St. Louis Blues Can’t Do Things The Easy Way By Failing To Show Up In Game 6

The St. Louis Blues just can’t do anything the easy way. They are literally causing physical ailments for many Blues fans and the Blues left themselves too much to overcome in the end.

For whatever reason, the St. Louis Blues failed to show up for another potential series clinching game at home. The team came out and just didn’t have enough energy to start the game and it ended up costing them in the long run.

The Blues again made mental errors and turned the puck over or put it into poor areas and really ended up costing themselves. The first goal was a prime example of that.

Colton Parayko chose to attempt to shoot it instead of pass around the wall. Dallas blocked it and then picked it off and sent Mattias Janmark off on a breakaway and he roofed it glove side on Brian Elliott.

Then, 23 seconds later, Vernon Fiddler was the beneficiary of another Blues miscue. This time Elliott tried to lob it off the wall even though there were no teammates on the near side. Dallas intercepted, kept the puck in the zone and it was eventually centered from the far side for a deflection shot by Fiddler and a 2-0 lead not even a full six minutes into the game.

The Blues failed to mount any kind of counter punch really in the first period. They had opportunities in the offensive zone, but were kept at bad angles or with tons of bodies in front of the net for the most part.

Then Dallas got what would prove to be the winning goal. A foolish penalty by Troy Brouwer in the offensive zone gave the Stars a powerplay. Though they only had one powerplay goal all series, the way the period had gone you could sense the second one coming.

It would happen in true Blues fashion as everything that could go wrong did. The Blues failed to get the puck into the Stars zone, which led to a counter attack. On said counter attack, Jay Bouwmeester lost his edge and fell on his rear. That allowed Jason Spezza a ton of room with everyone else having backed off to take up position. Spezza dangled around everyone, got to the tight slot and roofed another goal over Elliott.

It was a rather sad display overall and more costly errors coming back to haunt the Blues. After that goal, Elliott was pulled in favor of Jake Allen to attempt a rally. Elliott left with three goals given up on seven shots.

The ploy worked to a degree. The Blues got into the intermission down by three, which was not the plan but may have been a success given how poorly they played combined with the undeniable energy the Stars came out with.

The second period went well overall. The Blues outplayed Dallas for long stretches, but they just could not do enough to really make a dent in the game outside of scoring one goal. It was still a pretty good goal.

The Blues finally got sustained pressure. Despite the fact that everyone on the blueline seemed hesitant to shoot, Robert Bortuzzo finally got one on goal. While Kari Lehtonen got the initial save, the puck came nearside for a wide open Alexander Steen who buried it.

The Blues failed to score again in the second period despite plenty of shot attempts and decent pressure. They came out with much of the same in the third but ended up empty handed for too much of the period.

Patrik Berglund would bring the ‘Note within one with a little over half a period to go with a great effort goal following a mad scramble.

The Blues, to their credit, actually fought to the bitter end. They peppered Lehtonen with shots, but he was up to the task and deservingly awarded the top star of the night. His best stop came with about 20 seconds left when Jaden Schwartz got to a loose puck in the near slot but could not get the quick shot over the pad and glove of the Finnish netminder.

3-2 was the final score. Dallas fans can breathe a sigh of relief and it will be a long 45 hours for Blues fans before they see their team hopefully mount another comeback.

Negatives

The first period. The Blues just couldn’t get themselves fired up out of the gate. They didn’t play terribly like they did earlier in the series, but it just wasn’t what was needed to finish off this series. I’m not sure what needs to happen, if they need some sort of motivational speech or someone needs to slip energy drinks into their gatorade bottles, but they have to come out and try to end things right from the get go.

The defending. Almost everyone on the backline had poor stretches, if not bad games overall. Many turned it around as the team did, but the Blues continue to get bad passes, not enough shots and tentative play offensively when they get the puck on the blueline.

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Jay Bouwmeester. I hate to put individual names in the negative section, but even though I usually disagree with the vocal cut Bouw crowd, he made it hard to defend him on this night. The goal looks bad because he fell down, but outside of that he was pretty poor. Poor passes, tentative decisions and just kind of stumble bumbling around. He normally goes quietly about his business, but his mistakes loomed a bit too large on this night.

Brian Elliott. Elliott isn’t to blame totally for all three goals, but he shares a bit of the blame. The second goal in particular pinpointed Elliott’s poor stick handling (one of the few things that Allen has a decided advantage in). He also got beat high side on every goal and while the second goal was a bit fortunate for Dallas, Elliott has a scouting report out on him and will need to expect a lot of high shots in Game 7.  Elliott has been superhuman for much of the postseason and on this night he was merely mortal.

The fans.  No, the fans themselves were not a negative.  The ones in attendance did all they could to root this team on even when it seemed hopeless the Blues would comeback.  No, the fans are feeling like a negative though because the Blues are now 3-4 at the Scottrade in the playoffs this year.  I have no clue what the reason is, but the Blues are not rewarding their own fans with stellar play in their own building right now.

Positives

The Blues didn’t finish off the comeback, but their competitive spirit was still there. They created many chances in the third period and were just shut down by a suddenly hot goaltender. They needed to get that second goal in the second period to really take pressure off themselves and failed to get it. Nevertheless, they didn’t hang their heads as they have in the past and now just have to pick themselves up quickly.

Alexander Steen. He’s been doing so much defensive work that we overlook him and maybe even downplay him for a lack of scoring. He was everything for the Blues in this game. He was winning board battles, knocking pucks loose from the Stars, scored a goal and just played like a man on a mission. It’s a shame that everyone couldn’t put in a similar effort.

Looking Forward

Game 7 will be back in Dallas at 7 p.m. CST on Wednesday night.

The Blues have won four of five in Dallas and seem to play better on the road than at home, so fans will have to pin their hopes on that.

Next: NHL Central Week in Review

As we’ve mentioned several times in different articles, when the Blues have played at their best they’ve dominated the Stars. When they haven’t, the Stars have taken advantage. The Blues just can’t do things the easy way, but maybe that’s just their way.

At this point it doesn’t matter who is in the lineup. Players have come up big and some have played poorly so it just matters how the players on the ice perform. The Blues need to get their heads out of their rears and play like this next 60 minutes is their last…because it might be.