St. Louis Blues Pros And Cons From Game 50 Vs. Columbus

St. Louis Blues fans were nervous about how their team would come out of the gates following the All-Star/bye-week break. The fretting was for naught as the Blues came out strong.

The St. Louis Blues are rarely consistent, but one of the few things they have been consistent with is failing to come out with much energy following their bye-week. Couple that week with the All-Star break, where players cannot even have organized practices, and you have a recipe for disaster for a team that has struggled with consistency and chemistry.

Fortunately, all our worrying was for nothing. The Blues managed to come out strong and finish the same way in their first game back against the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Perhaps Columbus was the right team to face. They had lost four in a row and the break did them no favors as they lost a tough one before playing St. Louis.

Normally that means the team rebounds against the Blues, but St. Louis did not allow it. They took the game right from the start and, except for a moment here or there, never truly let it go.

The Blues managed to play some hard-nosed, gritty hockey too. None of their goals were flashy or silky. It was all about effort and smart positioning.

The defending was solid and the offense was there most of the game and was often not rewarded. This game could have easily finished 5 or 6-2, but you take the win regardless.

Pros: Vladimir Tarasenko

Like many on the team, this has not quite been the season many of us envisioned for the Blues star. He has struggled to find his scoring touch the way we all hoped and had a few long droughts.

However, he has turned the hard work he has put in away from the puck into scoring success of late. Vladimir Tarasenko‘s solid game was a big reason the team won and not just because he scored the game-winning goal.

Tarasenko ended with three points in this game, assisting on two and scoring one of his own. Those three points gave him 13 points in 12 games, points in four straight and goals in three of his last four games.

That streak and his gritty game also earned him a Panger Player of the Week Award. Being the most prestigious weekly award in the NHL, that is a high accomplishment.

In seriousness, the grit and determination to his game is something we cannot and should not ignore. So many fans only focus on the lack of goals or the shots not taken.

The 2018-19 Tarasenko has put in a lot of work away from the puck that goes unnoticed. He’s winning more puck battles and getting involved in the dirty areas of the ice. Yes, he still floats around at times, which most snipers (especially Russian snipers) do, but there is much more purpose to his game.

The regular Tarasenko probably does not score the goal he got in this game. He might get pushed off his line or not even be in that area near the net. Instead, he bulldozed his way through and tapped one in.

Cons: The Power Play

It did not hurt the Blues in this game as far as the result goes, but the power play continues to be frustrating to watch. There is just so little hope for goals.

The Blues have improved by leaps and bounds with their possession time, that cannot be denied. However, if you can’t even get a shot on goal, keeping the puck in for two minutes or letting the opponent clear it every 10 seconds does not really matter.

Some might argue the possession keeps the opponent on their heels and tires them out. That’s fine, but we have seen special teams come up time and time again as a deciding factor in making the playoffs and staying there.

If the Blues continue to fail to score, they invite more pressure, which gives them less room to operate, which means even less chances for a score. It all compiles on top.

The second power play in this game actually looked decent. They had sustained pressure and got a few shots off.

The first one was the tale of this season. No matter how much they passed, they refused to take a shot. Even if they got the Blue Jackets scrambling, nothing came of it.

Eventually, you have to at least pretend like you can pose a threat.

Pros: Schenner and O’Ry

Going into the season, having Brayden Schenn and Ryan O’Reilly on the same line was probably the last thing on anyone’s mind. The Blues had them in permanent marker as their top two centers.

More from Analysis

• St. Louis Blues and Cardinals Similar In All The Wrong Ways
• St. Louis Blues Pros/Cons From 2022-23 Game 82 At Dallas
• St. Louis Blues Pros/Cons From 2022-23 Game 81 Vs Dallas
• St. Louis Blues Pros/Cons From 2022-23 Game 80 At Minnesota
• St. Louis Blues Pros/Cons From 2022-23 Game 79 Vs NY Rangers

Desperate times call for desperate measures, even though I would not call this a desperate move. Ultimately, though hockey changes with the wind, this line has been incredibly successful.

In this game alone, the trio of Schenn, O’Reilly and Tarasenko managed to contribute with eight points. That is the kind of top-line production the team has been missing for so long.

What seems to make Schenn and O’Reilly such a fit is they have a similar mentality. While both are tremendously skilled, they are blue-collar players too.

Both of them picked up assists in this contest that showcased their bulldog mentality. On the empty net goal, O’Reilly blasted his way over the blue line like a fullback. Schenn did not get credited with a hit in this game, but he was still buzzing all around the ice.

Not only did each one get rewarded with points, but they achieved career milestones. Schenn picked up his 200th career assist and O’Reilly notched his 300th.

O’Reilly’s might be a little more impressive since he has 100 more at the same age, but they are both important. They both came on the same night, in a Blues uniform and contributed to a Blues win.

Cons: Missed Opportunities

In the lead-in, I mentioned this game could have finished 5 or 6-2. That might be phrasing it lightly.

The Blues missed so many chances, this game could have rivaled the monstrosity in Winnipeg where the Jets beat the Anaheim Ducks 9-3. St. Louis had that many opportunities that simply have to be finished and they did not.

Some of it boiled down to luck. Robert Thomas, Jaden Schwartz and Pat Maroon all had shots go off the knob of the goaltender’s stick. Those are chances you can’t do much about.

The bigger issue was the failure on the odd-man rushes and missing open nets. In tight games, those can be the deciding factor.

While I did not write down each time, the Blues had to have had five or more odd-man rushes and scored on none. The worst might have been a three-on-one that failed to get a shot off because they all waited so long that everyone’s angle ran out.

On top of that, the Blues missed or whiffed on the puck on at least two to three empty nets. Alex Pietrangelo is not a forward, but he is an offensive defenseman and he blew a shot on the doorstep.

The Blues have made habits out of all that stuff the entire year, but it seemed encapsulated within this one game.

It might not have cost them in this game since they worked so hard elsewhere, but it has and will continue to cost them. Good teams finish those off.

Overview

Nobody knew what to expect coming out of the break. On the one hand, you get teams like Columbus who are in a solid playoff spot and have crapped the bed during their break, causing rifts between coaching staff and team. There was every reason to think the Blues might fall into that.

Instead, the Blues came out like a team determined to get off on the right foot. Not being mean, but they were the anti-Blues.

Coming off a week with no hockey, they took our pain away and showed what it was like to be fun watching again. They worked hard and got the rewards for it.

They looked like they were playing for the guy next to them instead of themselves. There were blips here and there, but mistakes happen. When you can actually not let those mistakes be the determining factor, you get the result they did.

Who knows how this game impacts the second half of the season. Everything is so tight in this playoff race that one win or loss can make everything.

What we know is, right now in this moment, the Blues sit one point out of a playoff spot. Other teams will play and that number will change as the days go along, but there were days in the not too distant past where the word playoffs sparked a Jim Mora reaction.

"playoffsWatch playoffs GIF on Gfycat. Discover more related GIFs on Gfycat"

Now, at least it is safe to dream – at least as safe as anything is with the St. Louis Blues.

They have to keep this up. If they tank against Florida, we go back to square one. This was an important step in the right direction as the symbolic second half to the season began.