St. Louis Blues: Yeo Coach! What’s Going On? Chicago Edition

St. Louis Blues players and fans are yet again left wondering what is up with coach Mike Yeo‘s game plan in the face of the defeat of the Blackhawks.

It looks like the old coach for the St. Louis Blues has returned as quickly as he left.  He felt three days rest would cure all of Jay Bouwmeester’s problems, and the real problem is the 35 years.  Not old for hockey players nowadays but you don’t always get to set your expiration date.

These problems are especially true in regards to line up changes made in the game against the Hawks. For the previous three games coach, Yeo has used primarily the same lineup and more importantly the same line pairings. These pairings produced a record of 2-0-1, ten goals for, and only allowed four goals against in that span.

Now, this couldn’t stand and against the dreaded Blackhawks, coach Yeo decided to go against this trend of success and reverted to the same lineup and line pairings that had produced mediocrity at best.  Now I understand Allen’s previous success against the Hawks, but the rest?

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The main culprit in this is Jay Bouwmeester. How does spending three games in the press box warrant being placed on special teams, more specifically the penalty kill? The Blues had given up one power play goal in the last three games.

The power-play goal made Bouwmeester look like a chicken with his head cut off.  To add insult to injury, he ended up kicking the puck into his net.  For whatever reason the game has passed him by, but if you have to play him keep him off of special teams, and reduce his ice time.

At least coach Yeo didn’t’ burden Alex Pietrangelo with him as his D partner.  Since being unburdened from this weight, Pietrangelo looks like his old self.  He had two goals and was able to post a plus rating in the three games.

Now let’s discuss Pat Maroon. I don’t know what transpired in recent practices and such, but what warranted reinserting him into the lineup.  Had somebody shown apparent inability to perform or had he displayed that much improvement.

To me it looks like change for change’s sake, the lines in the previous three-game span had arguably played the best hockey of the season.  They had reduced giveaways and increased blocks.  Most of all the lines seemed to be gelling and getting better each game.

Then comes the game itself, and all the lines forward and defense are shifted around, for reasons that are obscure at best.  The result was predictable but perhaps avoidable, but we will never know because coach Yeo lacked the intestinal fortitude to stick to his guns.

Maroon and Allen get unfairly lumped into this but are to a certain extent are guilty by association. With Marron out you had four strong line combinations; why risk that unless you feel there is a significant upside to putting him back into the lineup.

As much as I would like to pin this loss on Jake Allen, it just isn’t true.  He played well and had a .947 SV%, a season-best.  Even the most ardent Allen hater would be hard pressed to find fault in his play.  But it does relate to a trend over the past couple years, that the Blues don’t win games he starts.  It is not entirely fair because it doesn’t necessarily correlate to his level of play.

If coach Joel Quenneville is interested in returning to coaching and St. Louis, this might be the game that Mike Yeo coached himself out of town.  Not necessarily a terrible game, but enough changes with his fingerprints that he can’t hide from the result.

Perhaps it is one of those sports twists of fates that Coach Yeo fell into the trap of to tinker is ever to chance.  Made famous by Franklin Adams when commenting on the Chicago Cubs famous infield trio of shortstop Joe Tinker, second baseman Johnny Evers, and first baseman Frank Chance.