The St. Louis Blues (18-8-2) beat the Florida Panthers (11-8-7) 4-2 after a close game in St. Louis Monday night. The Blues returned home after defeating the New York Islanders in an intense game in which Martin Brodeur earned a win in relief. Tonight Brodeur got his second start with the Blues, this being his first at home. The Blues also increased the number of players who would miss the game from injury by one. In addition to Jay Bouwmeester, Brian Elliot and Alexander Steen, Carl Gunnarsson was scratched due to a head injury he took in New York.
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After tonight’s win the Blues regained the lead of the Central division from the Chicago Blackhawks by one point. They bumped the Nashville Predators to third. It should be noted though that both teams had the night off and will play tomorrow while the Blues are resting.
GAME RECAP
The game started with the Blues making early plays. After two and a half minutes a possible early Panthers goal went under review but was dismissed with no evidence that it went in. After 7:30 Patrik Berglund backhanded a shot that set off the goal light but was overruled by a referee and play continued. A later review showed the puck never crossed the goal line. At 8:10 Aaron Ekblad took a penalty for boarding Steve Ott. Five seconds in, David Backes was hit in the mouth by a slapshot and went to the locker room. On the same play Jussi Jokinen was given a holding the stick penalty giving the Blues a 5 on 3 advantage for 1:55.
The Blues controlled the power play but came out with only two shots on goal. At 11:17 Maxim Lapierre knocked the puck off a defender’s skate and in to the net to give the Blues the game’s first point. Chris Porter and Ryan Reaves earned assists. At 12:52 Reaves went to the box for high-sticking. The Panthers couldn’t find possession until the last minute and allowed the Blues to kill the penalty. With a little under 2:30 left Ian Cole took a heavy shot above the circles and scored increasing the lead 2-0. Jori Lehtera and Vladimir Tarasenko earned assists. The Blues held the lead through the end of the period.
The Blues had a difficult time keeping the puck out of their zone in the early minutes in the second. At 4:54 the Blues caught a break when Derek MacKenzie was called for hooking. They left the power play with only two shots. Again at 8:31 the Blues earned a power play after Dave Bolland tripped Porter. The Blues played it a little better with three shots. 11 minutes in, Backes returned to the bench. At 15:21 Nick Bjugstad put the Panthers on the board 2-1 by scoring on a break. At 17:39 Berglund was called for tripping. Again, the Panthers couldn’t find their stride until the last minute of the power play and failed to score. The period ended with the Blues leading 2-1.
Backes did not return to the game at the start of the third. The Panthers continued to dominate the play in the third period. After seven minutes, the Blues found some momentum and made a few plays. Then at 10:49 Jaden Schwartz took a high-sticking penalty. The Blues did well defensively and killed the penalty. At 14:54 Ekblad scored to tie the game at 2. At 18:06 Chris Porter tipped in a shot from Barret Jackman to put the Blues ahead 3-2. With one minute left the Panthers pulled their goalie. 30 seconds later Paul Stastny scored on an empty net from center ice to put the Blues up 4-2. The Blues closed the game with their two goal lead.
HOW THEY PLAYED
The Blues need to thank their lucky stars for tonight’s win… and Martin Brodeur. After a stellar first period the Blues let the Panthers walk all over them for the remainder of the game. They showed a lot of defensive problems that have plagued the team in the absence of Jay Bouwmeester. In the early game Ian Cole made two very poor defensive plays that resulted in turnover breakaways. To his credit, though, Cole made up for his mistakes by scoring the second goal. Still, the Blues have a serious problem with giving up breakaways and not taking any of their own.
Dec 8, 2014; St. Louis, MO, USA; St. Louis Blues right wing Vladimir Tarasenko (91) and St. Louis Blues goalie Martin Brodeur (30) celebrate after defeating the St. Louis Blues 4-2 at Scottrade Center. Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports
Another issue they have is that they do not put enough pressure on the other team in the defensive zone. Throughout the second and third periods the Panthers thwarted Blues players’ advances with a mess of sticks and speed. On the other hand, the Blues shadowed their opponents which allowed the Panthers to make passes and plays. If not for Brodeur’s attentiveness this game could have ended much differently.
It is also frustrating to watch the Blues fail to score on power plays after achieving such a high percentage against the Islanders in the last game. Yeah, you can’t always expect a team to score on 3 to 4 chances, but not scoring with almost two full minutes on 5 on 3 play is disappointing.
Enough negative stuff, though. We continued to see production from the team’s STL line with assists from Vladi and Jori on the Cole goal. Also the can’t-call-them-the-fourth-line fourth line knocked a point in this game from a goal by Maxim Lapierre. More importantly though, were the other secondary goals from Chris Porter who temporarily played on the fourth line this game, and Paul Stastny whose goal tonight continues his recently regained stride.
The team has made improvements to rise from the slump they’ve found themselves in the past weeks. With a little more work on defensive aggression and power plays the Blues should have all parts of the machine working when their sorely missed injured players return.
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