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Jaden Schwartz Masters Winnipeg Jets

By Kate Cimini

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Star Wars night at the Scottrade Center saw Jaden Schwartz come alive after what he termed “a little bit of a drought” and St. Louis earn themselves two points in a 5-4 win.

The Jets-Blues game started out rocky with two penalties for the Blues off Petteri Lindbohm right away. One penalty was for holding against Andrew Ladd and another for delay of game when Lindbohm rocketed the puck over the glass…but not before hitting coach Ken Hitchcock. He was not having a great night.

Within the first ten minutes Oshie returned to the locker room to deal with what looked like equipment malfunctions, and Elliott had an equipment manager do some work on his mask. The beginning of the game was scattershot, and it didn’t take a genius to see that the Blues’ road trip wasn’t quite over for some of them.

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But it didn’t take long for the Blues to turn things around.

The Fights

St. Louis knew they would have to hit hard and frequently to face down this incarnation of the Winnipeg Jets, and they did not shy away from physical play.

New addition to the team Robert Bortuzzo introduced himself the hard way to the Jets with the hit St. Louis gleefully posted on its Twitter account.

The second period continued with the first’s physical aggression on both sides, with Reaves and former St. Louis prospect Peluso dropping the gloves for one of the longest fights of the season, lasting over 90 seconds. Despite the length (one has to imagine the linesmen simply didn’t want to get hit with a stray haymaker) neither seemed grievously injured afterwards.

We’d love to include a clip of the fight below, but it went on so long the NHL will be streaming it on Pay-Per-View.

Reaves and Peluso went at it again later in the second, but the linesmen intervened almost immediately, resulting in no penalty being called.

In the third, Backes, Bortuzzo and Jets Lowry and Thornburn all got roughing minors for starting a bit of a group fight, and the physicality didn’t end there.

While I’m not normally a fan of fighting, this wasn’t about fighting; it was about a give-no-quarter attitude that the Blues brought Tuesday night. It’s not easy for teams to bounce back so ferociously after a road trip like St. Louis did, especially against a well-rested team like the Jets, who are fighting to maintain a playoff wildcard. It speaks to St. Louis’ depth as well as tenacity that they came back the way they did, clawing their way out of a deficit and then precision-shooting their way to a win.

The Goals

The Blues buckled down and poured on the offensive pressure during the second half of the first, and throughout the rest of the game, coming away with a neat win. Tarasenko nabbed his 33rd goal of the season to match his 33rd assist of the season, Ott scored one, and Jackman another.

In fact,  during the first two periods the Blues scored four goals on seven shots, wasting no energy at all.

But the real star of the night was Jaden Schwartz.

Mar 7, 2015; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; St. Louis Blues forward Jaden Schwartz (17) stretches during the pre game warm up against the Toronto Maple Leafs at the Air Canada Centre. Mandatory Credit: John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports

Schwartz is a remarkable player for the Blues. He’s had two back-to-back seasons of 50+ points, one of which is this season, which still has weeks to go before we close the books. He’s not the flashiest player on the ice, and so is able to fly under the radar. What he is, is consistently really, really good.

He poured on the offense in the first, scoring the first St. Louis goal, and seemed to find his feet under him after that.

Tarasenko came back for the Blues with a no-look, cross-ice, backhand pass to Pietrangelo which was clearly the play of the night, if not the play of the season. After a quick tic-tac-toe during which Schwartz earned a neat little assist, Lehtera scored for St. Louis.

Winnipeg managed to pile on the pressure in the third with a pair of goals within eleven seconds of each other, from Jets players Stempniak and Ladd. They tied it up with a short-handed goal from winger Blake Wheeler, putting pressure on the Blues with five minutes left in the third.

St. Louis answered with a Jackman goal, scored from beyond the blue line, even with little over a minute left to go. The Blues shut down the rest of Winnipeg’s attempts on Elliott for the win.

Schwartz earned first star of the game, as well as Player of the Game for his offensive pressure tonight. In his interview with Darren Pang, Schwartz credited his improved play to his teammates, and a strong game overall.

“I think when you’re in a drought once you get [a goal] it’s a litle bit of weight off your shoulders. The line’s moving, guys are skating to get open, and enjoying it.”

Next: St. Louis Blues Salary Cap: Defensive Edition

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