St. Louis Blues Pros And Cons From Game 61 Vs. Boston

The St. Louis Blues looked to rebound after their unfortunate loss to the Dallas to end their franchise record winning streak. However, they had to face one of the league’s best teams in Boston right after.

The St. Louis Blues always knew their winning streak would come to an end. However, they might have picked the worst stretch of games to not have things slip the other way.

Immediately after dropping one to Dallas, the Blues had to play the Boston Bruins. Coming into this game, the Bruins had won seven games in a row, taking over for the Blues as one of the hottest in the league.

Fortunately, the Blues came as prepared as they could be with little rest and having played a lot of games in a short span. The Blues struck first, scoring a goal 7:15 into the opening period.

Unfortunately, the Blues could not make it last. Similarly to their game against Dallas, their second period did not go the way they would have liked with Boston out working them for long stretches and the Bruins scoring just about five minutes in.

Pros: Striking First

Scoring the first goal clearly does not guarantee a win. It certainly does help.

Coming into this game, the Blues had a record of 25-6-3 when scoring the first goal. When you consider the Blues have 32 overall wins, getting that first goal is supremely important.

So, when Alexander Steen tickled the twine for the first goal of the game, it boded well for St. Louis.

It was also good to get Steen on the board. Like Jaden Schwartz before him, Steen had waded into the 20-plus game without a goal waters.

While still a workhorse, Steen is not the defensive stalwart he was, so he needs to pop in the occasional goal to keep productive. He finally got it here.

It was a sweet goal too. Steen got the puck on the left circle, picked his spot and whipped it home for the score.

The only downfall was this was one of the few chances the Blues had in the first. You could tell they were still trying to shake off the weariness they showed in Dallas and it took awhile to get going.

Still, getting that first one pushed Boston onto their heels and allowed the Blues a little room to breathe.

Cons: Passing

We have seen the Blues look far worse, and I do mean far worse, when it comes to their passing. Earlier in the season, it literally looked like they would not be able to pass around a junior team.

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But, we have come to expect greater things with the team coalescing of late. So, when they are not sharp, it becomes more evident.

Overall, it just seemed like the Blues were sloppy with the puck. You could chalk it up to the tiredness in the first period, but you would figure things would be cleaned up once they got going. The intermission was not the Blues friend.

The second period was particularly bad for sloppy play. St. Louis had 6 statistical turnovers through two periods and who knows how many that don’t get counted.

It was not so much the passes were terrible. They were not putting them right on Bruins’ sticks, leading to break after break.

Even so, they were not hitting their teammates’ stick either. Too often, passes were getting caught up in skates or clanging off shin pads. It becomes that much more difficult to score when you have to give more effort to gain the puck instead of worrying about charging toward goal after a good pass.

Another reason the passing was an issue was the frequency of it. The Blues won 11 games in a row because they took charge and put pucks on net. In this game we saw a return to the over-passing ways. Vladimir Tarasenko tried a foolish saucer pass instead of shooting it on a late-game two-on-one. It was too much of a mentality of hoping the next guy would do something with it throughout the game from many players.

Boston is a quality defensive team, but the Blues were passing up too many opportunities – literally.

Pros: Second Effort

One of the good things to see from this team was the return of the second effort. It never fully left, but the Blues were at their best when they were diving around, cleaning up the other’s mistakes.

We saw that a lot in this game. The defense was diving around to make blocks when necessary, though their blocked shot totals were not as high as you might like.

Still, on the few occasions Jordan Binnington got out of position, his defenders came by and swatted pucks away before shots even happened.

To repay the favor, Binnington made two of his best saves of his brief career and that is saying something. His robbery of David Backes is probably only topped by Jake Allen‘s stick save out of midair for a rookie netminder with the Blues. Not only did he rob a sure goal, but he showed exemplary second effort by pushing back across the crease to not give up on the play.

Then, in the third period he bailed out the Blues again, making a great pad save to bail out Joel Edmundson who gave the puck right to Boston leading to a break.

St. Louis was not sharp in this game at all. However, you saw continued effort even when the mistakes were made. That is what good teams do. They find ways to keep pushing through, even when you are not at your best.

Pros: Last 3 Minutes Of OT And Shootout

While the Blues had long stretches of poor play throughout this game, they found their legs a little bit in overtime, which seems strange. After 60 grueling minutes, the Blues seemed to relish the extra open ice.

St. Louis dominated most of the extra period. They came achingly close to scoring several times as well.

In the last three minutes of overtime, the Blues created at least three prime scoring opportunities. Unfortunately for them, they were either too close to goal to get any loft on things or unable to jam one in.

You almost felt the day would go against them once they failed to score in overtime. It felt like that was the last gasp with no air left in the tank.

Instead, the Blues pulled on their pants and went back to work. Steen scored a big goal to put the Blues ahead in the shootout, roofing it over the blocker shoulder.

Then, it was the Binnington show. He was not flashy, but the saves he made were solid and, clearly, game saving. It was only a fabulous move by Charlie Coyle that beat him.

Lastly, we got one of the most difficult goals you will ever see out of Sammy Blais. Blais was literally inches away from the end line and managed to put it into the roofing of the net for the win.

Overview

This was one of the poorer games the Blues have played in some time. Even so, they got the win.

To be honest, it felt like the Blues were sharper and had a better overall game in Dallas but lost. At home against the Bruins, they were sloppy and behind the play often, forced to scramble, but found a way to win.

That is the kind of bounce back they needed, really. As fans, it would have been more fun and more comfortable for them to have a dominant performance and look like the team that stormed into third place in the Central.

However, this might actually be better for the team. They made lots of mistakes and were not on their game in many facets and picked up two points. That is the mark of a good team and one that can battle adversity, which will come in full force in the playoffs.

Things do not get any easier now. The Blues go to Minnesota for another game tomorrow.

With a wounded/sick lineup, it will take just as much, if not more effort to win the next one. But, the Blues put a stop to the losing quick.

There will be no losing streak right off the back of the winning one. Now, time to regroup and prepare for the next wave.