St. Louis Blues: Pros And Cons From Game 45 Against Washington

Barely 24 hours after finishing one of their worst games of the season, the St. Louis Blues definitely came to play. Unfortunately, it was still not quite enough.

The St. Louis Blues came out with a lot more jump against the Washington Capitals than the night prior against the Philadelphia Flyers. They had energy, flow, good defending and scoring. Sadly, it was still not quite enough.

The Blues just could not get things done for the full 60 minutes again. They played a fine game. They played a game that would win on most nights.

For whatever reason, their few mistakes have been easily capitalized on though. It was the opposite at the beginning of the season.

The Blues made those same mistakes, but got bailed out either by good puck luck or team defending or goaltending. In recent times, those mistakes are actually costing the team. Still, a point was gained.

Con:

The Blues gave up the first goal of the game again.

There was nothing anyone could do with this one. The Capitals had a power play and the Blues were doing a decent job of killing it off.

The shot taken by Alex Ovechkin was going a good couple feet wide, but took a deflection that went right into the net. The goal itself, was unstoppable.

However, just the overall fact of giving up the first goal again is disappointing.

It’s not an everyday thing. During the team’s three game winning streak, the Blues got the first goal. Their last four losses, their opponent has scored first.

The last time the Blues scored first and lost was against Edmonton on December 21.

So, the Blues need to find ways to get those first goals.

Pro:

Vladimir Tarasenko came alive, even if one day.

For the second game in a row, Tarasenko was showing some leadership skills. He was barking at the officials to stand up for teammates and voice his displeasure with calls he felt were not right or calls not made.

It seems like something small, but for a guy that still is not the most comfortable speaking English in public, it’s good for him to feel at ease letting the refs know his opinion. It also shows he’s earned enough standing in the league to not just be brushed off.

Beyond that, he performed on the ice. If not for some goaltending heroics, Tarasenko would easily have had two or three goals.

Instead, he settled for the one.

It was a typical Vlady goal. Get the puck with some room to shoot in front and just snap it home.

It was an important goal because it got the Blues back into their offensive rhythm and regain some composure too.

Con:

The Blues untimely penalties.

When you look at a box score, you may ask what the big deal is. Four penalties does not sound like a bunch.

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The majority of them were either foolish or referee mistakes. On top of that, the momentum lost each time the Blues had to go on the penalty kill was a killer.

St. Louis took two penalties in a row in the first period, the second of which was the first goal of the game. They also took a bad penalty in the third period, which ultimately tied the game.

Compounding the issue was the idea that the Blues actually had a decent penalty kill most of the time. However, as Kelly Chase stated during the game, the team seems to have lost the ability to come up with the big kill.

It doesn’t matter if you give up seven penalties and kill off six. If that one goal scored was the biggest difference maker for the game, then the overall stats don’t matter.

Pro:

The Blues continue not to give up.

At this juncture, it seems like an almost trite thing to say. However, as we’ve seen in recent weeks, sometimes it doesn’t happen and it drives us nuts.

It is one thing to lose, but when the team seems to give up, fans are left even more disappointed. It would have been easy for the same thing to happen in this game.

Once the Blues fell behind, it would have been easy for the to give up and the game end 4-2 after an empty net goal. Instead, they kept going and pushing.

Surprisingly, it was Carl Gunnarsson to get the goal that tied the game, giving him four on the season. St. Louis was also unfortunate not to end the game in regulation.

In the end, they could not get things done in overtime, but they did enough to at least earn a point by keeping their nose into the game.

Con:

You lost.

It’s great to show effort and essentially outplay your opponent. However, to the victor go the spoils.

St. Louis was not the victor, so you can’t really praise them too much.

The officiating was mediocre to poor, but the Blues gave them too many excuses to put their arm up in the air. Those power play goals against were killers.

The defense played well for the most part, but the odd-man rushes were still there and they were allowing the wrong players too much space.

On top of that, some of the Blues top players were on the ice for too man goals against.

St. Louis is definitely looking more like the team was playing in October than in December. However, if you’re not collecting two points when you play that well, it does not matter come the end of the season.

Overall Thoughts:

Something to build off.

The Blues have to clean up their remaining mistakes, but we are getting to a point where they are reforging their identity. When the team gets fully healthy, they can regain their team to be reckoned with status.

Until then, they have to keep fighting. In this game, they fought but not long enough.

It was incredibly disappointing to see the Blues drop this game. The Blues have almost never lost when leading after the second period this season and in recent history. So, it was even more surprising for them to let the lead slip away here.

Next: Biggest Hits And Misses Of 2017 For The Blues

Washington is a good team, so losing to them is no disgrace. Nevertheless, you cannot let points out of your grasp when they are there to be won.

St. Louis has one more game before they have their bye week. Hopefully they carry some of the good things from this game into that one and get some revenge on Florida.