St. Louis Blues Pros and Cons From Game 21 Vs. Nashville

The St. Louis Blues proved how good they can be with a fantastic home win over the Nashville Predators. Now, it begs the question whether they can sustain it.

The St. Louis Blues played the ultimate game of Jekyll and Hyde against the Nashville Predators. After having another clunker in Nashville just before Thanksgiving, the Blues had one of their best games of the season at home against the division rival.

St. Louis made several fans ask where this team has been and why they have not done the things that went right more often. While those are things we all have opinions on, there are no real answers available right now. All we know for sure is that the Blues played a hell of a game and took down one of the best teams in the conference 6-2.

St. Louis came out like a house on fire, grabbing the game by the scruff. Before some people had even sat in their seats, the Blues had a fight to start the game. They had two fights before the first two minutes of the game were played.

By the time the period was half over, the Blues were already up by two goals and they stayed up by two goals by the time the first period ended, even though they allowed a goal on the Predators first shot of the game.

Though some were worried that goal would let Nashville back into the game, the Blues kept their foot on the gas for the first time in ages. They scored their fourth goal of the night barely a minute into the second period and kept on going for the rest of the game.

As mentioned, there is no indication that this is sustainable for this team. For one night, it was nice to see though.

Pros: The First Period

There were some out there, including my own family members, that said this was the best period the Blues have played in years. We can argue about how true that is, but it was definitely the best period the Blues have played all year.

St. Louis’ goal against was not the best, but overall it is hard to argue about the emotion and effort we saw from this period. There were fights, goals, hits, emotion and energy.

Some of those are just buzz words at time, but not in this game. We talk a lot about the energy and effort level of this team, but I have never fully believed anyone intentionally withheld their best. Some times, you just don’t give that extra bit, subconsciously, because you can sense things not going your way.

The Blues never let that happen in this game. They came out and got energized by Pat Maroon‘s opening drop fight and never let the Predators wrestle the momentum away.

St. Louis made the most of their chances too. They scored three first period goals on their first five shots.

You still had some missed opportunities and wide shots, which continues to frustrate. But, it is hard to argue a 3-1 difference after those first 20 minutes.

Your best players were your best players. Maroon was getting into the opponent like you want. Your defenders were defending and jumping into the play in smart ways and you got big plays. W’eve seen this team play a great 20 minutes and blow it, but it would have been an even greater shame if that had happened after this period.

Cons: The First Goal Allowed

Ok, when you beat a divisional rival soundly, the cons are a bit nit picky. That said, it just stinks to play so well defensively and allow a goal on the very first shot of the game.

Making matters worse was the very St. Louis Blues way the goal happened. As good an overall game Jay Bouwmeester had, it just seems like he is cursed. The initial shot from the point never got on goal, but then Bouwmeester kind of pushed the puck back toward the goal and then Nick Bonino managed to jam it in.

The goalie haters will say that it could have been saved, but when there is a scramble like that and you never saw the puck on the initial drive on net, it becomes difficult to track. Having your own defender put it back into a dangerous area doesn’t make things any better either.

Also, giving Nashville a power play was just foolish at the time too. As fans, we always pick and choose what we call a dumb penalty, but most agree that effort penalties are acceptable. Zach Sanford‘s hooking call was not what I would call an effort penalty and likely could have been avoided.

So, you give up an unnecessary goal off an unnecessary penalty. Those are the breaks the Blues continue to give their opponents.

Fortunately, in this game, it did not cost them at the end.

Pros: Sammy Blais

Sammy Blais, like so many of the Blues young players, has played well but not been rewarded for it. You could sense that things were building for Blais and it was a matter of time before some good things happened.

But, sometimes you wait and wait and it never comes. It came in the first period for Blais.

Blais did not get on the stat sheet for the team’s first goal, but he still helped out. He drove to the perfect spot on a two-on-one, drawing the defender away and allowing a three-on-one develop.

Cons: The Blues Power Play

Again, this one is a smaller thing given how the overall game went. But it did continue to play into the whole Jekyll and Hyde theme.

Before the Blues really went into the tank and before Mike Yeo was fired, there was a time the Blues power play was third in the league. Things are drier than a desert tumbleweed right now.

St. Louis went 0-3 with the man advantage on this night against Nashville. That made eight games without a power play goal for St. Louis.

This game was not nearly as bad as so many we have seen in the past. St. Louis was not truly awful on their power play. They just were not good enough to score.

That is becoming a disturbing trend. They possess the puck well at times, but there is still that hesitancy to shoot or create. It is hard to fully understand, as an outsider, especially when this team can look good five-on-five creatively.

The cherry on the top – a rotten cherry if you will – is that the Blues continue to struggle with a two-man advantage. They have not scored in their last 11 five-on-three power plays, which covers who knows how many games.

Eventually, we will see the positives return. Special teams are fickle, which is why the Blues were doing so poorly. They were living and dying by the power play earlier in the season, so when that dried up, so did the wins. They survived it in this game, but you need to take advantage of opponent mistakes.

Pros: Alex Pietrangelo

I have not been as vocal as some about their disappointment in Alex Pietrangelo‘s play, or at least have not gone as far as some would, discussing stripping him of the captaincy, etc. That does not mean I have not recognized how bad he has been. He went from a potential best in the league to one of the worst. Not just one of the worst top-line defenders, but purely one of the worst defenders in the league.

He was turning pucks over, screening his own goaltender, playing with no passion and a shell of his former self. At least for one game, Pietrangelo turned that around in a complete 180.

All the things that Pietrangelo was doing poorly were the things he did great in this game. Perhaps most impressive was Pietrangelo’s physical play.

Nobody will ever mistake Petro for Scott Stevens, but he was doing a good job of taking the body, which has been something that has been sorely lacking in his game. Pietrangelo was only credited with two hits in the game, but he put some guys into the wall and took some Predators down too.

He was on top of his game too. He disrupted a two-on-one against with a fantastically timed block of a pass.

His offensive game was as on-point as we have seen all year. Pietrangelo’s passes were crisp, on the tape and going north. He might have only gotten one assist but he was very involved in the team’s overall offense.

He was also rewarded for his efforts by scoring a goal in the third period. It might not matter to some, since it was the team’s sixth goal, but this was the kind of performance the Blues had to have from their captain.

I’m not going to sit here and try to make you believe he has turned a corner. This was the kind of game that made us believe he could win a Norris Trophy in the past, however.

Overview

This could either be the start of a glorious turnaround or it could be a gut wrenching example of how good this team could be but won’t be for the rest of the season. Time will tell on that.

For now, we should just enjoy the win while we can, because they have been few and far between. The Blues, despite what some would have you believe, are not out of the playoff race by any means. It just becomes hard to figure they’ll make it with as bad as they have been.

One of St. Louis’ biggest problems is their divisional record over the last year or so. In fact, they have the worst inter-divisional record in the Central Division, which is a huge reason they missed the playoffs last year and got off to a bad start this year.

They have already played every Central Division team at least once and we are only 21 games in. They have played a couple teams multiple times, with the Blackhawks already being played four times. So, you have to win those games if you want to be a contender.

The Blues did that with as close to a statement game as we have seen from them. Nashville was so clearly the better team in the game two nights ago that it seemed unthinkable the Blues could beat them. But, the Blues did everything right, had a couple good bounces and got an impressive win.

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Anyone that tells you this is the catalyst for the rest of the season is blowing smoke up your butt. It may end up being just that, but nobody can know that right now. In fact, we have more evidence that this will be the blip as opposed to the norm. But, it sure was an entertaining blip, even if that is all it was.

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