St. Louis Blues: #RoarBacon Part Two Won by St. Louis

#RoarBacon round two was nowhere near as exciting for the entire 60 minutes, but the end result was just as nerve wracking and fun for fans of the St. Louis Blues.

The St. Louis Blues came out of the gate and seemed a little slow. Fortunately for them, the Chicago Blackhawks were equally as lackluster offensively.

Both teams seemed to not want to make that fatal mistake and set up a solid defense. Both teams were extremely effective at that ideology.

Through the first 12 minutes of the first period, there were only eight shots in total. Each team had four each and then Chicago got their fifth shot of the game immediately after.

Once that shot happened, the Blackhawks seemed to warm up a little bit. They ended up outshooting St. Louis 9-7 in the first period, but overall the defenses for both squads shined the most. That included a big save made by Jay Bouwmeester right on the doorstep.

Unfortunately for the Blues, the feel goods were not going to last forever. Captain Serious, Jonathan Toews broke the goalless game at 12:48 of the second period. After failing to beat Brian Elliott on several shots by attempting to go high side, Toews ended up sneaking one in through the five-hole for the 1-0 lead.

It seemed as though that 1-0 lead was going to hold up. The second half of the second period and almost the entire third period was a bit of a snoozefest.

The Blues’ offense was basically nonexistent. The stats will say the Blues had 12 shots in the second and 10 shots in the third period, but sometimes stats lie.

Even Darren Pang made a mention on the broadcast how the Blues might be getting shots, but were too often going “one and done,” meaning they would get a shot but have no sustained offensive zone pressure. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, the Blues did a 180 in the last five minutes or so.

The Blues finally started getting sustained pressure in the offensive end and begun getting solid scoring opportunities on net. It took long enough to wait that deep into the game, but the Blues finally looked like the Blues we’ve seen when they’ve been on top of their game.

The tying goal came from essentially a dump in and that’s one thing the Blues had been doing well most of the night. They strayed away from that for parts of the game, but found their form at the right time.

The Blues managed to get control of the puck and fire a quick shot toward net. The puck then went over to the left side of the zone for a hungry Vladimir Tarasenko, who wasn’t going to miss a juicy open net.

From there, it seemed like enough for the Blues to at least get a point. They had pretty much sewed up at least the second seed in the division and could shift their focus to Saturday against Washington. Nuts to that idea though. Go for the win.

That’s exactly what the Blues did and they took it to Chicago in the overtime period. The Blues outshot their rivals 6-3 in the extra frame, but almost appeared headed toward the shootout.

The Blues missed several chances, sometimes firing right at Scott Darling and sometimes missing seemingly wide open nets. There were some nervy times as well, including a near breakaway chance by Patrick Kane that was shut down by Elliott.

Then, the Blues played a little tic-tac-toe before finally scoring the eventual winning goal. Paul Stastny had it, dropped it off to Alex Pietrangelo who then laid it off to Tarasenko who finally put it in.

The Blues got a huge 2-1 victory over their longtime rivals, which might be even more important than just the standings. While the Blues remain tied for the division lead, it seems likely they will still face Chicago in the playoffs and this kind of comeback win on the road might be a recipe for mental success in the future.

Negatives

The game was just plain boring for a long time. Even those that like pitching duels in baseball might have been lulled to sleep by the long stretches of nothingness in this game.

The Blues were quite mediocre for long stretches as well. They didn’t do anything really bad, but it was just everything being mediocre. The offense was mediocre, the energy was mediocre, the defense made some bad turnovers and Elliott probably should have snapped those pads together on Toews’ shot.

St. Louis also got bailed out by the Blackhawks a few times. St. Louis kept leaving some rather dangerous players open on the backside and were not made to pay for it.

Positives

It can’t be overstated the positive mental boost the team could get from this win. Not only was it a comeback win, but it was a comeback win IN Chicago. I don’t care if the ‘Hawks haven’t been sharp lately or don’t have Corey Crawford. The Blues earned the win.  The other #roarbacon game came in Chicago as well, which was an incredible 6-5 victory, so it really gives the Blues a bit of a mental edge now.

The team also didn’t give up. Along with the goaltending, that’s been a trait that the Blues have relied on a little too much this season, but at least it means they’re never out of a game at the end as long as it is close. That kind of mentality is going to be needed in the playoffs because the recent streak of scoring three or more goals isn’t likely to continue in the postseason.

Moose came up huge. He stopped Kane in overtime and also shut down a somewhat lame penalty shot given to the Blackhawks when the game was still 1-0.

The Blues still need to get Jake Allen healthy for the playoff run, just in case, but as long as Elliott plays like he did against the ‘Hawks, then the Blues are going to have every opportunity to win.

Tarasenko has hit a hot streak at a great time.  He now has points in seven straight games and also scored his seventh game-winning goal of the season in beating the Blackhawks as well.

Looking Ahead

The Blues only have one game remaining. They face the Washington Capitals on Saturday. On paper that seems like a daunting task, but the President’s Cup winners have lost four of their last five. In addition they might rest some people as they prepare for the playoffs.

The Blues have wrapped up at least second in the division and are likely to face Chicago in St. Louis to open up the playoffs. The Blues must win against Washington and Dallas must lose or lose in overtime against the Nashville Predators on Saturday. On a side-note, the Predators have nothing to play for so they may also be resting players in that final game.