St. Louis Blues: The Blues Vs. Canucks Report Card

The St. Louis Blues squared off against the visiting Vancouver Canucks last night. The Blues entered the game on a two-game losing streak in which the last one they failed to close the game out with a lead, ultimately losing it in overtime. Vancouver wasn’t going to be an easy opportunity to stop the skid.

The St. Louis Blues played a better game than the Canucks who entered the tilt on a three-game winning streak. The Blues would score first in the first frame on Robby Fabbri‘s first goal of the 2019 season.

In the second, Michael Ferland of the Canucks would tie it up 1-1 after going to the front of the net and banging home a rebound. It was a short-lived tie as Blues were able to respond and regain the one-goal lead just 43 seconds later on a blister of a shot from the captain Alex Pietrangelo.

About 90 seconds later, Vladimir Tarasenko crashed the net and swiped home a rebound to give the Blues the two-goal lead. Vancouver seemed a little disorganized after that, but nevertheless, Thatcher Demko, the Canucks back-up goalie prospect slammed the door, and Mr. Plug and Play, J.T. Miller, was able to bring it back to a one-goal game after the Canucks successfully killed off a 5-on-3 powerplay opportunity for the Blues.

More from Analysis

• St. Louis Blues and Cardinals Similar In All The Wrong Ways
• St. Louis Blues Pros/Cons From 2022-23 Game 82 At Dallas
• St. Louis Blues Pros/Cons From 2022-23 Game 81 Vs Dallas
• St. Louis Blues Pros/Cons From 2022-23 Game 80 At Minnesota
• St. Louis Blues Pros/Cons From 2022-23 Game 79 Vs NY Rangers

The period ended with the Blues holding onto a one-goal lead. The third period began, and the Blues not having played poorly, as a fan, you could feel the game getting away.

In what seems to be typical fashion in this early season, the Blues intensity fell off. It would be about midway in the third, and Vancouver was gifted their own 5-on-3 power play.

Officially, the Blues killed it off, but Bo Horvat was able to jam home a loose puck with Colton Parayko doing his best two pad stack impression across the goalmouth as the final seconds of the 5-on-3 ticked off.

So although not officially a power-play goal and officially a penalty kill, the Blues surrendered the game-tying goal, and the Canucks young back-up Thatcher Demko continued to absorb the Blues shots square in the chest.

A product of his solid positioning and getting square to the shooter as much as the Blues shooters failing to pick a corner. The Blues would go on to lose in a 6 round shoot out where both goalies looked unbeatable. Let’s get to the grades for this one.

Offense- B-

The Blues scored the first goal of the game and even registered a shot on goal in the first five minutes. So that’s an improvement. Tarasenko notched his second of the season, and hopefully, he’s getting into form as he registered seven shots on goal throughout the game.

The offense had some good looks and seemed to get to the forecheck well in the early frames. It only seemed to fade in the third period, which again appears to be the theme so far. Not being able to play a full 60 minutes. The Blues outshot Vancouver in every frame, which is encouraging and also indicative that they were hounding the puck better in this game than others.

I almost gave them a C here, but overall the offense wasn’t what did them in. The offense did enough to win most games. It’s the next grade two grades that cost them in this one.

Defense- D

Before the game started, the top line of Brayden Schenn, Jaden Schwartz, and Tarasenko, along with the captain Pietrangelo, were a -15 combined. What makes that number even worse is they have 23 points combined!

I’m not a math whiz, but that seems like, for every point they get, they are giving 1.5 points while on the ice. This is not Blues hockey, and it really backs up my earlier statement that the Blues play without the puck has been atrocious.

At current, there are only four-plus players on the Blues roster. Ryan O’Reilly, David Perron, Sammy Blais, and Vince Dunn. Seven players are even, and of the remaining eight on the roster, one are -1 while the rest are -2 and Fabbri leading that bunch at another -4.

So defense, the attribute that every Blues team is heralded for, is non-existent. This facet of the game has been missing in most games. We need to get back to solid team defense. Better play away from the puck and shot suppression. Part of this starts with the forecheck, sure, but as you can see, there seems to be some lazy play in the team defense.

Special Teams- C

Once again, the power play shoulders some blame for this loss. The Blues had a 5-on-3 and failed to convert. The puck movement was slow for a 5-on-3. It didn’t look as bad as the Canucks’ chance, and although officially they didn’t convert either, they did the dirty work at the end and got the puck to the net and crashed it hard.

The penalty kill “killed off” all five of the Canuck’s opportunities in this. Five! Yeah, that’s too many, I agree. The Canucks, in turn, killed off all four of the Blues opportunities. Convert on one of those, any of them, and this is a different game and maybe a different article.

I try to write these with a fresh lens for every game and try not to cast judgment or hold a grudge from one game to the next, so I don’t think I’m viewing the power play through tainted glasses. It just isn’t getting it done. The pieces are there, but the puzzle isn’t coming together.

Goaltending- B-

Jordan Binnington did what he could. He made some great saves again, but there were times in the game where you could see he lost the puck. On the Ferland goal, he went down to block what I guess he thought was a potential back door play and then lost the puck for a few seconds.

He seemed to be pressing a little and over, anticipating in some situations. Indicative of a goalie who is trying to make up for poor team defense. He’s been good and will continue to be good, but without the defense to help, he will be average in terms of numbers.

Coaching- C

Get the power play figured out! The power play in this one looked better. I don’t recall them giving up any chances to the penalty kill for the other team, so that’s a plus. Not converting on a 5 on 3 though in a critical time in the game was the turning point.

The power play has to be more hungry and more dirty. It needs to crash the net and get the greasy goals. This team is not the Boston Bruins, the Colorado Avalanche, or the Tampa Bay Lightning, where your skill is going to beat the opponent.

Maybe it’s time to move Schwartz down in the lineup and off the powerplay until he finds his goal-scoring touch. Schwartz is a hard worker, but at the end of the day, if you aren’t scoring goals on the powerplay and you’re not scoring on the top line, then maybe you need to be on the line with the other “hard workers.”

In the end, the Blues coughed up another point. They had the lead, and like the game against the Islanders, they choked it up. It’s been team defense through the early going of the season that is costing them. It’s coachable, it’s correctable, but is also the most tiring part of the game.

It’s a tough league. The parody has never been greater. It’s why I love this game more than any other. It’s a long season, and the Blues will be ok, but if they want to be great again, they better get to work!

Drop the puck!