St. Louis Blues Morning Links: Blues Lost In Jet Wash

Good morning Blues fans! Well, the streak of wins came to an end against Winnipeg, but the streak of home points continued on.

The St. Louis Blues finally had their game that we all felt was due. They had a bit of a letdown and it cost them the full two points.

Many figured the game would come against Tampa Bay since the Bolts seemed due for a turn around. Instead, the inevitable was delayed a couple days and the Blues just didn’t have the gas for this one.

The Jets, who have enough speed of their own, were made to look much faster by a lackluster performance by St. Louis. The Blues have had much worse games overall, but it just was not there when the Blues needed it most.

St. Louis’ powerplay had been hot of late, but could not score on four opportunities, including one that was at the beginning of a period when the ice is fresh. The Blues also let up a shorthanded goal, which though only their second or third, feels like happens all too often.

The biggest problem with the Blues was the goals against. The shorthanded goal and the game winner in overtime just seemed too easy.

There was not enough backside pressure or pursuit. Both goals amounted to 2-on-1’s, though Alex Steen came close to disrupting the overtime goal.

Additionally, Carter Hutton, who played well at times, seemed to be too agressive on the overtime play. If he had stayed back a bit, the net would not have been gaping so much.

More from Bleedin' Blue

Despite the lackluster game, the Blues still got a point out of it. They now have points in 11 straight home games with a chance to make it more on Tuesday against Montreal.

The Blues are far from a perfect team. There are numerous things they can change or improve on.

Still, there was enough push that they could have won. They might not have deserved to, but they could have and that is the mark of a good team – when you are able to get points and even win some games when you had no business doing so.

Here are your St. Louis Blues Morning Links to start your day off right.

Ken Hitchcock is never one to mince words. He is smart about what he says but will let you know what he thinks. He actually came out and said some of the Blues poor performances might be due to him being around too long. Oh, and Jaskin and Parayko were interviewed as well. (Blues)

Speaking of Hitch, he attributed the slow start to several divisional teams as a search for their A game after so much turnaround. The question is who will find that next level as the rest of the conference begins to catch up to the Central Division. (STLToday)

The Blues finally kept themselves out of the penalty box for the most part and did not let the Jets powerplay get any kind of rhythm. Despite that, the Jets could have a feared powerplay once the pieces really start to gel. (Jets White Out)

Many of us supported the idea of scratching Jori Lehtera. There were others that said he had done no worse than the players that were already on the scratch list. While we discussed point production as being a main reason, Hitchcock laid out his own reasons for the move. (Post-Dispatch)

The Chicago Blackhawks had to turn to a former collegiate goaltender and Flyers practice rink employee to be an emergency backup tender against Philadelphia. Despite the intrigue the story created, the reason is much less heartwarming as Corey Crawford will be out almost a month. (ESPN)

Have a great day Blues fans!

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