The St. Louis Blues continued their rough stretch of this late-season schedule finishing a back-to-back in Minnesota. While the Blues salvaged a point, the end result was rather bitter.
The St. Louis Blues keep finding ways to get results. Unfortunately, with the Minnesota Wild in the playoff race and in the division, surrendering an extra point to their rival was not the result they would have hoped for.
While St. Louis continues to play much better than they did earlier in the season, you can tell they are starting to wear down. The Blues have played 213 games in 22 days and still have two more games in the month.
It was evident the Blues were having trouble getting their legs going in the first period. They had enough energy to keep themselves in the game, but it was a far cry from how well they played the last time they faced the Wild.
The first period was rather dull, with the Blues only generating one or two genuine scoring chances. The defense managed to play well enough, but surrendered more opportunities than the team generated, relying on goaltending.
That would become a theme throughout this game. When the horn sounded for a full 60 minutes, the Blues only gained a point due to their goaltending. Sadly, the main story line on sports radio and among fans will be that their goaltender cost them the extra point.
In the end, that is up to each individual. The bottom line is the Blues got an important point and keep themselves with a firm grip on that third seed in the division.
Cons: Defense/Lack Of Offense
The St. Louis Blues were not bad defensively, but they were certainly not great. The first goal of the game was evident of that.
While the Blues were in decent position if you drew things up on a whiteboard, they allowed an opponent to stand in the crease untouched. Jason Zucker was basically alone right in front of the goaltender.
All it took was a decent pass right on his stick for an easy tap into the goal. There was basically no chance to save that, unless the puck managed to hit Jake Allen.
Outside of that, the Blues were just sort of stagnant. They were guilty of puck watching quite a bit and got caught standing a few times.
On the opposite side of the same coin, the offense was just not there. Sometimes you get outplayed, but you never got the feeling that was the case. The Blues offense just could not generate enough.
Ryan O’Reilly had a great chance on a partial break in the first and put it over the bar. In the second, the Blues did not seem to wake up until the Wild had already scored. Then, they got some bad luck, clanging a shot off the bar.
Even if you account the bad luck, there was not enough put toward net. The Blues got outshot in two periods and only tied the Wild in shots in the second period.
Pros: Jake Allen
Allen was not incredibly busy throughout the game, but he got the job done in the regulation 60 minutes. Allen looked sharp for much of the game, despite going for stretches without any action.
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He only faced eight shots in the first period, but at least half of those were quality chances. He turned them all aside.
In the second period, the Wild took it up a notch, getting 13 shots in total. Allen did allow a goal, but 12 saves on 13 shots is not bad, especially when there was absolutely no shot at saving it. You could see the push beginning and Allen was a big reason the game was still within reach.
Then, in the third, he turned it up even further. The Snake faced 13 shots in one period again and this time he turned them all away.
One of his best stops came on a partial breakaway for Joel Eriksson Ek. Allen slammed his skate against the post and would not let it off despite multiple whacks at the puck before the defenders came to help.
The Snake stood tall. He kept the Wild power play silent, having them go 0-3. He was also big in the third period, being one of the main reasons the team even got a point.
Unfortunately, the narrative will not be that way.
Cons: Jake Allen In Overtime
If we are being fair and honest, if you are going to give credit to Allen for his work in regulation, he must share the blame in overtime. He is not 100% at fault for the Blues failure to win, but he does bear some responsibility.
Allen only faced one shot in the overtime period and, unfortunately for him and the Blues, that one managed to beat him. Also, even Allen will say he should have had it. Even as a staunch supporter of his, I must admit he should have had it.
The reality is there was the smallest of screens. The shot came just past Robert Thomas, who was unable to get the block. Nevertheless, Allen had a good deal of distance between him and the shooter.
Even with the puck exploding off the stick of Ryan Donato, it is a stop you should be able to make being able to see it almost the entire way.
But, Allen’s downfall has been his reliance on positioning over stopping ability of late. The Snake is a good athlete, but he seems rather robotic at times.
Instead of keeping his glove hand a little looser, it was almost glued to his left pad. That made it more difficult to get that glove up to make the save and keep the game going.
One of the things Jordan Binnington has been good at is keeping his hands free. Allen seems to jam his arms against his body immediately, which takes away his athletic ability and makes him almost exclusively reliant on his positioning. The puck did not hit him this time and the Blues lost on a save that he probably could have had.
Overview
As a fan of almost everyone that puts on the Note, Allen in particular, it pains me that the narrative will likely be the goaltending. Allen is a big reason the Blues even got to overtime, but that will be brushed aside and lazy fans will take the lazy narrative that it’s all down to goaltending again.
Once the game got to overtime, yes, Allen needed to make the save and did not. Even admitting that, there are far too many fans that will overlook the offense or defense.
Where were the shots in this game? 28 shots is not enough. The shots that were taken were not good enough.
The Blues had some bad luck, hitting their usual several posts. During their impressive win streak, however, they made their luck.
The Blues were not letting their opponents into the hard areas of the ice and now, regardless of result, the Blues have let them get wherever they wanted the last few games.
On the positive side, this was an important point. They moved to within five points of Nashville, who they play in their next game. The Blues collected three of four possible points in a tough weekend of games. It also keeps them five points above Dallas and seven points above the teams outside the playoff line.
On the flip side, the extra point given to the Wild allowed them to move into the final wild card spot, just when it seemed like they were on the way out.
Ultimately, the Blues just have to pull their pants up and keep on working. There really will not be any time for rest, so the Blues have to find their second and third winds to keep this all going.
Plenty will be upset at how the final play unfolded, but this was a fair result given how the entire game went. We would all ove a win, but the Blues simply did not do enough to earn it.