The St. Louis Blues (22-12-3) lost to the Nashville Predators (24-9-3) 3-2 tonight in Nashville. Both teams played a game away from Nashville the prior night. The Blues defeated the Colorado Avalance while the Predators lost to the Chicago Blackhawks. Before the game the Blues brought Brian Elliot back from the injured reserve and set him as their starter. Chris Porter joined Carl Gunnarsson and Jaden Schwartz on the injured list with a lower body injury he sustained in the previous game.
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The loss tonight was a disappointment for sure. The Blues fell behind in the Central Division after their road trip of losses. With Chicago, Nashville and St. Louis in the top three respective spots and since Chicago beat Nashville last night the Blues were in prime position to make things competitive again. Instead the Predators gained a two game lead and the Blackhawks maintained their wide hold on first.
GAME RECAP
The Predators led in shots and offense at the start of the game. After 3:17 Mike Ribeiro went to the box for hooking. The Blues weren’t able to get a shot on the power play. The Blues found momentum after the power play and got some shots off. After ten minutes the Blues led in shots 5 to 2. At 11:33 Paul Stastny was called for holding. The Blues killed the penalty.
At 18:05 while two players were scuffling in the Predator’s zone Shea Weber scored the first goal of the game to put the Predators ahead 1-0. Then at 18:21 Steve Ott took a charging penalty. The Predators held their lead until the end of the period with a 21 second remainder in their power play.
The Blues killed the penalty at the start of the second period then put up offense and at 50 seconds Chris Butler scored off a faceoff to tie the game at 1. David Backes earned the only assist. At 5:33 the Blues took a too many men on the ice penalty. They managed to kill it but allowed the Predators to get a few shots off.
After ten minutes of play the Predators extended their shot lead on the Blues 22-11. At 10:27 Calle Jarnkrok took a high-sticking penalty. The Predators killed the penalty without allowing too many shots. At 14:38 T.J. Oshie and Backes played tic-tac-toe which led to a goal for Oshie and extended the Blues’ lead 2-1.
At 16:03 a possible Predators’ goal went under review. The replay was inconclusive so the no-goal call on the ice stood. However, at 16:06 Gabriel Bourque scored off the faceoff to tie the game at 2. Shortly after that Jarnkrok went to the box for delay of game. The Blues killed the penalty and ended the period tied with the Predators.
57 seconds into the third period, Barret Jackman went to the box for holding. The Blues killed the penalty but allowed some shots. After a barrage of Predators shots, at 8:20 Filip Forsberg was charged with tripping. Despite this at 9:02 Weber scored a shorthanded goal to put the Predators up 3-2. The Predators killed the penalty. With 1:45 left the Blues pulled Elliot from the net. Despite the late offensive push, the Predators closed the game 3-2.
HOW THEY PLAYED
The Blues didn’t have the drive this game that they did in their shutout win against the Avalanche the night before. Of course, the Predators are ranked much higher than the Avalanche in the standings. The Blues had moments of excellent play but overall their efforts were underwhelming, especially as the game went on. While they didn’t play as well as their last game they certainly did a much better job than their recent road trip loss streak.
Elliot did a great job in the net considering he was reactivated from injury prior to the game. The Blues are in an awkward position where they have three goalies and need to eventually decide on two. Prior to Elliot’s injury, Jake Allen was pretty much the co-ace with Elliot. Allen’s performance has slipped since then. Martin Brodeur was a gamble that paid off well. Brodeur could have easily taken the number 1 spot in the net instead of being the backup. It is bittersweet that Chris Porter took Elliot’s place on the injured reserve because it gives the Blues some time to evaluate their goaltending. If one of the players gets injured, though, the decision will have to come sooner than later.
Even though they scored goals beyond the first period, the Blues fell back into their waning production game. After leaving the first period leading in shots they found themselves down by about 20 in the third. The Blues lost a lot of pucks by overpassing in the offensive zone. This was a problem they had in Colorado as well. They need to prevent their opponents from taking so many shots and they need to pull the trigger themselves. Can’t score if you don’t shoot.
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