St. Louis Blues Morning Links: Bamboozled By Blackhawks

Good morning Blues fans! Last night’s game was a kick to the pills was it not? It was not all bad, but we usually judge the final result, not the ingredients.

The St. Louis Blues got off to a rocky start following their bye-week. With only two games before the NHL trade deadline, the Blues came out of the break looking understandably rusty.

With the exception of Columbus in recent times and a handful other teams throughout the year, most every team has struggled coming out of the bye-week. Usually, the best case scenario is to force a game into overtime in that situation.

The Blues appeared as though they were going to do just that, but were undone by their defending. The defending on the final goal was nowhere near as bad as the first two goals, but all it took was one second of puck watching for Artem Anisimov to get separation on the back side and have ages to pick out the top corner.

Of course, there are fans that blame Jake Allen for that goal because that’s what they do. Like the current political culture, heaven forbid anyone disrupt their plans to bring down the Snake with their pointed tweets and harsh Facebook criticisms.

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Jake the Snake actually played a heck of a game. I’m sure any goaltender will tell you they don’t like getting beat the way the game winning goal went in. Still, at that close range and with the time Anisimov had, he had no time to react and was hoping the shot would hit him at that point.

Despite the result, the Blues played well for about 45 minutes. The league did them no favors by pitting them against a red-hot Chicago team coming out of the break, but that’s not what did them in.

St. Louis did not get into the game until they were down 2-0 and it was 12 minutes in. The Blues came to life after that. They got good goaltending, decent defending and played like an actual team.

St. Louis also got some unexpected performances. Magnus Paajarvi looks like an actual NHL player since being recalled from the AHL. He scored the team’s first goal and was flying around the ice with purpose as opposed to just a speeding bullet with no aim.

Alex Pietrangelo may have had his first story about truly acting like a captian. That is not so say there have not been leadership opportunities in the past, but when your captain shrugs off a busted ear and ties the game, guys fall in line.

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Those are the kind of things the Blues need if they are to make a run to end the season and be a playoff team. You need your leaders and big names to perform and you need the little guys to outperform.

In this instance it led to a loss. However, you can’t be too mad at the team.

They had the same old, tired cliches problems. Bad defending, poor marking, lax mental plays, ill-timed turnovers and the like all showed up, but they have always been there.

There’s almost no cleaning that up at this point of the season. The Blues must overcome it.

The Chicago game was a bit unfair. The Edmonton game will be the litmus test.

If the Blues give the same effort and don’t win, things are not going to go their way. If they win, then you can chalk the Blackhawks result to bad timing.

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

The Blues that stepped to the mic following the loss were Alex Pietrangelo, Jake Allen and Mike Yeo. All were complimentary of the way Chicago played, but they all felt there was something left on the table in terms of what could have been gained. (Blues)

Right now all the talk is about trades and the potential deals on the table. Lost in the shuffle, but just as important is who each team will have to protect from the expansion draft. The Blues claim to have their protected list pretty much set, but these things are always fluid. (STLToday)

All trades are subject to opinion. How much or little you give up can have as much impact as what you got in return. However, the experimentation of Nail Yakupov’s rehabilitation seems to be a bust. Even with a new coach in place, the former top pick isn’t getting any ice time. (Bleedin’ Blue)

Despite talk from the local media about the Blues staying quiet, it is hard not to think they can still make moves given the recent trades that went down. Perhaps most comparable is the return future UFA Ben Bishop got as a return for Tampa. (ESPN)

One can argue the value of the individual pieces in the LA-Tampa trade. You can’t deny that the Minnesota Wild are going all in on this season with their latest acquisition. Likely they overpaid, but it’s a poker move at this point. (NHL)

Have a great day Blues fans!

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