St. Louis Blues Only Play Two Periods In Game 5; Now Trail Series 3-2

The St. Louis Blues continue to disappoint when their backs are not against a wall. They trail the series to the San Jose Sharks for the second time and now must win two in a row to win the series.

The St. Louis Blues failed once again. They had things in the palm of their hand, with an opportunity to prove they were truly a different team and simply could not summon the energy to complete it.

For two periods, the Blues were the better team at five-on-five. However, they could not stay that way enough to keep the game in their hands.

They led the game 2-1 after one period of play. After giving up the first goal of the game to Marc Vlasic, the Blues rebounded nicely.

Not even four minutes after the Sharks opened things up, the Blues found the back of the net. Jaden Schwartz got the tally by picking up the rebound and firing it in from a poor angle.

The Blues would have to wait awhile to get another one, but they would get the lead before the period’s end. In what became a theme of the night, it was more of a baseball game than hockey with Troy Brouwer scoring on a midair shot.

Unfortunately, things don’t end after twenty minutes of play. The Blues got foolish in the second period and started taking penalties.

While some of the calls were not the best, the Blues still put themselves in positions that gave the officials a decision to make and they made it in the Sharks’ favor.

Kevin Shattenkirk was called for roughing early in the second period. It was a retaliation penalty and the second player almost always gets the only call. Though the Blues killed off almost the entire powerplay, the puck hit the post and went right to Joel Ward.

The Blues returned to playing quite well when the game was at full strength, despite the fact they had given up the lead. They were not playing their usual poor second period, though they still looked as though they were not comfortable going all out either.

The Blues got a powerplay midway through the contest and made the Sharks pay. For whatever reason, former Blue, Roman Polak went nuts on Dmitrij Jaskin and picked up the extra penalty.

Robby Fabbri had seen enough of the Blues’ struggles on the powerplay and unleashed a blast from the high slot to give the Blues another lead at 3-2.

The Blues gave the Sharks too many chances with the powerplay though. Kevin Shattenkirk was again the offender later in the middle frame. Even though the penalty was questionable at best, Shattenkirk still gave the official a decision to make and those decisions rarely favor the Blues.

The Sharks capitalized again and tied up the game at three with 1:27 to go in the second on a Joe Pavelski drive where he was all alone in the slot.

To make matters worse, the Blues would never again see the lead. The Blues, in typical fashion, refuse to play an entire game. After dominating five-on-five play for two periods, they Blues basically stayed in the locker room for the third.

They didn’t skate, their passes were off again and they didn’t defend. The blueliners for the Blues just stood like trees, assuming their mere presence on the ice was enough. It was not.

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Pavelski, who should have a career as a baseball player with the way he can bunt, scored again early. He got a fantastic deflection that gave Jake Allen no chance and the Sharks took a 4-3 lead only 16 seconds into the third.

The Blues just never really mounted a comeback attempt. The Blues from the first three game crept back in and they just couldn’t figure out how to solve the Sharks again.

San Jose scored two empty net goals to push the final to 6-3. It was another disappointing result for a team that should have been firing on all cylinders.

The Sharks were on the ice too. They figured out their faults and corrected them, there’s no doubt of that. However, the Blues played well enough to win when they were on their game and just couldn’t stay on their game for the full time.

Negatives

The inconsistency of this team is astounding. They can look like world beaters for entire periods and then look like a minor league hockey team playing against All-Stars. They show effort for long stretches and then suddenly, they are skating in quick sand or standing completely.

The defending. The Blues have always had good defending at times and then big mistakes at others. The same was true in this game. The third period was just frustrating to watch. With the exception of perhaps Colton Parayko, every defender looked like they were in slow motion. Jay Bouwmeester‘s passing decisions are exploding heads and Alex Pietrangelo‘s lack of effort in the final moments of the game was disgusting. What he was doing just standing there with the puck is unknown to anyone.

Vladimir Tarasenko. We all love Vlady and want to see him perform. It’s one thing to not score goals, but he literally looks like he cannot play right now. There are rumors of an illness or questions of an unknown injury, but whatever the case he just has to do something. He’s not a decoy, he’s not assisting goals and he’s not scoring. The Sharks are doing a great job of manhandling him, so they need credit for that, but he’s not doing enough to get through it either. He was -2 in this game and is -4 overall. Time is running out for him to be any kind of positive factor in this series.

Positives

The first two periods. If the Blues could have stayed out of the box, regardless of what we think of the officiating, they would have run away with this game the way they did in Game 4. The Blues can skate with this team, they can hit with this team and they can score with this team. For whatever reason, that is unknown to lay people and experts alike, is why they can’t do it more often.

Robby Fabbri and David Backes. Both players were questionable to play going into this contest and both ended up being pivotal players. Backes helped set up the first goal and Fabbri scored a goal and looked dynamic as well. I am not usually an advocate of changing lines, but perhaps playing Fabbri with Tarasenko could break Vladimir out of his funk.

Troy Brouwer. If not for the bad penalties he took earlier in the series, this guy would have no knocks against him. He’s provided leadership, grit and scoring to boot. He seems to always find a way to get the job done and has proven himself to be an invaluable addition to this team.

Next: Blues Weekly Recap

Looking Forward

Well, the Blues’ backs are against the wall and they’re on the road. That seems to be when they play their best, so we can only hope for the best at this point.

The Blues continually fail to be able to put their foot on opponents’ throats, but play well when they must. They absolutely must now.

For the first time all playoffs, the Blues absolutely have to win a game that won’t end the season for the other team. We’re going to see what kind of resolve this team possesses.

Game 6 will be in San Jose on Wednesday at 8 p.m. CST.

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