St. Louis Blues Pros And Cons From Game 9 Vs. Columbus
By Todd Panula
Cons: Defense
We can sit here and argue about the goaltending until we are blue in the face and I, and some others, did just that on Twitter. However, if you put this all on goaltending then you are fooling yourself.
Allowing seven goals is not something that can be stood for. This game showed that no goaltender, anywhere, was going to bail out this terrible team.
The Blues allowed seven goals on 28 shot (yes, Columbus had 32 shots overall but the seventh goal came on the 28th shot). That’s four goals on 21 shots for Jake Allen and three goals on 11 shots for Chad Johnson. If we continue with my original logic, it would be thee goals on seven shots for Johnson, who went on to make four more saves at the very end.
If you want to say Johnson is not great, have at it. If you want to blame Allen for all this, go right ahead. It will solve nothing to get another goalie in here without addressing the real problem.
On at least two goals, there were defenders right in Allen’s face. I know there is way more crowding going on in today’s NHL but when your own defenders are your worst enemy, I’m not sure what a man is supposed to do.
On so many goals this season, a defender has either deflected it directly in, which happened in this game, or knocked it right to an opponent. That happened in this game too on the Blue Jackets go ahead goal.
It’s to the point where I don’t know what to attribute it to. I don’t think it’s lack of effort. They just seem lost in every facet.