St. Louis Blues Pros And Cons From Game 4 Vs. Ottawa

The St. Louis Blues came into Ottawa on a bit of a role, without a regulation loss in three games. Still, despite being winless, the Ottawa Senators have the talent to present problems.

The St. Louis Blues came into Ottawa as one of the better teams in the league, having not lost in regulation to this point. You would not know that at all with how the Blues played at the start of the game.

This was the type of team that dug itself a hole in the early portion of 2018-19. There was no energy, no cohesion and a lot of disjointed play.

St. Louis either just had one of those games to start or underestimated their opponent. Whatever the reason, the Blues ended the first period down 2-0.

After that ensued one of the most confusing games you might ever see. Playing against one of the league’s bottom dwellers, the Blues came back, gave up the lead, gained the lead and rinsed and repeated.

St. Louis rattled off two goals of their own in the second period, seemingly grabbing the momentum. Ottawa snuffed that with a go-ahead goal to make it 3-2.

The Blues would slip in two more goals to gain their first lead of the game at 4-3. That was not good enough either as the Blues vacated the front of the net to let Ottawa score and tie it 4-4.

St. Louis did not take long to regain the lead at 5-4, but the ending was still far from sure. St. Louis did end up winning and depositing an empty net goal, but it was more relief than happiness from this win. Regardless, the Blues improved to 3-0-1

Cons: Awful first period

We are so early in 2019-20 that there is not much room for comparison, but this was by far the worst we have seen out of the Blues. St. Louis came in undefeated in regulation – yes, it’s only three prior games, but still – and they looked like the team that had not yet won a game.

The Blues went over five minutes of play without a shot on goal. After that initial shot, they did not get their second shot on goal until over half the period was played.

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St. Louis trailed by a goal after an unfortunate bounce led to an empty net goal against, but they got no bump from being scored against. Instead, their power play continued to look listless and pathetic and only mustered one shot, which was a shot from the point with absolutely no screen in front.

The entire period just looked slow, from both sides really, but Ottawa made the most of their opportunities and the Blues created none. After an odd early intermission due to a crack in the glass, the Blues looked as bad or worse after the break and allowed a second goal by not being able to clear the puck.

It is one thing to allow some goals. You’re going to have bad periods. I will just never understand how an entire team can have an off game at one time and look so unenergetic all at once.

Pros: David Perron and Oskar Sundqvist

I could have taken the Bob Ross lazy-man’s painter style and just said the Blues played a better second period, which was somewhat true. However, the team as a whole, was still pretty weak.

David Perron was his usual infuriating self, passing up shot opportunities to either peel back or pass the puck, but he was showing some effort out there. He was dragging his second linemates along with that effort and he got rewarded for that.

Perron was out on the power play and a slick little move and shot provided the Blues with their first goal of the game. Perron simply dragged the puck around the defender on the right circle and then sniped a shot into the far netting.

It was a great effort and just desserts for one of the few guys that was actually trying his best. In addition, it was his 200th career goal. He would add a second goal later in the game too.

Then, Oskar Sundqvist, who was also at least putting in some effort, tied the game. Sunny managed to take the puck immediately off a faceoff and snap it into the back of the net.

Sundqvist was his usual physical self, digging in for corner battles and doing the dirty work around the walls. Still, he continues to show just how much all his detractors were with his offensive play.

Cons: The Blues with Jake Allen in net

As a Jake Allen supporter, nothing infuriates me more than how the team plays when he is in net. These lax games always seem to happen with Allen in there and, whether he plays well or poorly, the entire team just seems off.

Letting up the first goal is never a good thing, but it did not need to happen. Everyone was so sure it was going to be an ordinary play they all just started gliding around and that applies to Allen too.

The online community blamed him for the mishandle, but the puck bounced over his stick. However, that said, Allen is a decent skater, but you would not know that with how slowly he tried to get back into the net.

Then, the team just stood around for the second goal. The Blues did not battle hard enough and failed to get the puck out of the zone and then seemed to just stand in place while the Senators passed it around and set up a goal from the slot.

Finally, the Senators’ third goal was on a little bit of everyone. Justin Faulk overplayed the puck and it bounced past him, allowing a break down the ice. Due to the NHL outlawing just about any kind of defending from behind, Alex Pietrangelo could only put a weak stick across the shaft.

Lastly, Allen needed to stand his ground. Instead, he kept backing into the net, allowing space over the shoulder for the goal to go in.

Still, this game is not entirely on Allen. He made three unbelievable saves in a row when the defense broke down midway through the second period. If not for Allen, it could have been a two or three goal lead for Ottawa instead of a 3-2 scoreline after two periods.

Pros: Sticking with it

As frustrating as this game was to watch, the Blues still kept at it. Even when not at their best, they did enough to not allow the Senators to get too far ahead and once they got their feet under them, they pushed ahead.

It still was not pretty, but the Blues kept fighting. Every time something bad would happen, they did not let their heads get too low. Instead, they would just focus on the next shift and that helped them tied the game twice and eventually take the lead.

The goal that tied it at 3-3 was a prime example. Jay Bouwmeester is not known for his offense any more, but he tossed one toward the net and it snuck through.

The Blues took their first lead of the game with a nice little snipe from Brayden Schenn. Sadly, the Blues forced themselves to keep sticking with it with some optional defending on the Senators goal that tied it 4-4.

Perron scored his second goal to put the Blues back on top 5-4, completing a two-goal game. Ryan O’Reilly also completed a fine game for himself with an empty-net goal, giving him four points on the night.

Overview

A win is a win is a win. That is what they say, but this was one that just sits a little sour on the tongue.

Allen got his first win in months (that does include offseason) and he earned it in several ways. He came up with huge stops when needed, but he also looked like a goaltender that had not had an entire game under his belt since 2019 began. Even as a supporter of his, it was hard not to notice things he could have and needed to do better/differently.

On the other hand, it is difficult for a goaltender when the team is sloppy in front. We got a big, heaping example of the defensive flaws of Faulk.

Plus/minus is not always telling, but it was with a minus-2 for Faulk. He was on the ice for several goals, his defensive lapses caused one or two and the only reason his plus/minus was not worse was him being on the ice for some Blues scores.

Still, there were good things too. As mentioned, the night belonged to Perron, O’Reilly and Sundqvist. Sammy Blais did not get on the score sheet, but he was pretty solid too.

Hopefully, the Blues will just put this game in the rear view mirror and improve for the next one. At the end of the year, we won’t remember that they played poorly, just that they won.

You cannot afford to give up points to bad teams and the Blues almost did. Bottom line, though, they did not.