St. Louis Blues Pros And Cons From Game 55 Vs. New Jersey

The St. Louis Blues could have had a letdown after their weekend series. Instead, they dominated New Jersey like a team in their position should.

Coming off their huge weekend sweep of the Nashville Predators, it would have been understandable for the St. Louis Blues to have a letdown against a lesser opponent. However, the Blues had no interest in letting their season-long winning streak come to an end.

The Blues grabbed this game early and never let it go. The only thing that took any kind of joy away from this contest was the realization that we were seeing a reflection of what the Blues were earlier in the season.

New Jersey had all the problems the Blues did as recently as a month ago. They were deflecting in goals against their own goaltender. They were getting outworked in every facet and their goalie was made to look the fool despite playing reasonably well in some stretches.

Focusing on the Blues, though, they got just about everything they needed. They had some big scoring droughts end, they were crisp on their passes and zone entries, they were solid defensively and also stuck up for their teammates.

All of that was stuff we saw little to none of earlier in the year. Now, it has become a regular occurrence.

The offense was surely cooking in this game. They scored three first period goals, added three in the second and more in the third.

Earlier in the year we would have complained they shot their load and would have nothing left. You felt, instead, this was just a superior team dominating their opponent and they can do the same to anyone when at their best.

Of course, that won’t happen in future games, but this definitely did not feel like a one time performance and that had nothing to do with the fact the team has won seven in a row.

Cons: Bad Zone Exits

While the Blues defense was on point for 95% of the game (only 11 shots against through two periods), they were a little too full of themselves on a couple plays in this game. Unfortunately, they allowed goals on both of those.

The first one was a blind backhanded pass from Pat Maroon that failed to get out of the zone. Sometimes you get away with that, but the team was a little flat-footed when the play was made.

So, they were forced to scramble with the Devils quickly switching onto the attack. New Jersey proceeded to score on that. The goal had little impact on the game, with the Blues offense doing so well, but it proved you cannot be so lax.

The Blues did not completely learn their lesson after that one either. Almost an exact copy happened later in the game, allowing the Devils a rather cheap third goal.

Just the same, the blind pass from the boards did not get out of the zone. The Blues did not even have a chance to scramble on this one, but like happened earlier in the year, they ended up deflecting the puck in their own net in an attempt to recover.

What is worrisome about these goals is the idea that bad habits might have crept into the Blues game. It’s hard to get on a team too much after a blowout win, but you cannot be making those mistakes.
Turnover on a zone exit and then scrambling on New Jersey’s goal.

Pros: Ending Some Goal Droughts

While the Blues have been winning of late, but that does not mean the struggles had ended for everyone. Some really key players were still unable to crack the wall in front of the net.

Cons: Silly Late-Game Penalties

Most times these games produce some pretty nit-picky topics when discussing what went wrong. When a team wins by five goals, you figure how bad could anything have been.

That is true in the general sense, but the Blues need to keep playing cleanly and they got a little sloppy in the third. Beyond those two bad zone exits that cost the Blues a goal, they got careless with the penalties.

You can argue about the slashing call against Vince Dunn that was the initial penalty. However, there was no real reason to take the penalty at that point in the game.

Just moments after that one, Robert Bortuzzo took a bad interference penalty. He complained about it at the time, but as Darren Pang mentioned, when he sees the replay, he will know it was the right call. It was understandable since he thought the puck would have been there, but, again, there was not really a need.

The Devils scored immediately, winning the faceoff and taking a quick shot through a screen.

In an 8-3 game, these are not huge plays. However, the Blues are not in a comfortable position yet.

They have gained their playoff seed with a big winning streak. One loss can put them right back in the danger zone, so they have to keep the early season mistakes out.

Pros: Top Line Keeps Clicking

While players have come and gone in the score sheet over this seven game winning streak, the top line has been a constant.

Vladimir Tarasenko did not have a goal in this game, but he extended his scoring streak to nine games by picking up two more assists.

Ryan O’Reilly scored what turned out to be the game-winning goal. He had an assist as well.

Brayden Schenn added two assists in this game too.

That’s six points out of your best players in this game alone. They also have 26 points in their last six games, which is a gigantic reason the team has won seven in a row.

They look like a legitimate top line as well. Earlier in the year, it seemed like the top line was just a mishmash of guys trying too hard because they should be there.

This current trio showed against the Devils, why they deserve all the accolades we can throw at them. Schenn was always impressive, but the impact that O’Reilly has had on both guys cannot be downplayed.

Overview

Nobody will ever complain about this kind of win, but this one almost got boring with so many goals. Nevertheless, it was still an important win.

The Blues needed to keep things going. They would have had every excuse in the book for a letdown, had they lost against the Devils. They did not do that and kept things chugging along.

You could have seen a hiccup. The Devils have been down of late, but every team rebounds, even if only briefly. St. Louis did not allow New Jersey any opportunity.

The Blues put aside all the glory from beating Nashville for two games and went back to work. They played like a team that is better than their opponent and they are.

But, as we have seen throughout this year, you cannot take that for granted. The Blues did not take anything for granted and scored an amazing amount of goals.

By the end of it, you had to feel bad for Keith Kinkaid, a former junior player in St. Louis with the Bandits. Cory Schneider was not in need of rest, so it was puzzling why the Devils left their goaltender in for that kind of beating.

The Blues cannot worry about that and did not. They implemented their game plan and asked the Devils to stop them, which they could not.

That is the mark of a good team. Now, we have more people wondering how high the Blues can get in the standings instead of how low they will finish.