The St. Louis Blues continued their back and forth ways with another good performance following a bad one. This time, they managed to hold off the Edmonton Oilers.
Are we living in the middle of the multiverse? Seriously, how else can you explain getting completely different St. Louis Blues teams from game to game. We are talking literal different teams other than the faces and the names on the jerseys.
Fortunately, we got to see the good version of the Blues in this contest up in Edmonton. They did not end up caving in late in the contest either.
The last time the Blues played Edmonton, they raced out to an early two goal lead. However, as is their way, they quit playing as hard as they can. They allowed two late goals and lost the game in a shootout.
You had to worry about the same thing in this one. The Blues managed to get themselves a 3-1 lead late in the game, providing the Oilers an opportunity to duplicate the result.
Fortunately for Blues fans, the team in white (it was a road game) managed to keep their foot on the gas.
St. Louis’ penalty kill was on point, though they were utilized far too much. The offense was far less disjointed, though there is still a lot of improvement that needs to happen top to bottom.
The goaltending was good too. Jake Allen was not called upon to be spectacular, but he was under pressure quite a bit and made the stops he needed to make.
Sadly, we joke but it is becoming a serious matter, this 4-1 win likely means we should not watch the next game. It will probably be a horrid loss, but, as fans, we are all gluttons for punishment.
Cons: Officiating/Interpretation Of Rules
You could honestly put this as a negative in just about every NHL game from a certain perspective. It just seems like it hits the Blues more and more.
The Blues were on the short end of several more iffy and/or bad calls against the Oilers.
Of course, you have another flipping too many men call, which is old. That’s on the team though.
One of the penalties handed out even drew the ire of Bernie Federko. Federko might be worst then Darren Pang at trying to put a positive spin on things and trying to give the refs the benefit of the doubt. For the Blues all-time great to flat out say he does not get what is getting called anymore is quite surprising.
Similar to the nonsense call on Pat Maroon a few games ago, this was another weak call. There was a slash, but it barely made contact. Only because Edmonton’s player had a weak grip and whined about it was it even noticed.
The Oilers goal that was offside is another gripe. After deep thought, I understood the explanation given. However, the decision of offside is so amorphous that it is frustrating. We have seen players called offside the moment a puck is intentionally flipped in with the intention of picking up possession. In my opinion, bailing out to the bench should not negate that. Clearly the rules, or how they are interpreted, disagree. On top of that all, the skate was still on the ice. The announcers saying otherwise was just silly backtracking.
None of the calls made against the Blues were that egregious in terms of what earned them a spot in the box. However, the Oilers were getting away with several crosschecks while the Blues went on four straight penalty kills all within 15 minutes of the other. Things tend to even out over time, but it never feels that way for the Blues, the goal review not withstanding.
Pros: Penalty Killing
We just talked about the refs being slightly biased or it feeling that way. We could also chalk up the Blues putting themselves in the box as much as they did, whether we agree with the calls or not, being a negative.
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For the guys still out on the ice, they could not have played much better. They stayed in tight units and kept the shooting lanes small.
Allen only had to make three saves on five power plays too. Two of those three shots came on one power play as well, meaning the Blues held Edmonton shotless on three power plays.
It was also nice to see these units get a good rebound. The Blues gave up four power play goals to Calgary, so they had to have been a little shaken.
The Blues did not show it though and came back stronger. They had good positioning, made some important blocks and got pucks out as soon as they could.
It would have been easy to take a play off or just say the refs were against you and cough one up. It seemed as though the Blues were in the box perpetually in the second period.
Nevertheless, they kept at it and kept Edmonton off the board, despite five power plays.
Pros: Getting Guys On The Stat Sheet
Just when you were about to or have been asking where this guy or that has been, they popped up in this game. Several guys ended lengthy streaks without goals.
Vladimir Tarasenko‘s might not have been the longest, but it was the most talked about. As he had been without a score in six games, there was growing talk about how much sense a trade would make.
Tarasenko took that talk and finally buried it deep into the opponent’s net. He did it in the exact fashion I have been calling for.
Tarasenko is not Alex Ovechkin, but they still play a similar style. So, why the Blues have not set him up on the opposite circle on power plays has been beyond me. That’s exactly where he scored his goal from, with a quick snap shot like we used to see all the time.
Pat Maroon’s last goal came back in game 16 on November 24. So, perhaps at this rate, we can expect him to score again in game 48.
Big Rig has not had the tenure with the Blues he hoped, but it was good for him to get off the schnide too. It took until the postgame show was almost over to see a camera angle that showed it went in, but the team and Maroon needed that kind of break.
Some of it has been due to injury, but Jaden Schwartz has not had a great 2018-19 either. In fact, this was only his third goal of the year.
Schwartz’ last goal came on November 9. This is someone we keep expecting to hit the 30 goal plateau.
Maybe his empty net goal will spur him on to better things.
Overview
The Blues have to keep themselves in check from here on out. They have shown they can hang and beat some of the league’s best. It’s those middle of the road teams that trouble them.
Beyond that, the Blues continue to be their own worst enemy. They are able to overcome that in a few games, but not the majority.
They had a pretty good game against Edmonton the last time and still came up short. So, they had redemption on their mind in this one and got it.
Hopefully they stay focused on that because they are playing the same two opponents that embarrassed them in the last two losses. The Blues are at Vancouver and Calgary for the next two games, which they lost by a combined 13-3.
The Blues need to use this Edmonton win as a baseline and play even better from there. You cannot keep giving opponents so many power plays.
If you can get your best players to be your best players, you have a start. Tarasenko and Schwartz finally scored, Brayden Schenn had three assists, Maroon got a great effort score and the defense was on point.
They have showed we should not count on them to keep it going, but they need to do just that. You cannot keep going back and forth between high and low.