St. Louis Blues Finish Off 12 Day Road Trip with Nail Biting Win

Anyone who knows the St. Louis Blues recent history with the San Jose Sharks knew Tuesday night’s game was not going to be easy.  Nobody had a clue how little they would have left on their fingernails the way the contest ended.

The St. Louis Blues needed to win in San Jose for several reasons.  It’s always good to get a victory on the last game of a long road trip to give you that good taste on the flight home.  They needed to keep the momentum gained from the victory against Vancouver going and also needed to win just to keep pace with the Dallas Stars, who whooped Chicago 6-2.

Things didn’t get off to a fantastic start.  The Blues had only six shots in the first period.  They ended up with nine shots in the second period, but were stuck on two for the longest time until a powerplay allowed them to tally up a few.

Overall the opening two frames were a bit of a yawn-fest.

Granted, it didn’t help that California games are played a full hour than the one the Blues just played in Vancouver, but that affects us fans more than the players.

Regardless of what was going on, it was just uninteresting hockey overall.  The Blues were not playing bad, they just weren’t doing much of anything overall.  It was similar to a soccer match where both teams would charge up the ice, look to do something and then get nothing for their effort.

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St. Louis was lucky for the second period to not cost them however.  The stats say the shots were 12 to 9, but again that was due to some late shots by the Blues.  The Sharks were dominating the period and for awhile the shot totals were 10-2 in favor of San Jose.

Joel Edmunson also kept chumming the waters for the Sharks by taking a penalty in both the first and second period.  The Blues penalty kill looked like it’s old self though and some sharp saves by Brian Elliott pitched in to keep it scoreless heading to the last period, which is all you could ask for given the circumstances.

St. Louis started finding some holes in the Sharks’ defense again in the third – they had done so earlier in the game as well, but Vladimir Tarasenko had a rare fail on a breakaway chance – and Robby Fabbri made them pay.

Troy Brouwer had great ice-vision as he saw Fabbri breaking out of the zone and chipped one along the wall and over the defense.  Fabbri did a great job to bust into the zone, feint the two-on-one cross-ice pass and then make Martin Jones pay for losing track of his positioning.

In typical Blues fashion, they couldn’t find a way to make it comfortable in the end.  In fact, they attempted to find a new way to make Blues fans sweat through the final moments.

With 2:45 left in the third period, Carl Gunnarsson got called for a delay of game penalty by flipping the puck over the glass from the defensive zone.  While the Blues were scrambling and scrumming in front of their net, following another Elliott save, David Backes‘ stick came up and hit Joe Pavelski in the mouth (something I doubt many Blues fans were unhappy about other than it put someone else in the box).

So, with the goaltender pulled and the Blues shorthanded by two men the Sharks seemed like they had the equalizing goal in the bag.  Yet, a combination of solid defensive positioning, great goaltending by Moose and Joe Thornton playing into the Blues’ hands by holding the puck for long periods of time near the side of the net, ended the game with the Blues winning.

Negatives

The Blues just didn’t look sharp.  Some of that has to do with the Sharks.  They are a solid hockey team and are fighting for playoff positioning the same as the Blues.  However, despite St. Louis’ usual offensive shortcomings, 15 shots through two periods isn’t going to cut it.  On top of that, there weren’t a ton of quality chances either outside of Vlady’s breakaway and Fabbri’s goal.

The Blues, as they have too often this season, relied on their goaltender too much.  St. Louis didn’t play a bad game by any means, but 37 shots against it a bit high.

The untimely penalties are killer.  They didn’t bite the team today, but come playoff time you just cannot find yourself in the box as much as the Blues seem to be in there recently.  The decor doesn’t look that good, so unless the team has some sort of time share they need to stay out of the box.

Next: Will Backes Stay or Go?

Positives

The Blues got the win.  Who cares how it happened.  Years from now…heck, a weeks from now, nobody will remember what the game looked like.  All that matters is that a W was attained and the team kept pace with the Stars.

The physicality was big.  There have been other games that had a bigger playoff feel, but this one was good from the physicality standpoint.  The Blues have been beaten up in the past by the Sharks and sometimes they shrink from the occasion.  They stood up for their teammates and cleared the front of the net every time any San Jose player tried to get a little chippy in front of Elliott.  Backes’ hit late in the game was a beaut too.

Brian Elliott.  He didn’t have to make the highlight reel save and wasn’t tested a ton (in terms of quality scoring chances) in the first two periods, but he was solid the entire way.  He picked up his 100th win with the Blues and second shutout in as many games.  The last three minutes of the game speak for themselves in regards to his play.

Robby Fabbri continues to impress.  Thank goodness the kid was able to play.  There was a question to whether he would be available after leaving practice early on Monday.  He played and he played well.  Even without the goal, he was a bright spot on the game for St. Louis and then his patience in scoring made him look like a seasoned veteran.  In addition to Fabbri, that entire line is clicking.  Paul Stastny has been hot of late and Brouwer has been feeding off his linemates as well.

A Happy Flight for the Blues now and a few days off before taking on the Canucks again on Friday.