St. Louis Blues Morning Links: Cat Scratch Fever

Good morning Blues fans! The Blues limped into their bye-week following a less than stellar performance against Florida. Now there are plenty of questions going on.

The St. Louis Blues fell to the Florida Panthers by the score of 2-1 last night. The disappointing thing was so many aspects we had hoped left the team’s game crept back in.

St. Louis came out with a ton of energy. They were buzzing around the Panthers’ net and did everything but score.

Unfortunately, it was one of those periods that the Blues have made a habit of. They dominated the shots, the play and so much and yet allow one mistake to cost them.

Kevin Shattenkirk failed to clear the puck around a forechecker and the Panthers made him and the team pay. Shattenkirk continued to turn the puck over later on and the Blues general defending was extremely lackluster.

I’ll be honest, I fell asleep during the first intermission and the second period was not anything to wake me from my slumber.

The end of the game was much better from your Blues. They turned on the jets a little bit on offense and managed to score a nice goal to tie things up.

Whether you believe it is a good thing or not, the Blues’ fourth line has been their best line for much of the year. So, it was not hard to imagine them coming up with the potentially pivotal goal to get things knotted up.

Kyle Brodziak showed some veteran presence by gliding into the slot while the Blues scrambled. That allowed him to have a clear chance when the rebound came to him and he buried it.

Unfortunately, James Reimer was more than up to the task on the rest of the Blues chances and the team’s defending down the stretch was atrocious, giving little to no support to Jake Allen.

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Allen played a pretty good game overall, making several big saves in the third period. However, the Blues looked a man short in the final 30 seconds.

You would think the Panthers had pulled their goaltender the way they kept possession and the Blues had no way to close gaps or clear it. Thus, an expected but sickening goal was given up in the final four seconds of the game.

Looking beyond just the loss, the Blues lost an opportunity to give themselves a cushion. Instead of a five point lead over Nashville, they only have a three point lead. The Predators will play four games this week while the Blues are off until the weekend, so there could be a lot of change in the standings.

Additionally, the Blues managed to wipe out a bit of the good will they built up in their six-game win streak. They did not play too terribly, but it was not what we had come to expect during those previous games.

So, during this break, the team has to decide which team is real. The Blues are not as bad as we saw toward the end of Ken Hitchcock’s reign. They aren’t necessarily as good as we saw right when Mike Yeo took over.

It’s up to them to figure out which extreme their needle will point toward though. They have little time to get there too.

Here are your St. Louis Blues Morning Links to get your day started off right.

While we are all disappointed with any loss, sometimes it gets frustrating to hear the same old answers from the locker room. There was some refreshing honesty and candor coming from Jake Allen, Scottie Upshall and Mike Yeo though following the loss to Florida. (Blues)

Several Blues fans were disappointed that Kenny Agostino had not earned a more permanent look with the team given his solid play. The same cannot be said of Ivan Barbashev. Despite playing a decent amount of time on the fourth line, Barbashev played so well he was moved over to the wing in order for him to stay in the NHL a bit longer. (STLToday)

Hope seems to be dwindling for the Blues to actually make a strong deal including Kevin Shattenkirk. However, those that want to cling to hope might take solace in the idea that the New York Rangers are still in need of a strong offensive defender. (Newsday)

Among a litany of suspensions, Antoine Vermette stood out among the crowd. After making the boneheaded mistake of slashing at an official, the NHL backed up their zebras by sending Vermette away for quite some time. (ESPN)

The Blues aren’t the only team in the boat of wanting to unload a talented defenseman. The Anaheim Ducks have been looking to deal Cam Fowler for some time. However, like the Blues, there have been little takers and the Ducks may be keeping their cards instead of trading them in for new ones. (NHL)

Have a great day Blues fans!