St. Louis Blues Can’t Capitalize; Fall to the New York Rangers 2-1

The St. Louis Blues proved that when it comes to this season, just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water, it is absolutely not.

Right from the get-go the Blues matchup with the New York Rangers just had a strange feel to it.  It wasn’t one of those feelings where you thought they couldn’t beat the Rangers.  However, it was just one of those feelings like it wasn’t going to be the best of nights.

Sadly, that turned out to be true on multiple levels.  Firstly, the Rangers scored the opening goal.  Despite the Blues having the better of the shot totals, the Rangers seemed to be buzzing around the goal way too much for comfort and the defense was on their heels.

On the goal, which came at 13:14 of the first period, Jake Allen didn’t stand a chance.  Dan Girardi took the shot from the point and it was deflected in by Tanner Glass for only his second goal of the year.  So not only do the Blues allow a goal, but go figure the way this year has gone that it’s from someone who only had one prior score.

After that, things didn’t get any better by any stretch of the imagination.  Jori Lehtera left the game in the first period after getting hit in the mouth with a deflected puck.

He did not return to the game and was listed out with an upper-body injury.  It seems unlikely that he should miss an extended period, but only time will tell and the way the injury report has looked like an excerpt from War and Peace, it’s not good to have another name on it.

Then, in the second period things almost seemed to go from bad, skipping worse and going all the way to Defcon 1.  With 8:30 left in the frame, Allen fumbled a rebound and Oscar Lindberg rammed Allen into the net.  He was shaken up and immediately re-injuring the knee popped into people’s heads.

Minutes later, Vladimir Tarasenko took a stick to the orbital bone that was less than an inch from his actual eye.  The Blues received a four minute powerplay, but St. Louis fans had to be recovering from some minor heart attacks.

On the ensuing powerplay, St. Louis evened up the game with a great effort play.  Paul Stastny took the initial shot from the right circle.  Henrik Lundqvist made the blocker save, but the puck bounced off Troy Brouwer‘s knee and in.  While the goal itself was extremely fortunate, Brouwer’s effort to get to the dirty areas was commendable and something more people need to do more often.

Alas, the tie was not going to last the entire game.  The Blues had several chances that they could not capitalize – something that was true of the entire game – and eventually it came back to bite them.  Scottie Upshall had a breakaway early in the third period but could not score.  While Lundqvist made a good save on it, you have to wonder if it was a more skilled player might the goal have gone in.

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Regardless, the team was caught unaware on the counter-attack.  After the Rangers banged the puck loose on a jam play against the boards, the defenders were caught flat footed and Chris Kreider scored at 4:18 of the third on a whip shot.

The Blues showed some great energy on a couple shifts with under five minutes to go in the period, but it was all for naught.  There just wasn’t enough done when the opportunities came around to make a difference.  At least three empty nets were not converted, either by good saves coupled with shots that were lacking or by utter whiffs.  2-1 was a fortunate final score since the Rangers butchered an empty net chance, however a loss is a loss.

Final Thoughts

There really wasn’t any one thing to point to and say that’s what was lacking or that’s what would havemade the difference.  Lundqvist deservedly got the number one star for the game stopping 35 of 36 and playing well enough to get the shutout.

Given the amount of missed chances though, you almost throw the total shots out the window.  36 pucks hit the target, but it never felt like that many were quality scoring chances.  It’s an odd juxtaposition, but on one hand Lundqvist stole the game for New York and on the other hand the Blues didn’t do enough to deserve a win.

Jake Allen was not to blame on either goal, but you can tell he is shaking the rust off. He hasn’t played in 18 games and was thrust back into it instead of eased as the team and coaching staff would have liked. Unfortunately for him, he absolutely has to return to his early season form rather quickly.

The Blues have a day off before they head on the road to play the Nashville Predators, who will be coming off a big 3-1 win over the Chicago Blackhawks.  They’ll need to hit the boosters and get the energy back for a big road win against the Preds.

Next: 5 Players to Move to Keep Shattenkirk

Luckily the Blackhawks and Dallas Stars both lost, so the standings stay the same.  The sky isn’t falling since this is just two losses following a five-game win streak.  However, allowing six against San Jose and not looking capable of scoring against New York doesn’t bode well.  Time to turn the page and get it back on track on Saturday.

P.S. Alex Pietrangelo is rumored to be scheduled to return on Saturday, so we’ve got that going for us.  Which is nice.