St. Louis Blues Pros And Cons From Game 6 Vs. New York Islanders

The St. Louis Blues had a rare day game as they took on the New York Islanders out east. It was another slow start, but the Blues were better than in Montreal.

The St. Louis Blues might end up with one of their worst TV ratings in quite some time for their game against the New York Islanders. Maybe it is a bigger deal on the east coast, but in and around St. Louis, there are not as many people that have Columbus Day off work as there used to be.

You could tell it was a break from the normal habit for all involved too. The Blues got off to another slow start offensively and once they scored, the score keepers seemed to still be napping as well.

The Blues got the first goal of the game, scoring a little less than seven minutes into the first period. However, depending how you got your information, there were three different goal scorers.

In arena, they said Vladimir Tarasenko got the goal. The announcers, correctly, said it was Brayden Schenn and the NHL app apparently called the goal for Vince Dunn. Clearly the stat personnel were on holiday.

The game settled into a long lull where nothing really happened.  St. Louis would score the next goal of the game and they should have cruised into the locker room and come home with an easy win.

For whatever reason, the Blues took their foot off the gas.  Their power play, which did look better overall, did nothing at the end of the game and then the Blues could not clear the puck out of their own zone at key moments.

New York scored two goals in the final five minutes, tying the game.  They would score a rather quick goal in the overtime period, giving the Isles a 3-2 win.

It was not the kind of effort the Blues needed, but I’m sure we’ll hear all about how they got a point at least.

Cons: Taking too long for the offense to wake up

While the end results have been there for the Blues, it is becoming worrying how little their offense has to show in the opening moments of a game. You can argue it is all about wins and losses and you would be right, but getting on top of teams is important.

The Blues have managed to score the first goal in four of their six games so far, but the offense is just sleepwalking through the opening few minutes. St. Louis ended up not getting their first shot on goal until 6:32 had been played in the period. Their first goal deflected in off a defensive stick, so technically, that was not even their second shot of the game.

Without going back and re-watching each game, I could not give an accurate number. However, this has to be the third or fourth game in a row where the Blues have struggled to get shots on goal in the first five-plus minutes.

This is at least the third game in a row where they have not had any shots at all in the first five minutes or more. If you score first, perhaps it does not matter, but the trends with this team are worrying.

We can brush things off as long as the team is winning, but trends tend to catch up with you eventually when they are negative ones.

Pros: Schenn continues hot streak

Right now, the Blues are surviving mainly off the play of individuals. Schenn is one of those individuals and he kept his hot streak going.

Schenn, who was eventually officially credited with the goal, now has goals in five straight games. That is the first time St. Louis has had a single player score goals in five straight goals since 2015 when Tarasenko did it.

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His first goal on this day was the kind that really indicates things are going well for you. Schenn really did not even intend the puck to get on net. He was firing it in front, looking for a tap-in from Tarasenko. Instead, the defender put his stick down and the puck deflected up and in.

Again, the strange thing is how the statisticians came up with so many options as to the goal scorer. The Tarasenko thing was understandable because his stick was close enough to get a tip. However, even if it was Tarasenko, Schenn was not originally awarded an assist, even though he was the last to touch it.

Oh well. Schenn got the goal, continued his streak and put the Blues on top.

Cons: Dull game

If you did not watch the game, you did not miss much in this one. This was a stereotypical East vs West game if you were playing back in the 1990’s.

The Blues scored two goals and it was almost just a shoulder shrug, even by the players involved. A little bit of energy here or there, but overall you could tell the players on both sides were off their game.

The fans were quiet the entire time. Much of that can be attributed to the Blues smothering the Islanders, but it was just a quiet game.

Until the final five minutes, mainly after the Islanders got on the board, there was little energy in the building. As tight as the game was, it really was not a hotly contested affair.

There were over 50 shots on goal, combined, but it did not feel like there was much offense. The Islanders would tie the game up at the very end, but it was basically just five hard minutes for them and a lot of nothing from both teams prior to that.

Pros: Tarasenko gets his first

We might only be six games into the 2019-20 season, but it felt like it took forever to get Tarasenko his first goal. Neverthless, he picked a good time to get it.

With the Blues seemingly in charge of the game, but only up by one goal, the Blues sniper struck. Add to that it was on the power play and you get a double-whammy on the positive side.

What made this goal interesting was the fact the Blues had Tarasenko set up on the off wing (the right wing) on the power play. This is something fans have been begging for for years. The fact it led to a goal will not help the coaching staff in that regard.

Tarasneko snapped off a one-timer earlier in the power play, which is also something so many have wanted to see more of. It was a simple wrist shot that led to the goal though.

Tarasenko took the puck on the circle, after a fake pass led the defense to worry about a one-timer from Colton Parayko. From there, he just fired it near post as Thomas Greiss did not cover the net properly.

It might be Greiss’ fault, but you’ll take the goal any way you can get it. Tarasenko has not looked sharp to this point, so the hope is the weight off his shoulders will be a springboard for him.

Cons: Failing to get the puck out

Circling back to the final five minutes discussed in the last Con section, the Blues should have won this game 2-0. There was absolutely nothing the Islanders were doing to put them under pressure and it was all lackadaisical play on the Blues part that cost them a regulation win.

Both goals were the direct result of failing to get the puck out of the Blues own zone. You can always point to this or that prior to any instance and say that could have changed things. One was a potential puck cover by Binnington prior to the Islanders’ second goal, but it still does not matter.

The Blues took their foot off the gas and the Islanders, who had no business getting anything out of this game, smelled blood. They had nothing going until the final five minutes of the game and the Blues just kept giving the puck right to them.

Perhaps we should have seen it coming. The Blues were pretty bad at zone exits for much of the game, often trying weak chips or backhanded plays out. They just got away with it.

However, both regulation goals were the result of the Blues failing to clear the puck. The last one was the worst, as the Blues had a couple chances to avoid the end result.

Overview

We are only six games into the season and I will forever cherish the Blues Stanley Cup run. However, after this game, the honeymoon might be over for myself.

The Blues have looked like a tired team in just about every game so far this season, getting by on individual plays rather than a solid team game. Nobody is expecting playoff intensity and we are all very well aware that nobody on the Blues ever played that deeply into the postseason prior to last season.

However, you cannot live on that forever. These are professional players, getting paid a large sum of money to perform and they are less than average right now.

They are giving the puck over. They are allowing the opponents to get back-door plays and settle into the slot like they are a playoff outlier.

A team that prides itself on defense is allowing way too many goals. Binnington gave up a soft goal to make it 2-1. The defense failed to do him any favors for most of the game and then Alex Pietrangelo just stood at the top of the crease, watching the puck carrier while the eventual goal scorer stood behind him, unguarded.

You don’t want to get on this team too much, but you have to play a full game and, win or lose, the Blues have not even come close yet. They could easily be winless with the lackluster drive they have shown and are fortunate to have the three wins they do.

It is early, yes. The Blues got a point, yes. However, fans do not demand perfection (the sane ones, anyway), but we do demand a little more than we are getting. The Blues might not be that bad, but we are seeing way too much of what cost the Blues early in 2018-19 right now.