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St. Louis Blues Beat: Week 1 2015

By Brandon J. Griffin

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Jan 13, 2015; St. Louis, MO, USA; St. Louis Blues defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk (22) handles the puck against the Edmonton Oilers during the first period at Scottrade Center. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports

With week one in the books, the St. Louis Blues are 1-1-0 and currently on a six-game road trip. Before we get to what’s ahead, let’s look back at what’s happened so far.

Blues Home Opener Against Edmonton

St. Louis opens up the season with a 3-1 win over the Edmonton Oilers, spoiling Connor McDavid’s NHL debut. The Blues looked rusty early on but started to figure themselves out as the game progressed.

It was a frustrating game at first because it’s the Oilers and we expect the Blues to have a multiple goal lead almost immediately, but looking back at the stats it really wasn’t that bad. The only goal Edmonton scored was a failed clearing attempt by Alex Pietrangelo that somehow ended up behind goaltender Brian Elliott.

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Vladimir Tarasenko scored the first Blues goal of the season, as many expected. He carries over his offensive dominance from last season and gets started early.

Jaden Schwartz however was the game MVP as he had two assists on the team’s second line. One of those assists was on Robby Fabbri’s first NHL goal, which was pretty spectacular. The Schwartz, Lehtera, Fabbri line had a great audition and led the team with a plus four rating.

Shattenkirk and Pietrangelo lead the Blues ice time with over 23 minutes each, nothing new there. Troy Brouwer scored his first goal as a Blue, an empty netter to seal the deal.

Playoff Revenge In Minnesota

The Blues embark on a six game road trip, starting with a playoff rematch in Minnesota. Jake Allen gets his first start of the season as the Blues try to start the year off right with a bit of revenge.

There was no revenge to be had sadly as the Wild won 3-2. Are they the Blues new kryptonite? After a poor performance by Devan Dubnyk in their win over Colorado, the Minnesota netminder looked at ease as he cruised to his second win. The feeling at the end of this game was all too familiar, another frustrating loss at the hands of the Minnesota Wild.

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There were plenty of positives however, Tarasenko continued his streak of offense and now has three points in two games; his top line with Paul Stastny and Alex Steen really shined in this game. A sigh of relief for Blues fans, Stastny had another strong game and picked up his first point of the season. The Blues power play struck for the first time this year on Tarasenko’s goal.

Rookie defenseman Colton Parayko has looked strong through two games, logging over 19 minutes of ice time. He was paired up with Robert Bortuzzo most of the night, while he spent a little bit of time on a line with Kevin Shattenkirk as well.

The Blues suffered their first loss of the season as Robby Fabbri took an elbow to the head, he’s expected to miss the rest of the road trip. In his absence, Hitchcock threw Troy Brouwer out with Schwartz and Lehtera. It will be interesting to see what the lines look like Tuesday night against the Flames.

A Trip Through Canada

Looking ahead to the upcoming week, the Blues continue their road trip with games against the Flames, Oilers, Canucks, Jets. A heavy load of four games this week before a light schedule of two games the following week.

With the Blues holding a 1-1 record, what can we expect the record to look like next Monday? Of the four games, two are easy and two could be tough.

I expect another victory over the Oilers, despite a better showing by Connor McDavid and his line. Vancouver doesn’t pose much of a threat to St. Louis, the two games in the middle this week should be easy wins.

The book ends are a different story, Calgary and Winnipeg are not push overs. The Flames have a ridiculous defensive core, and the offense to support it, but they are definitely beatable. Calgary is like an oyster, if the Blues can find the gaps in their strong defense and exploit them, what’s left is a soft and mushy goalie ready to be taken.

The Winnipeg Jets are a similar team, but with more lines of offense to roll out. The Blues will need to expose their young defense and pounce on the goaltender, hopefully it’s Ondrej Pavelec because he is terrible.

I expect the Blues to at least split these two tougher teams this week, improving their record to at least 4-2-0. What do you think about the Blues schedule this week? What do you think they need to improve on from last week?

Next: St. Louis Blues News Roundup

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