St. Louis Blues: Pros and Cons From Game 21 Against Vancouver

The St. Louis Blues certainly do not like to make things easy for themselves. They had to overcome a slow start and a team desperate for points to get the final result they wanted to end their road trip.

The St. Louis Blues often do not take the path well traveled. Whether it was because they were fatigued, ready to get home or a litany of other reasons, they made their game against the Vancouver Canucks as hard on themselves as it could be.

The Blues actually jumped out in the shot category, which has been something they typically fall behind on in these slow starts. However, it was another game giving up the opening goal.

St. Louis answered the Canucks’ goal in relatively quick fashion. Still, the first period lacked a lot of what we have come to expect from this team. There just seemed to be less jump and energy, no matter what will they tried to show.

The second period was not much better. The Blues allowed two goals against, coming in somewhat quick succession. If not for a great effort goal toward the end of the period by Vladimir Sobotka, the game might never have been in reach. Fortunately this team kept going at it and found themselves by the end.

The Blues keep finding ways to get it done. They’ve got different guys stepping up and that’s always a positive. I’m not sure if the game itself was a net positive though.

Cons:

They let Vancouver dictate too much during the game.

Listen, this is pro sports. There are always two teams out there and each one is trying to make the other do what they want to do.

However, when one team should be quite a bit better than the other, it is disappointing when they do not dictate the flow of play.

Vancouver is not a bad team, by any means. They are not a good team either. These are the sorts of games the Blues should be doing better in and they continue to find ways to struggle out of the gate.

Pros:

Colton Parayko finally unleashed the beast.

We’ve practically be begging for it for years. Whether the trend stays or not remains to be seen, but we finally saw the bomb let loose by Parayko.

He tied up the game with a glorious one-time slap shot in the first period. Though he did not score, he tossed a few more slap shots later in the game as well.

When you’re that strong and can shoot that hard, you have to use it as an asset. Parayko, for whatever reason, has been shy to do so.

We can only hope this is just the beginning for him and becoming a feared shooter.

Cons:

That third line scares the bejeezus out of you and not in a good way.

Any line that gets tired and caught on the ice at the end of a shift can be a detriment for their team. The Blues current third line is just on another level though.

They got caught on the ice toward the end of the game after the Blues had tied it up. It had that gut feeling like they were going to cost the team the game.

Their zone exits and clearing attempts were awful during those closing stages. The passes were weak and indecisive.

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Individually, none of the players are exactly favorites of the fans. However, as a collective, they seem to actually be worse than the sum of their parts.

Pros:

Vladimir Sobotka is looking more like that little guy with gumption.

Sobotka has clearly altered his game a little bit, knowing that he’s going to be faced with more of a top-six role. We see less of the fiestiness and physicality. However, he’s shown plenty of skill to justify the spot.

His shot to tie the game was top notch and just what the team needed at the time.

What gets lost is his effort to get open. He quietly disengaged from the fray and took up shop along the circle. The pass was great and Sobotka had plenty of time, but plenty of guys miss that and he did not.

Pros and Cons:

The ups and downs of the defensemen.

The blue liners continue to be hot. Whether it was that awesome clearance along the goal line that surely saved a goal or the big goal scored by Joel Edmundson, the Blues defenders continue to be a godsend.

They frustrate you with their actual defending though. They continue to screen their own goaltender, which was the case on the first goal of the game.

They also continue to clear the front of the net. There were times Vancouver had two guys set up in front of the Blues goal. That cannot happen.

Flat feet and puck watching have also become the standard when in their own zone. You could argue that you take the bad with the good, but these are not things they do all the time so they must keep it from creeping into their game now.

Pros:

Brayden Schenn is just awesome.

It might be too late in his career to suggest he could become a true league superstar, but the Blues could not have asked for any more from this trade. He has been way more than any of us could have hoped.

He’s strong defensively and that entire top line is being trusted to play against the opponent’s top players too because of it.

It was not the case in Vancouver, but he’s usually the team’s best faceoff man. He just wants to keep winning.

Of course it would be him to score the game winner. He’s been on an unbelievable tear, with a career-high of a seven game point streak and multiple points in several of those games.

Overall Thoughts:

The Blues don’t make it pretty, but get it done.

In the end, I’ve always been one of those you never remember how you won, just that you won guys. So, no need to deviate from that now.

St. Louis might not have deserved the extra point if you view the game in its entirety. They took that final point though with good effort right when they needed it.

It should be said that Paul Stastny was a huge positive as well. He had three assists and was leading that second line as they were doing all they could to help the team as well.

Next: Blues Should Give Oskar Sundqvist A Break

The Blues got solid goaltending when Jake Allen could see the puck. There was plenty of things that went wrong, such as taking too many penalties and a completely listless power play, but those are almost things we’ve come to expect.

The Blues now get a break before they play Edmonton at home again. They’ll need the rest because they looked wiped from this trip. At least they found a way to end it with a win.

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