St. Louis Blues Morning Links: Win AbDuckted In Anaheim

Good morning Blues fans! Last night was a prime example of thing just not going your way some nights. Unfortunately, it happened at a crucial stage in the season.

The St. Louis Blues came up empty handed as they filled all the barrels with shot, waited in silence all morning and then missed almost every opportunity to land a duck. In the end, it was the Ducks who were victorious.

The sad thing is the Anaheim Ducks didn’t flat out outplay the Blues. They didn’t even dominate the Blues. They capitalized on two mistakes by St. Louis and that was all they needed.

Definitely not for the entire game, but for long stretches, the Blues actually dominated the game. St. Louis outshot Ahaheim 27-22 and that margin was larger in the second period.

St. Louis outhit the Ducks, had more blocks and fewer giveaways. Sadly, the only stat that matters in the end is goals.

Both of the Ducks goals came off turnovers. Hockey is a bit of an odd duck (no pun intended) when it comes to stat keeping, so they may not have been officially labeld turnovers. The Blues had opportunities to get the puck out of the zone though and failed to do so. Anaheim pounced on both and St. Louis could not answer.

The only discouraging thing from my perspective is we saw a little bit of the old Blues offense peek out. Outside of Jaden Schwartz‘ shorthanded chance that he shot right into the glove and the Ivan Barbashev goal, St. Louis didn’t create many true chances.

More from Bleedin' Blue

27 shots is fine, but how many actually troubled Jonathan Bernier? Perhaps you saw more than myself, but it didn’t feel like many. Even when the Blues were buzzing around the net, you didn’t get that feeling it was about to go in. It just seemed like one of those nights and that’s how it played out.

St. Louis played well enough to win really. They just had a couple mistakes, but at this point in the season the good teams will make you pay for mistakes and that is what the Ducks did.

It’s a short turnaround for the Blues as they head up north to play San Jose. It’s another late game (even more so at 9:30), which is getting rough on the working fan.

The Blues have a good record against the Sharks this year though. St. Louis is 2-0 and won by an average of 3.5-1.

Now we just have to hope this west coast trip doesn’t go completely opposite of the last one. Last time the Blues lost to the Kings and then won the rest. So far, they’ve beaten the Kings and lost the rest. Still a game tonight to keep that from happening though.

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

The general theme from all involved was the team did not play their full game until the last ten minutes. Mike Yeo put it perfectly when he stated that the push came too late and Ivan Barbashev, Paul Stastny and Yeo all seemed to echo each other in the postgame interviews. (Blues)

Yesterday’s game was a good example. Vladimir Tarasenko was a bit of a ghost for much of the contest and fans want more. Considering his recent streak though, are we wanting too much? (Bleedin’ Blue)

Last night’s game with a goal was not the first time Ivan Barbashev has made some great decisions. Both in the interview process with a Russian media outlet and apparently in his decision to stay in America, Barbashev is acting more like a veteran player in his thoughts than his age would have you believe. (St. Louis Gametime)

It’s been a tough road to hoe for Peter Budaj in his career. After almost disappearing from the game, he almost single-handedly saved the Los Angeles Kings’ season. He’s proving it is no fluke as he continues to play well in Tampa Bay too. (NHL)

Former Blues, Kevin Shattenkirk got suspended for two games for a hit he laid on Kevin Gavel of the L.A. Kings. While he doesn’t necessarily spell out any wrongdoing, Shattenkirk does realize he could have gone about things differently. (ESPN)

Have a great day Blues fans!