’s week-long leave-of-absence and evaluation upon his return was more of his decision than the Blues.  Apparently Brodeur’s future with the team is up to him.  This comes after the Blues organization said they had no further comment in the leave-of-absence press release just a day earlier.  With Brodeur out, Brian Elliot got the start with Jake Allen backing him up on the bench.

Tonight’s loss keeps the Blues from gaining on the ever elusive top spot in the Central Division and prevented them from leapfrogging the Blackhawks who hold the number two spot by one point.  The Blues will have to wait until March 22nd to make up for tonight’s loss.

GAME RECAP

The Blues had a rough time getting started but earned the first shot on goal after a minute of play.  After 2:46 Steve Ott and Brendan Smith were sent to the box following a hit Ott had on Xavier Ouellet which put play 4 on 4.  Then at 4:20 Jay Bouwmeester went off for tripping after he made a strong defensive effort.  Shortly after that Stephen Weiss went to box for crosschecking.  This put the Blues on a one-minute power play at 6:20.  They were unable to score.

A little after ten minutes of play the Wings tallied their first shot on goal to make the count 3-1.  At 13:55 Tomas Tatar was called for holding.  The Blues couldn’t find a goal.  The teams held each other scoreless for the remainder of the period, though the Blues led in shots 9-2.

The second period started with a lot of the same play from the first.  After five minutes the Blues built on their shot count to make it 12-3.  After ten minutes they were deadlocked with shots at 13-3.  As the period went on the Wings started to tack more shots on goal.

At 14:35 Barret Jackmen took a penalty for holding.  T.J. Oshie, Patrik Berglund and Alex Pietrangelo all had a good short-handed scoring chances which helped the Blues keep the Wings shotless during their power play.  At 18:04 the Wings cracked the scoreboard after Joakim Andersson popped the puck past Brian Elliot to give them a 1-0 lead.

At 18:20 Oshie and Henrik Zetterberg received unsportsmanlike and interference penalties, respectively.  With 55 seconds left Tatar put the Red Wings up 2-0.  The period ended with the Wings leading 2-0.

Just 26 seconds into the 3rd period, Alexander Steen took a hooking penalty.  Fortunately for the Blues, Zetterberg went off for hooking at 2:03.  With six second left in the power play David Backes redirected a shot by Bouwmeester to score and put the Blues on the board 2-1.  Kevin Shattenkirk earned the second assist.

At 11:05 Maxim Lapierre was called for holding the stick. Then at 12:58 a Detroit goal was cancelled after it was determined that Justin Abdelkader was in the crease and interfered with Elliot  prior to the shot.  The Blues went on to kill the penalty and allow only one shot.

With 1:20 left the Blues pulled Elliot from the net.  With 47 seconds left Alex Pietrangelo entered the Red Wings’ zone and shot low to Steen who tipped the puck in and knotted the game at 2.  Vladimir Tarasenko earned the second assist.  The period ended with both teams at 2.

The Blues controlled the first minute of overtime.  Things evened out around the halfway point.  With two seconds left the Red Wings celebrated a possible game-winning goal that went under review.  It was deemed a good goal and the Red Wings won 3-2 in overtime.

HOW THEY PLAYED

I have to admit.  This wasn’t the most interesting game to watch.  Sure, the Blues’ defense was pretty solid.  Only allowing five shots in 30 minutes is impressive.  But most of those five that got through were pretty scary.  While the Blues led in shots by a large margin, 13 over 30 minutes isn’t a huge feat.

The math: Detroit average a shot every six minutes.  The Blues had a shot every 2:20.  I say it wasn’t interesting because what we’re talking about here is shots.  Not penalties.  Not goals.  Not fights.  Shots.

What went wrong?  The Blues didn’t have much of a problem getting past the Detroit defense to set up offensively but did have a problem moving the puck around.  This could have been in part because the Wings’ defensive zone was a flurry of sticks knocking the puck every which way.

The main problem was in the Blues’ passing.  The players sent pucks to empty ice as well as dropped it past the blue line.  The Blues seemed to have cleared Detroit’s defensive zone more than the Wings themselves.

The third period was where the game was.  Detroit earned more shots and scored goals.  The Blues got on the scoreboard as well.  Despite giving up goals, the Blues increased their speed and aggression to match the Red Wings.  This is actually pretty impressive considering that in the past the Blues have had trouble adapting to an opponent who shifts their strategy.

The Blues should be somewhat ashamed of their first two periods of play.  It wasn’t imperfect but it also isn’t the type of play that earned them their five game streak crushing wins.  Lucky for the Blues their penalty kill was working.  Lucky for them they could score on the power play.  Lucky for them Jay Bouwmeester and Alex Pietrangelo showed up to play.   Lucky for them the Blues defense can keep the team afloat.  Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to celebrate a “W” tonight.

What are your thoughts?  Leave a comment below.

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