St. Louis Blues: Pros And Cons From Game 14 Against Philadelphia

The St. Louis Blues knew the ride would come to an end eventually. Sadly, they did not get very far into November before the smiles were turned upside down for one night.

The St. Louis Blues took on the Philadelphia Flyers for the first time this season and the only time at Scottrade Center. It was a far cry from the melees you used to see back in the early days of the rivalry.

Still, it was a winnable game that was entertaining overall. Unfortunately, the boys in blue could not muster the offense needed to take down their Eastern Conference foe.

The Blues came out well enough, tossing 14 shots on goal in the first period alone. Tossing might have been the key word though as the Blues could not really force their way into the dangerous areas.

The second period left a lot to be desired. Regardless of the goal given up, the Blues just did not look like themselves. It was much more reminiscent of those performances we saw last year where St. Louis could not give their all for a full 60 minutes.

The Blues threw what they could, minus the kitchen sink, at Philly in the final period. Sadly, it was not enough as the Blues lost their first game at home and put up a goose egg in the process.

Pros:

Vladimir Tarasenko had his chances.

You can argue whether or not he should have finished a couple. You can discuss whether the chances were quality or not. Bottom line is Tarasenko was still impacting this game in a positive fashion.

He had almost four minutes of ice time on the power play. Tarasenko was credited with five shots on goal. That does not count chances that went just wide or were blocked (of which there were many).

The physicality was not there as much as he was credited with only one official hit. Still, this was not one of those games that you could say Tarasenko disappeared from.

Cons:

The Blues could not find a way to break through.

St. Louis was not devoid of chances. They were credited with 33 shots on goal.

Michael Neuvirth was very solid in goal. He was not tested the way the Blues have other goaltenders this season.

Pros:

The Snake was on top of his game.

Jake Allen was stellar in net for the Blues in this contest. If you only look at the boxscore, people might wonder why since he only had 21 saves.

Allen kept the Blues in the contest all night long though. He stopped a couple semi-breakaways and came up with the timely save when needed.

He kept the Philadelpha power play off the board as well. That’s no small feat as the Flyers have been clicking very well with the man-advantage.

Allen could have gotten a shutout as well. It was only an unfortunate bounce off his own defender that got by him.

None of his saves are likely to make the highlight reels across the league. Nevertheless, he was steady and gave his team a chance to win.

Cons:

The power play is still somewhat listless.

You cannot say the man-advantage for the Blues was completely useless in this game. That would be going too far.

They had good puck possession and good zone time. The team’s top line spent almost the entire four minutes of power play time on the ice due to staying in the zone a good amount.

That is part of the problem. The Blues kept the puck but could do nothing with it. For once, shots were not necessarily the problem, but they were not creating enough havoc in front of the net.

It’s great to get the puck there, but eventually you have to produce points. To make an analogy with basketball, you can shoot 100 of the prettiest jumpers you’ll ever see, but if you only hit 10 then it really does not matter.

Pros:

The Blues are still getting their licks in.

We can argue about what is and what is not a hit in today’s NHL. Some games you look at the boxscore and wonder how the totals are that high or that low.

Regardless of the ferocity of any of the hits, the Blues got physical. They’ve been at or at least near the 30 hit mark for several games now and got there again against the Flyers.

Perhaps none of the hits were board rattlers, but you eventually wear down your opponent in that way. The Blues just did not get it done consistently enough through the entire game for that weariness to set in.

Cons:

The Blues could not take advantage.

The Blues had their chances and could not score. They had power plays and could not get it done.

They were also playing against a team that had played the night before. St. Louis was unable to impose their will enough to make it look like it.

Every team has back-to-backs and lots of teams win both or at least the back end. After Philly got slapped 3-0 by Chicago, the Blues did not douse their hopes of a bounce back game early enough.

These sorts of things are going to happen. Viewed in the individual scope of this game though, you’d like to have seen the Blues look so much the fresher team and they just did not.

Overall Thoughts:

Just a bad luck game.

The next game is going to paint a much clearer picture about what happened in this one. Much like the Florida game could have been one misstep and it got worse in Tampa, the next game will shape our view of this one.

Viewing it in a bubble, it just was not the Blues night. They did not have their best game, for sure, but they did not play poorly either.

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You can point to this or that to change the outcome, but really it was just not converting on a few key offensive chances and an unlucky bounce going against you. The Blues have had so many of the same things happen earlier this year and overcame it. It was just not to happen this time.

The Blues will bounce back from this one. It was just one of those games that was not going to go your way. As long as it does not snowball, all will be well.

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