St. Louis Blues Mistakes Cost Them Game 4

The Dallas Stars earned a win in Game 4 of their second round series with the St. Louis Blues. However, it was the mistakes by the Blues that ultimately cost them the contest.

Make no mistake, given the circumstances of the game and how everything played out, the Dallas Stars deserved to pick up the win. The St. Louis Blues did just about everything they could with the exception of putting the puck into their own net to make sure the Stars could take advantage though.

The Blues got off to a decent start overall. For the first time all series, they scored the first goal of the game.

Despite the fact that the Stars had six skaters on the ice for an extended period of time – long enough for them to have six players in both their defensive zone and then again in the offensive zone – the Blues found Vladimir Tarasenko on a stretch pass.

Tarasenko didn’t waste any energy putting on moves or slick stick dangles. All he did was measure up the Stars goaltender, Kari Lehtonen, and fire it by him about halfway through the first period.

After that, the Blues could not make the Stars pay. The Blues actually got outshot by the Stars 8-7 in the opening frame. The Blues did create some opportunities, but just couldn’t really put a lot of pressure on Lehtonen and take advantage by getting another score.

Then the dreaded second period returned for your St. Louis Blues. After having two, maybe even three if we’re generous, games of solid second periods, the Blues decided they could not tell what color jersey they were wearing.

Joel Edmundson made a routine play out of the zone into a nightmare play by literally passing it right to Radek Faksa. Faksa said thank you and fired it five-hold on Brian Elliott to tie up the game. The tie didn’t last long.

David Backes, who had a roller coaster game himself with more valleys than peaks, took a foolish tripping penalty almost immediately following the Stars goal. Then Patrick Sharp finished off a strong wraparound move by Jamie Benn to give the Stars their first lead of the contest.

The Blues looked a bit lost for much of the period, continually looking slow and throwing the puck away. Instead of giving up a third goal though, Elliott stood tall and the Blues finally turned things around toward the end of the second.

Paul Stastny would tip in a powerplay goal with about seven minutes remaining in the middle frame. Tarasenko took the initial shot and Stastny got a stick to it to flip it over the goaltender and in. Given their recent history, that should have been the spark that spurred the Blues on.

Instead all it did was tie the game up and give the Blues a little lifeline. The Stars came out with the same steady pressure they had applied in the second and kept things level in the third period.

Despite outshooting the Stars, the Blues rarely troubled Lehtonen for long as they have in other games. There was a flurry here or there and the Finnish netminder came up with the answer each time, but it wasn’t the kind of pressure Blues fans had become accustomed to when the Note is on their game.

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By the end of the third period, it seemed as though the Blues were just trying to get to the intermission the way they had in Game 2. Just get a break and come out strong.

Problem was, they didn’t really do the last part. They came out in overtime and got a couple shots off, but they forgot the strong part in all aspects.

The Stars got a little speed built up and that was all they needed. Not even three minutes in, Cody Eakin ended the game by sneaking one over Elliott’s right shoulder and under the crossbar.

See you later, goodnight, series tied and heading to Dallas

Negatives

I mentioned it on Twitter and it seemed true for much of the game. The Blues played much of the contest like a team that knew they could afford a loss. It’s an extremely disappointing result as a fan because earlier in the day I wrote a piece saying they needed to treat this game like it was a must-win. The Blues did anything but and we see the results.

The turnovers were just terrible. The official stats only say the Blues had four giveaways (though Dallas had 11 takeaways). Regardless, the eye test says the Blues were just sloppy with the puck. Nobody knows what Edmundson was looking at when he handed the puck right to Faksa. There were similar plays made later in the game as well that almost led to goals by Benn and Sharp. Elliott had to be on his toes because his teammates seemingly forgot they were wearing blue and kept handing it right to anyone in a white jersey.

The energy level was not what anyone could have predicted. Both teams just looked slow and sloppy. It had the feeling of a January game instead of a playoff game in May. The Blues had a decent effort. You can’t say they weren’t trying. It’s just that what they were trying wasn’t good. They failed to play a full 60 minutes again, which keeps happening no matter what the players or coaches say in the locker room and once again it cost them.

Positives

Brian Elliott deserved better than he got. His teammates gave the puck up in awful areas and because of Elliott, the Blues still had a chance to win by the end. The stats don’t bear it out since he allowed three goals on 28 shots (.893 save %), but if not for Moose, the Stars could have run away with this game.

Tarasenko is finding his offensive game. He’s not scoring goals at the clip the hard to please fans want, but he’s contributing. He now has 11 points in the playoffs this season, which is only two behind the most ever for a Blues player in a postseason.

Next: Blues Veterans Coming Alive

Looking Forward

The Blues play the Stars this Saturday in Dallas. It will be a much earlier start than we’ve had this playoff year. The puck will drop around 12 p.m. CST (mostly due to NBC wanting to have almost three hours of horse race coverage before the actual Kentucky Derby even starts…)

The Blues have proven they can win on the road, winning two in Chicago and already stealing one in Dallas. Now they have given the Stars a level of belief though heading home and the Blues will have to perform even better than the game they scored six goals to come out victorious.