St. Louis Blues: Keys for Success Against Blackhawks

An Offensive Blue Line

One of the things that has been different about the St. Louis Blues lately has been that the defensemen have become much more comfortable in providing offense from the blue line. We have seen more shots from all of the defensemen, and it has led to more goals from them in the second half of the season.

One thing I have noticed is that out of all of the Blues’ defensemen, Alex Pietrangelo has become much more willing to not only put more shots on net but also to join in on the rush as we saw against Chicago the other night. This is huge, because when Pietrangelo is becoming more involved in the whole game the Blues are a much better team.

To give a reason for why this is such a big deal, Bernie Miklasz explored what the Chicago Blackhawks and Los Angeles Kings have gotten out of their defensemen in the playoffs, compared to what the Blues have in recent years. Bernie discovered that the Blackhawks and Kings defensive output has doubled the Blues’ output from the blue line. Making it imperative that the Blues trend of

Making it imperative that the Blues’ defensemen continue what they have been doing since the All-Star break. One reason the Blues can do this is because of the addition of rookies Colton Parayko and Joel Edmundson whose Corsi For (Shots+Blocks+Misses) of 2,207 was second on the team next to the combo of Pietrangelo and Jay Bouwmeester.

Add this to the numbers we saw from Kevin Shattenkirk and Carl Gunnarsson this year (2,097), and this defensive group is looking really nice. The continuation of this will be very important for the Blues to get past the Blackhawks.

Next: Shutting Down Kane/Panarin