The St. Louis Blues had a chance to build some rare momentum with back-to-back wins. However, they were up against a hungry Colorado Avalanche team looking for revenge.
One thing is for sure about this current group of St. Louis Blues – they seem to have a pretty good rivalry going with the Colorado Avalanche. It started in 2017-18.
Both teams were fighting until the end for a playoff spot. You also had the Blues gaining some momentum against the Avs with a midseason fight right off the puck drop.
Now, the Blues seem to have used the Avalanche to turn a bit of a corner – fingers crossed. St. Louis has won two overtime games in a row over the Avs.
The Blues have made both of them a little tougher on themselves than needed, but they got the in in the end. What makes you a little more confident with this current Blues team is they have managed to keep some of Colorado’s biggest names in check in those games too.
There is no real reason to think the Blues are going to go on some miracle run due to this game or these games. Still, it is fun to see them actually win.
Pros/Cons: Jake Allen
Mark this down people, for it might be a first. I am going to be openly critical of Jake Allen.
The funny thing is I did not see the usual venomous reaction to Allen during this game. That said, there was a little more to be desired on Colorado’s first two goals.
The first goal was a semi-breakaway, but it just looked like Allen could have gotten to it. The frustrating thing is Allen seems to be regularly beaten in such a fashion. He gets in that in-between stance that is not fully in the butterfly but not fully standing up. This seems to allow the shooter to just tuck it in without much effort expended.
The second goal was similar. Allen’s stick was pushed out of the way, so there is an excuse. Again, it just seems like he could have done more. If his pad is completely sealed to the ice, it’s a save. Instead, there is a minuscule hole there and with the team’s luck and Allen’s luck, it goes in.
That said, Allen turned it around. He had a fantastic second period. Colorado was regularly on the power play and Allen was a big reason they did not put one in with the man advantage until late in the third period.
Allen was tighter on his posts and had his glove at the right position. He did get drawn out of position a couple times, but the defense actually bailed him out. That’s what you would like to see more often. Solid goaltending and defense that picks up the pieces when mistakes are maid.
Even better, Allen found his groove late. Instead of letting the Avs third goal rattle him, he reset and made some spectacular saves in the last 100 seconds of the third and in overtime.
Allen has been statistically great lately too. He’s in the top seven or higher in all major goalie stats since mid-November.
Pros: Ivan Barbashev’s goal
Ivan Barbashev has been very hot of late anyway, but the entire setup for this goal was a nice one.
Barbashev now has three goals in his last five games. On top of that, he’s been scoring big goals too. Of his 17 career goals, five are game tying goals and six are game winners.
The setup was so good though. Jaden Schwartz had the puck over by the benches. Instead of dumping it in along the ice, he flipped it to a streaking Jay Bouwmeester.
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Bouwmeester took his time and circled back on the defender and slid it across to Barbashev. It was an easy tap for Barbashev in the end, but he put it right where it needed to be.
These are the sorts of things that usually do not go well for the Blues. You have a defender on the break and the Blues never seem to benefit from the wrong person on a breakaway. You have a pass into the zone that you probably could not replicate again in 20 tries.
The goal, itself, was somewhat pedestrian though the Blues make easy things look hard at times. In the end, it was a great goal and got the Blues back to even.
Cons: Officiating
As much as we all love hockey, the NHL is somewhat of an embarrassment when it comes to officiating. That is not to say their refs are not the best hockey refs in the world. It is simply the most inconsistent sport in America, possibly the world, when it comes to how it is officiated.
There were iffy calls all night. It actually seemed to get worse as the game went on, however.
The penalty call against Pat Maroon was just terrible. It was a fine defensive play to hook the actual stick, which is legal. However, there was the tiniest of taps on the glove first. Despite that contact having no affect on the player, that is what drew the penalty.
Then, Colorado managed to tie the game on an undeserved power play. The call was probably right as there was a stick in the midsection, but it was Bouwmeester and he actually got tossed down, proving the stick was not in there very tight.
What made it so frustrating was the non-calls before that. There were three straight clear penalties not called in the Blues favor and then Colorado gets a power play on something that could have been ignored the same way the Avs penalties were.
Fortunately, the Blues penalty kill was good or else this game would not have ended the way it did. Not all the penalties were bad calls, but it just frustrates fans beyond belief when the same thing is not called on the other end.
Also, the last call is just so weird. I do not understand why it is legal to hand your teammate your stick, but illegal to skate over and pick up your teammate’s stick. I’m pretty sure defenders have picked up goaltender sticks and handed it off. Is it just illegal to pick it up and actually attempt to use it?
It all seems like technical jargon the same as the goal not counting off the official. The rule says it cannot deflect directly in, but it went off the goalie. Suddenly the NHL tweaks the interpretation to fit the call. Just leaves bad tastes in the mouth that such incidents that you never see go against St. Louis.
Pros: Colton Parayko
Finally! We have said that so much, but it feels like Coloton Parayko is finally settling into his offensive game and becoming unafraid to unleash his slap shot.
He can be such a beast offensively, but whether it is timidness or lack of a killer mentality, he has not shown it consistently. Perhaps he just needs to play against Colorado.
Parayko came up with two huge with two big goals in this game. He blasted an unstoppable shot to score the team’s first goal of the game. Later in the contest he did it again with a power play goal to give St. Louis another lead.
That goal went off the defender, but proved why he needs to let that shot go more. Maroon had a good screen set up and the Blues got the benefit of the deflection. You don’t get those things if you don’t even shoot it.
Those goals gave Parayko three goals in two straight games against Colorado. They’ve all been big goals too.
Parayko showed his strength, speed and skill by one-handing the game winner in overtime in Colorado. Now he just showed his power with two missile goals in this one.
Now, he has four goals in his last seven. That total might be higher if we had more games against the Avs in that span. Such is life.
Overview
It’s still way to early to get our hopes up, but it’s good to see this team slowly doing things the right way.
They have not cleaned up everything, but there is more good than bad in this small win streak. You still have the bad positioning and reaching, which leads to penalties. However, they have clamped down more on defense.
The penalty kill was great in this game and they had to be. Defensively, there are still some gaps and stone feet, but they’re doing a much better job of being good positionally.
Allen was shaky at first, but bailed the team out and might have stole the win by the end. That’s what you need.
It was not great, but you had a team effort. Everyone did their part, no matter how small and that’s how you chip away.