St. Louis Blues Pros And Cons From Game 51 Vs. Florida

The St. Louis Blues continue to play up and down to their competition. However, the results are starting to go their way more often than not lately and continued to do so in Miami.

The St. Louis Blued sure do not like to make things easy on themselves against the Florida Panthers. When the teams played earlier in the season, St. Louis squeaked out a 4-3 win. The second meeting was just as tight.

St. Louis looked like they were going to lose for sure. They allowed a late first period goal to a middling Panthers power play.

Then, after both teams went scoreless in the second period, the Blues took another late period penalty. Florida scored less than a minute into the third and it just felt like the game was done.

While the Blues have played much better in recent days and weeks, they have still had to do so from ahead. Coming from behind has been almost unheard of in 2018-19. So, when you have little to show for any offensive pressure and allow a second goal in the third, you would think they would just get ready to travel to Tampa.

Instead, we got a rousing come-from-behind victory. The Blues answered with a goal mere minutes after the second Panthers goal, stealing back momentum.

They continued to pressure throughout the period, scoring a gritty goal on a loose puck for the equalizer. Then, the Blues took advantage of a turnover and actually made their opponent pay with the game winning goal.

St. Louis had the rare good fortune of the puck bounces, with the Panthers actually clanging several off the post and also with one going in off the post with the game winner. These things went the other way earlier in the year. Finally, the Blues got the luck of the bounce.

Cons: Penalty Kill

You could argue that the Panthers power play was not exactly an unstoppable machine when it came to passing the puck around and setting things up and you might not be wrong. However, they went 2/3 with the man-advantage and that is the bottom line.

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It doesn’t really matter how the pucks went in. The Blues allowed two power play goals against.

In reality, we do have to discuss how the goals went in. It is hard to blame any one person, or even the unit, entirely.

The first goal was a bad bounce that came right to the player in front. There was little Jordan Binnington could do about it since the way the puck landed, it ended up with an easy stuff.

If the first was was a bad bounce, the second was about as lucky as you can get. Florida had the shot go off a shin pad, deflect off Alex Pietrangelo‘s face and go behind the goal.

While Binnington was reacting to the puck going to his left, it gets sent back to his right and jammed in. That was the kind of thing you might see on a video game that glitched. There was nothing anyone on the Blues could really have done differently and they were still made to pay.

Ultimately, you might pick on the timing of the penalties. Both of them came late in periods, with the second allowing a power play with fresh ice.

However, you could argue that both were somewhat weak calls as well. Even so, you have to deal with these things and it was just a shame that the game could have been decided by such fluky scores.

Pros: Vince Dunn

Vince Dunn has taken a lot of criticism recently and much of it has been deserved. While his offensive game has been fine, he has been careless with the puck at times and somewhat clueless in his positioning defensively at other times.

He has never really had a truly awful all-around game, but the notches against him were starting to accumulate. It was getting a little worrisome.

This game does not calm all those fears, but it was a nice turnaround to see him play well in all facets. Of course, there are still the times here or there where he needs to be stronger on the opponent and puck, but he is still learning.

In the overall sense, he did just about all you would want. He scored, he defended and he was engaged in more than just offensive zone time.

Perhaps the most pleasant surprise was Dunn’s defensive game. You might still want a little more physicality, but he was keeping tabs on all his marks and got credit for a hit too.

Dunn was getting in front of pucks too. Two blocked shots might not seem like much, but you have to hope he is learning that it takes putting your body on the line.

Then there is the goal. Dunn jumped up into the play at the most opportune time. He allowed his teammate to jump back onside and then blasted into the zone and ripped a shot.

It might have been good fortune to bank in off the post, but you make your own luck when you take those shots. Dunn was shooting at all the right times too.

He ended with four shots on goal. That trailed only one defenseman and was tied for second most on the entire team.

Cons: Struggling With Bad Teams

This one is a bit personal and I’ll admit that right from the start. Not everyone will care about a one goal decision against Florida, but it just gets under my skin.

There are some teams that, whether they are good or bad, just irritate the heck out of you to lose to. For me, Florida is one of those teams.

They have good players and are not that far removed from a decent playoff run. Even so, they have no hockey culture and one of the worst fan bases in the league – that is to say they have no fan base.

Unless there were fans up in the rafters, the arena might not have even been half full. The lower bowl might not have been 40% full.

You can argue about how much there is to do in Miami all you want, but if you like hockey, that is no excuse. Go to the blasted games.

So, when my team struggles against that kind of franchise, it just bugs me. However, you could almost understand the lackluster play since it is almost like playing in front of an empty arena. You can’t even thrive off the negative emotion because there is no buzz either way in the stands.

That said, the Panthers will always be one of those teams you feel like you should just dominate. That is not how the real world works, but it still feels wrong to let the Panthers get any kind of leg up on you.

Pros: Effort Goals

While the effort of the team has gone up and down with this team over the season like the changing of the tides, they have normally tried hard. This game finally took that to a different level.

It all started with the first goal of the game. Colton Parayko showed that offensive brilliance we know he possesses and seems afraid to use at times.

He took the puck from his own zone and skated it all the way into the offensive zone, showcasing his high-caliber speed. Then, after the puck was kept alive, he trucked his way behind the net and used his gigantic reach to stuff the puck in from an unheard of angle.

Earlier in the season, that goal does not happen. Parayko would have been glued to the blue line or he might not have had the confidence to take it all the way around the goal. With a little confidence, it is crazy how much different guys can play.

Then, the equalizing goal was just as nice, even if a different way.

As you see, the Blues entered the zone the exact same way. Instead of dumping or passing until we get sick, they just charged into the zone.

While the play seemed broken after the first shot, they kept the puck alive. That positive thinking kept up and the Blues kept jamming away once the puck got toward the goal.

They kept their eye on the puck too. Ryan O’Reilly, who has been a godsend this year, manged to find it in the fray, drag it back and flick it past the goalie who was preoccupied with holding Vladimir Tarasenko‘s stick.

Again, this was the kind of goal not scored earlier in the year. Guys would have given up on the play or aimlessly dove on the ice for the puck instead of staying up and keeping at it.

While these goals were not the “game winner”, they were the reason the Blues won. They were not clearly more talented than Florida, but they won because they did not give up.

Overview

That last statement was my biggest takeaway from this game. The Blues were not and may not always be the more talented team on any night.

You would like to think they have more talent than Florida, but it did not shine in this game. However, when that happens and you still win the game after 60 minutes, you have done your job.

The Blues continue to get mediocre play from their top lines though. Sure, O’Reilly scored and his line picked up some points, but they were silent for too much of the game.

If the top line was silent, the line with Robert Thomas was non-existent. That is not only because of the lack of scoring through the first two periods, but the overall lack of use of the rookie.

Thomas played for 9:30. Only two other players had fewer minutes. While the Blues had to kill off three penalties, special teams usage is not an excuse. He needs to be playing more.

That said, the result is the main thing. The game was not the prettiest, but the Blues gutted one out.

They kept chipping away and, unlike earlier in the season, never let their heads get down.

Maybe they need to hire the dads to come on full-time. The Blues improved to 6-1 when their dads are around and you could tell they did not want to get embarrassed with them in the stands.

St. Louis kept pace and remain just one point back of Vancouver and three back of Minnesota. It is important to win these games, especially with the juggernaut of Tampa coming up.