The St. Louis Blues were coming off a huge high picking up a win in Chicago. They ended it on just as much of a low against the Washington Capitals
Coming off #RoarBaconII, the Blues’ exciting come from behind win over the Blackhawks by the score of 2-1, it seemed like the St. Louis Blues were going to go into the playoffs riding a wave of momentum. Instead, as waves are prone to do, it came crashing down.
The game opened up fantastically. Vladimir Tarasenko put the Blues up by the score of 1-0. It took only 1:15 and things seemed to be shaping up for a great run toward the division title.
Instead, Alexander Ovechkin tied up the game at 4:04 of the first period and the Capitals never looked back. Ovechkin would score again about three minutes later and the Caps took a 2-1 lead into the break.
As bad as the Blues looked following Ovechkin’s first goal, they looked as bad if not worse in the second period. John Carlson and Jason Chimera made it 4-0 after two periods.
The Blues lacked any kind of jump and only had a paltry four shots on goal in the middle frame. In addition, the Blues failed to get a shot on either of their first two powerplays and only got one on their third.
The Capitals would finish things off with an Ovechkin hat-trick at 10:35 of the third period, which would cap off a 5-1 win with Ovi’s 50th goal of the season.
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The win also picked up Braden Holtby his 48th win of the season, tying him with current Blues assistant GM Martin Broduer for most in one season.
Negatives
Apparently the Blues held all their negatives from their recent wins for this one game. Where to even start?
St. Louis looked ok for the first few minutes, but once Ovechkin scored they seemed disinterested. It truly looked like they would have rather been somewhere else or prepping for the upcoming series against the Blackhawks.
There was absolutely no offense outside of Tarasenko’s goal. The team only had four shots in the second period, only 10 through two periods and were outshot by 16. There was no offensive zone pressure – something that was evident against Chicago too until the last two minutes – and the powerplay was disgraceful.
Defensively it was a bit scary. Ovechkin’s three goals all came from a wide-open spot on the backdoor play. How you lose track of the league’s leading goalscorer is a bit worrying.
The Blues gave Brian Elliott absolutely no help at all. Elliott did not come up with his standard highlight reel save, but he was not really even afforded the opportunity to do so. Elliott deserved better than to end the season and go into the playoffs having surrendered four goals.
Positives
I’m not sure there are many.
Tarasenko getting his 40th goal of the year is obviously a positive. He’s earned it and he makes you believe he can still offer even more in the future since there are games here or there when he somewhat disappears. 50 is not out of the question from a talent level, but he may be too unselfish to match Ovechkin goal for goal.
The third period was better than the other two. St. Louis still only had 10 shots in the third, but that matched the number of shots taken through the first two periods so it’s obviously something better. In addition, there was a bit more jump and energy.
Despite the poor game, the Blues won eight of their last 10 games as well, which can’t be ignored.
Looking Forward
This is just a game to put in the trash bin and forget. Don’t look at the video, don’t analyze the stats, don’t think about it. Just move on and prepare for Chicago.
Fortunately for St. Louis, the Blackhawks aren’t going into the postseason with any momentum either. Not only did they lose to the Blues a few days ago, but they lost in overtime to the Columbus Blue Jackets in their last game.
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The Blues may not have had much luck against Chicago the last time, but there seems to be a different vibe around this year’s team. They were likely to have to exercise their personal demons anyway, so what better way to do it than taking down Chicago in the first round?
Now it’s just up to Blues fans to give them a true home ice advantage and keep as much red out of the arena as possible.