St. Louis Blues Need Players With Better Aim

Watching the stars of the Chicago Blackhawks, Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Marian Hossa, and Patrick Sharp, conclude their sweep of the same team that sent the St. Louis Blues packing for the links, the Minnesota Wild, something far too simple became obvious as I watched.

The Blues were not knocked out in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs this season for reasons any different than they were last year.

They were knocked out because they failed to convert their scoring opportunities. Time and again.

Pure and simple. As they did against the Blues, the Wild played a tremendously disciplined game—and so did the Hawks—and powerplays were few and far between for the entire series. But when the Hawks got a powerplay they made the Wild pay dearly for it.

For the most part, the Blues squandered those precious opportunities.

As ESPN reporter Scott Powers reported in his “By the numbers: Blackhawks-Wild series”, Patrick Kane scored 5 goals on only 10 shots in 4 games.

But Kane was assisted by several other ’Hawks players who were expected to step up. Patrick Sharp. Jonathan Toews. Even Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook, and Andrew Shaw.

The Blackhawks went 2-of-6 on the powerplay against the Wild in the series. In stark contrast, the Blues finished a dismal 18.2%, twelfth out of the sixteen playoff teams.

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The Wild are also far too good a team to play against when they have the lead. The Blues spent nearly the entire series coming from behind, whereas the Blackhawks never trailed in their series and were tied only once after the game’s first score.

As The Great One stated during the playoffs in an interview reported on by our own Kate Cimini, “When you get into the playoffs, your best players have to be your best players.”

Vladimir Tarasenko had 6 goals and a helper in 6 games. He was the only “best” player among the forwards who showed up to play.

Apr 24, 2015; St. Louis, MO, USA; St. Louis Blues right wing Vladimir Tarasenko (91) celebrates with teammates after his goal against the Minnesota Wild during the first period in game five of the first round of the 2015 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Scottrade Center. Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports

The Blues’ other top players weren’t merely substandard, they were all virtual non-factors. T.J. Oshie, David Backes, Jaden Schwartz, Alexander Steen, and Paul Stastny all finished with only one goal each (although Steen at least added 3 assists to his total).

Shots off the iron happen to every team, but it has happened in nearly every playoff game to the Blues, along with multiple shots wide of the open net, over the past three consecutive seasons’ first-round exits.

But all these players had golden opportunities they failed to convert on, and that is the ultimate difference-maker between the two teams. The Blackhawks buried their chances time and again, while the Blues buried themselves.]

By missing huge opportunities to score the first goal, the Blues put themselves in the unenviable position of always playing from behind. Against the Wild that was a losing recipe.

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Game One at Scottrade was clearly the one game they lost they should have won. There was simply no reason they should have lost that game, given the way they had been playing the past three weeks, and having home ice. The fact that they gave up the game’s first goal was bad enough.

But the fact they blew multiple chances to even it up before spotting the Wild an all-but-insurmountable 2-0 lead by the end of the second period was what doomed them to losing home ice and playing catch-up the rest of the series.

Around the midpoint of the first period Tarasenko had a 2-on-1 break with Steen, but rather than taking the shot or passing right away, he passed to Steen late when Steen was in too tight to do anything with it.

Then, in the second period, after the Blues’ first powerplay failed to convert, the Blues found themselves on a 3-on-2 break and Oshie put a great pass up to Schwartz, who failed to get the puck on net. This simply should not have happened. At the 8:40 mark, Jay Bouwmeester had a fabulous opportunity up close on Dubnyk alone but hit the crossbar.

Apr 18, 2015; St. Louis, MO, USA; St. Louis Blues right wing T.J. Oshie (74) attempts to deflect the puck in front of Minnesota Wild goalie Devan Dubnyk (40) during the second period in game two of the first round of the the 2015 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Scottrade Center. Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports

T.J. Oshie is especially baffling. One of the purest shootout scorers in the NHL, he simply cannot convert when he is alone or close-in on the goaltender in real live game time with other players on the ice in the playoffs. If the playoffs used the shootout format his value to the team would likely be much increased.

Unfortunately, it is not. The past two years Oshie has scored a total of three goals and gotten one assist in 11 playoff games, and over the past five seasons he has only scored five goals in 30 games and a grand total of 9 points in that span.

Before Tarasenko, Oshie was my favorite Blue, and is still one of my favorite players, mostly for the intangibles he seems to bring as well as his shootout expertise. And I would wish him well wherever he goes. But after so many postseasons of dreary, punchless performance, Oshie, while no doubt a fan favorite, has established himself first and foremost as an annual playoff liability the Blues can no longer afford. He should be replaced with a player who is able to produce in the postseason.

Paul Stastny, on the other hand, is no mystery. The veteran’s best days are clearly behind him, and both during the regular season and in this year’s playoff campaign, his performance was continents away from his stellar season with the Colorado Avalanche the year before.

In the second period of Game Three, Stastny missed a golden opportunity to set Jaden Schwartz on a breakaway by failing to get him the puck. (Only a couple minutes later, Patrik Berglund failed to convert on a 2-on-1 by pushing the puck wide of the net.)

Apr 18, 2015; St. Louis, MO, USA; Minnesota Wild center Kyle Brodziak (21) trips over St. Louis Blues center Paul Stastny (26) during the second period in game two of the first round of the the 2015 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Scottrade Center. Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports

Stastny’s hooking call at 2:20 of the second period resulted in a Wild powerplay goal that gave them a 2-0 stranglehold over the punchless Blues. Given how little he brought to the team in production during the regular season, followed by even less in the playoffs, the smidgen he brings to the table cannot justify his cap hit.

Ironically, the player I have seen miss the net with wide-open opportunities the past couple seasons more than any other is arguably the best scorer after Tarasenko on the team, Alexander Steen. Steen missed the net again on multiple fantastic opportunities in this series as well.

But Steener at least added three helpers to his lone goal tally, and one senses with his unassailable work ethic and continuous experimentation to improve his production that if he just spent more time on reps to hit the net he could make himself more valuable during the postseason.

While I would lose no sleep seeing Oshie, Stastny, and possibly even Backes pack their bags for other teams, I hope the Blues will retain Steen. But if his wayward shooting continues into next year’s postseason, the writing will be on the wall.

Jaden Schwartz is a young talent whose best days should be ahead of him. His no-show in this year’s playoffs (one goal and two assists) matched last year’s production, and is deeply disappointing to say the least. A bit more of a concern is that his production trailed off considerably during the second half of the regular season. Through January he had 17 goals, but finished with only 28 for the year.

Apr 20, 2015; Saint Paul, MN, USA; Minnesota Wild goalie Devan Dubnyk (40) makes a save in front of St. Louis Blues forward Jaden Schwartz (17) during the third period in game three of the first round of the 2015 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Xcel Energy Center. The Wild defeated the Blues 3-0. Mandatory Credit: Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports

Schwartz missed a few prime scoring opportunities, and his failure to capitalize on the golden scoring chance in Game One described above was a model for how he performed in the entire series.

On the defensive corps, Jay Bouwmeester’s performance singularly demands his departure from the Blues. In Game One, around the 8:40 mark of the second period, Bouwmeester missed a wide-open opportunity to even the score in front of Dubnyk by hitting the crossbar. This has happened before.

In stark contrast, both the Chicago Blackhawks’ defensemen Brent Seabrook and Duncan Keith scored clutch goals in their first series against the Nashville Predators.

In Game Three, with 3:47 left in the second period, Bouwmeester failed to clear a puck at his feet that should easily have been swiped away, and Zach Parise converted the gimme into a crushing goal that put the Wild up 2-0 and sealed the Blues’ loss.

The puck that went off Bouwmeester’s skate in Game Five with 3:38 left in the second period while Kevin Shattenkirk was in the box was hardly Bouwmeester’s fault, but all the above underscores what a complete liability the veteran was in this series, who both failed to convert gift-wrapped opportunities and created others for the Wild. He finished with 0 points in the series.

Apr 26, 2015; Saint Paul, MN, USA; Minnesota Wild forward Jason Zucker (16) collides with Saint Louis Blues defenseman Jay Bouwmeester (19) during the third period in game six of the first round of the 2015 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Xcel Energy Center. The Wild defeated the Blues 4-1 advancing them to the second round of playoffs. Mandatory Credit: Marilyn Indahl-USA TODAY Sports

Like Tarasenko for the forwards, Kevin Shattenkirk showed up every game and was an NHL co-leader in points for the series, finishing with 8 assists. Except for Alex Pietrangelo, who was arguably the Blues’ best player on the ice other than Tarasenko in the series and finished with 2 assists, no other defenseman on the Blues had any points in the six-game series.

In stark contrast, both the Chicago Blackhawks’ defensemen Brent Seabrook and Duncan Keith scored clutch goals in their first series against the Nashville Predators. Keith scored the game winner in Game One and the series-clinching goal in Game Six, while Seabrook scored the OT winner in Game Four.

The best players for the Blackhawks delivered. And most crucially of all, when Patrick Kane and the other top players for Chicago got the chance to put the puck in the net, they did. The Blues didn’t.

After several years of the exact same result—a first-round exit to a low seed after one of the top records in the NHL during the regular season—even Snooki could read the tea leaves: the Blues’ core of regular-season leaders are perennial playoff no-shows, and cannot convert their opportunities when they arise.

Schwartz should not be jettisoned yet, and neither should Steen, but the others are not only necessary expendables in the salary cap effort to sign Tarasenko, but having them around next year will guarantee yet another disappointing repeat of the past several seasons.

Got an opinion on these players? Sound off, Blues fans!

Next: Vladimir Tarasenko, Russia Takes Home Silver

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