St. Louis Blues: Keys for Game 1 vs. Dallas Stars

The first game in a series is always tricky. It isn’t do or die but you want to get off on the right foot. Here are the keys for the St. Louis Blues to get off on the right foot.

The St. Louis Blues have a strong recent history of winning the early games of a series only to falter. Even with that said, you don’t want to get off to a bad start.

While in hindsight it may have been advantageous to the Blues to drop an early game to the Chicago Blackhawks, if for no other reason than to get the whole up 2-0 and get swept out of their heads, you don’t want that mentality against Dallas.

Getting off to a good start, even on the road, is paramount to the Blues winning this series. We’ve already gone into the reasons the Blues will win the series, but these are the keys to taking Game 1.

Don’t try to blow up Jamie Benn

Jamie Benn is a different player than Jonathan Toews or Patrick Kane. You can’t expect to defend him the same either.

Kane and Toews are smaller, more crafty players. While Benn has immense skill, he’s built more like Patrik Berglund. He’s difficult to get off the puck just as much for his size as his puck handling.

St. Louis is going to want to try and be physical with him and that’s fine, to a point. You don’t want him getting free in the high percentage areas of the ice untouched, but you don’t want to expose yourself either by being too eager to hit.

You do have to guard him closely and put a body on him, but if the Blues try to blow him up every chance they get they’re going to be sorely mistaken. He’s not going to shrink or be intimidated.

While that’s not to say that is what happened to Kane or Toews, it’s easier to intimidate (no matter how tough they are mentally) someone who is more slight of frame.

Benn ate up the Blues overall. In five games he had two goals and five points and that was including two games where he failed to score.

The Blues need to forecheck and take advantage physically with the smaller Dallas defenders, but trying to be too physical with Benn or even Jason Spezza is likely to get players out of position.

Keep it a low scoring contest

This favors the Blues for multiple reasons. The first ties in with our previous key.

The games the Blues kept the Stars’ scoring total low kept Benn off the board. When the game becomes a track meet, Benn and Spezza are going to get theirs.

They aren’t quite the clutch players that the Blackhawks have, but if the game opens up and teams are trading goals back and forth like it’s a basketball game then those players aren’t going to be denied.

Now any game, the goal is clearly to score a goal or two and keep a shutout and that often doesn’t happen.

Nevertheless, the gameplan has got to be to keep things tight defensively and not allow Dallas to have any easy space on the ice. The Blues did an excellent job of that against Chicago and need to continue that in Game 1 against the Stars.

Don’t rely on Brian Elliott so much

Again a bit of a spring board from the last one. The Blues played with a loaded gun far too often against Chicago.

Apr 23, 2016; Chicago, IL, USA; St. Louis Blues goalie Brian Elliott (1) makes a save during the third period in game six of the first round of the 2016 Stanley Cup Playoffs against the Chicago Blackhawks at the United Center. Chicago won 6-3. Mandatory Credit: Dennis Wierzbicki-USA TODAY Sports /

Getting outshot by the margins they did just isn’t a sustainable plan.

Brian Elliott has shown he’s more than capable of shouldering a load this season. However, from the beginning of overtime in Game 5 against Chicago until Game 7, he began to look tired.

If the St. Louis Blues want to make a run to the finals, you can’t be wearing out one of, if not your most important player in the first couple rounds.

Have a good second period

As fans, we pick up on these things and perhaps put too much emphasis on them, but the Blues just need to have a good second period from a mental standpoint.

The middle frame has plagued this team for years, but it was especially bad the last three games against Chicago. You have a period that bad against Dallas and you’ll be attempting to come back from three or four instead of one or two.

Against Chicago, the Blues were outscored 11-3 in the second period. They were outshot 112-80.

The only game the Blues outshot Chicago in the second period was Game 1. That was by a minimal 10-9 margin.

Arguments could be made the Blues were playing tight or it was because it was Chicago. It doesn’t matter.

They need a good second period, regardless of who they’re playing. Even if you do not score, they would benefit from holding their opponent scoreless (again, something they only did in Game 1, which went 0-0 into overtime).

It doesn’t matter what it is. Whether it’s the long change or some odd idea of conserving energy until the third period, the Blues have to change it.

Get more shots on goal

The Blues have to get the puck to the net with more frequency and with more quality.

They only averaged 29 shots per game in their seven game series against Chicago. That includes two overtime games.

The number itself isn’t terrible, but it’s not great either. That was a defensive series. The one against Dallas isn’t

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likely to be as tight, so get the puck on net.

St. Louis needs to get the puck on net early and often to test out whoever is in net for the Stars. Neither Anti Niemi or Kari Lehtonen looked stellar in their first round games against Minnesota. The Blues need to figure out if they’re still a bit shaky or if they’re going to be tough to beat.

Say what you will about those two netminders this season, but they’ve been tough on the Blues in the past and Niemi has a Cup on his resume to boot. They’re both the kind of goaltenders that are not always steady but are more than capable of standing on their head to shut down the Blues’ recently potent offense.

The Blues need to nip that idea in the bud right out of the gate. Getting a goal or two in the first period would be fantastic, but you have to at least plant the seed in the goaltender’s head that he’s going to have to be on the entire game or he’s going to see four or five go by him.

The Blues also need to start shooting from the high percentage areas. Guys like Paul Stastny or Jori Lehtera or some of the defensemen (even Vladimir Tarasenko from time to time) get into habits of trying to set up the pretty goal.

All goals count the same. There were too many times when passes were made to the side of the net when a shot was open from the slot or from a good area at the point or even the inner circle. That can’t happen anymore.

The Blues need to show the Stars they mean business and are planning to score. Colton Parayko stepped up his game and started shooting more. The same can be said of Alex Pietrangelo and even Jay Bouwmeester.

The forwards need to join the party and just start peppering. Dallas is talented and quick, but they don’t utilize the stretch pass quite as well as Chicago so there should be no more fear of blocked shots leading to breakaways. Pound the net.

Prediction

This is going to be an interesting series. While we all thought the one against Chicago would be a long one, this one could go either way. It could be over in four or five for either team or could go the distance. It all depends on how each team decides to play.

Next: Blues Have a Reason to Believe

For Game 1, expect there to be a little more room than there was against Chicago but still that feeling out period we saw from the previous series opener.

The Blues play very well on the road but the Stars had the best home record in the Western Conference and second only to Washington in the league.

If the Blues can carry the same intensity they had in the early games and Game 7 against Chicago, they should eek out a win.

Blues 2 – Stars 1

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