St. Louis Blues Need To Prove Game 4 Was Message, Not Nerves

The St. Louis Blues wavered from their stoic stance in Game 4 against the Dallas Stars. Now, the question is whether they have lost their cool or whether it was all just a message.

The St. Louis Blues are not having much success against the Dallas Stars. Some might say they are lucky to be in this series since they have yet to play a good game in any of the previous four we have seen.

The Blues are currently tied 2-2 in the series, but they have yet to play anything resembling 60 minutes. You might even argue they had better moments against Winnipeg and we felt they got a little lucky against the Jets at times.

Regardless of all that, the Blues are clearly in this series. They had the chance to take a 3-1 series lead if they did not crap the bed in Game 4. Even playing one of the worst games we have seen of them in this playoff run, they were still somewhat in it and came within a whisker of making the score 4-3.

The issue right now is not so much the results. The issue is the question of whether the Blues frustrations that boiled over in Game 4 are a sign of them fighting back or a sign of them giving in to the pressure.

That is why Game 5 is so important. Clearly winning is the biggest thing because you do not want to absolutely have to win two games in a row. However, the Blues also have to prove they were fighting back and not succumbing to the irritation that is the Dallas Stars.

St. Louis showed a lot of stuff they needed to not engage in. David Perron has been getting testier and testier in this series.

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He has taken several penalties in the offensive zone, but that is almost expected of him. His repeated aggression against Ben Bishop is going to get him in hot water, however.

If we are honest, Bishop has made mountains out of molehills with all this contact. Even so, Perron is putting himself and his team in a dangerous spot with all the stuff going on.

Whether you think it was egregious or not, Perron did make contact with Bishop’s mask which you simply cannot do. In Game 4, whether you think it was a tap or something more, the blade of his stick did make contact with Bishop in the spine. I fully agree that Bishop overreacted by looking like he had been shot, but you cannot put yourself in that situation. The Blues turned the other cheek almost every time against the Jets and that got under Winnipeg’s skin. Right now, it looks like the Stars have gotten under the Blues skin.

Jamie Benn looks like he took fencing lessons or ax cutting lessons the way he has used his stick, yet he has only gone into the box twice that I can remember. He has drawn the Blues into several altercations though because they are tired of his stuff.

Jordan Binnington got caught up in all of that. The man who looked like he had absolutely no emotion came just short of going bonkers in Game 4.

Binnington came out of his crease to chop and facewash Benn after an altercation at the end of the second period. Then, he went over to the Stars bench and had some sort of altercation with Bishop.

On the one hand, I get it. If he is just sticking up for himself and his teammates and letting the Stars know this will not be tolerated, then fine.

The worry is that the Stars are getting into the Blues heads.  There are plenty who think Binnington showed some chinks in his armor.

Game 5 is the perfect time to prove which is the case. If all that pushing and scrumming and chops here and there was to just send a message and the Blues come out and play their game, it is all good. That used to happen all the time. Players used to always have big melees at the end of games to send a message for the next one. You just do not see that anymore, which makes you wonder if that is the case.

If the Blues start taking penalties early and worrying about the extra stuff as opposed to the game, we are in trouble.

If they can win and do that stuff, so be it. If it was all just a message to let them know you won’t be bullied, even better. I still say you need to try avoiding it all, as hard as that definitely is.