St. Louis Blues Keep Pace In Central After Surge Against Carolina

The St. Louis Blues needed to put the brakes on a losing streak that hit three, right on the heels of a five-game winning streak.  They were as frustrating as ever, but in the end, they did just that.

The Blues came out and looked fairly solid.  While the Carolina Hurricanes were energetic to start and buzzing around the net, the Blues ended up with the better of the scoring chances.  Eventually they put one home.

Ty Rattie made it 1-0 Blues early in the first period.  The Blues were jumping initially and looked poised to take advantage of a deflated Hurricane’s squad. Even our friend at the CardiacCane’s page felt Carolina looked less than themselves.

Unfortunately things went sour midway through the first period.  Jake Allen let in a terrible goal when Jeff Skinner slipped one through his left arm. Any goaltender sympathizer will admit that shot cannot go in, but it’s been a rougher start than many anticipated for Allen.

That goal energized the Canes as they immediately came back down and Ron Hainsey took a blast from the point for a quick 2-1 lead.  Many thought Allen should have done better there as well, but Allen stood little chance as there was a Hurricane player right in his face, blocking the view from almost any angle.

Fortunately, whether it was something Ken Hitchcock said in the locker room or something else, the Blues came back with a vengence in the second period.  David Backes tied it up only 21 seconds into the period by going to the net and popping home a Magnus Paajarvi rebound.  Later in the frame, the Blues took 3-2 lead on a shorthanded goal by Kyle Brodziak.  The grinder roofed it over the diving Cam Ward after taking a good feed from Upshall as they entered the zone 2-on-1.

Then the third period really sparked some good things. The Blues scored two goals, 37 seconds apart from the other. First, Robby Fabbri took a breakaway and went forehand backhand and slipped it past Ward.

Then, Patrik Berglund froze Ward at the top of the crease and with Troy Brouwer acting as an inadvertant screen, the net was completely empty and Alex Pietrangelo eventually buried it after handing it for a good few seconds.

Negatives:

After scoring the initial goal, the Blues went to sleep. They allowed Carolina to get way too many opportunities and energy going at the end of the first and second.

Allen still looks stiff. He noramlly relies on his athleticism and instead looks like a beer league goaltender that hasn’t stretched enough.

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Additionally, the Blues were a bottom-up team.  They got a lot of production by fourth line players and it trickled upwards.  However, their top line has been nonexistent of late.  The Blues need Vladimir Tarasenko and Jaden Schwartz to be constant performers to make up for the injuries.

The Blues won 5-2, which is impressive considering their offensive woes and injuries, however it was against an extremely undermanned Carolina team.  Chris Versteeg and one or two other players were pulled from the bench, though no official trade was ever announced during the game.  This makes one wonder if the Blues would have scored as many against a full team

Positives:

The Blues got the win. That can’t be overstated. The Blues were going to the net again and they were putting pucks on net instead of trying to go for the pretty play every time.

Jake Allen didn’t look his best, but he got better as the game went on.  It is important to remember that he probably wasn’t going to get played until this Hurricanes game originally and instead he’s on his third game back.  He was one of the big reasons the game against the New York Rangers was as close as it was

The Blues scored goals.  Let the team that lost worry about whether the goals had to do with missing players or not.  St. Louis scored 5, which has been something as rare as the Blues not getting the finger from NHL officials.

Next: Should Blues Risk a Big Move?

Final Thoughts:

It’s good to get back on the good side of the stat sheet.  There was lots of good grinding and energy.  Ultimately, despite the fact that the Blues lost some really disappointing games, they never lost any ground in the division.  Chicago leapfrogged Dallas, but the Blues remain in the thick of things in trying to get home-ice come playoff time.