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

The St. Louis Blues were on a 0-2-2 skid and found life not getting any easier as the Colorado Avalanche, undefeated in regulation, came to town.

The St. Louis Blues held a players-only meeting prior to their first matchup with the Colorado Avalanche. As we as fans witnessed this team was not playing Blues hockey for a full 60 minutes. The meeting clearly had an impact on the team’s performance for this tilt.

During the 0-2-2 slide, we witnessed, what I mentioned in previous articles, a lack of team defense or team play. Craig Berube confirmed this in a post-game interview. During this skid, and even periods of their wins, the Blues were not demonstrating that all for one style.

Their play without the puck has been atrocious, as I called it. From being out of position, or too spread out, the Blues found themselves giving up way too many grade-A scoring chances to the opposition.

That also led to a lot of turnovers in the neutral and offensive zones. So, for the team to hold a players-only meeting was encouraging to this fan. At the very least, it confirmed the players knew things weren’t right.

Offense- A

The St. Louis Blues offense put up three goals on the Colorado Avalanche. Three goals isn’t exactly lighting the scoreboard on fire, but the offense was smothering. The team was finally displaying that puck-hounding, heavy-hitting style that is critical to the Blues’ success.

The top line was humming! Looking like a real top line. Brayden Schenn scored another goal, but, just as important, Vladimir Tarasenko was visible every time he set foot on the ice. He only had one shot in the game but got the goal on a weak angle.

What was most impressive and encouraging about Vladi’s game was he was skating and hitting. When Tarasenko is engaged physically, he has produced some of his biggest games. He ended the night with one goal and two assists. He was a breath of fresh air for the top line.

Schwartz was buzzing and made a fantastic pass to Vladi off the end boards to set up the bad angle goal. When these guys are skating and engaged physically they become dangerous. Let’s hope it continues.

Defense- A

The defense was smothering. They pinched in on the offensive zone and their gap closure was superb. When the top line of Colorado, Nathan MacKinnon, Gabriel Landeskog and Mikko Rantanen were out there the defense was over the top of them at all times.

They never gave the Avs top line time and space to generate that speed game of theirs they execute so well. At one point the Blues had only allowed one even-strength shot on goal for a span of 20 minutes.

This is what we in St. Louis have come to expect from this bunch and it was awesome to see them execute it against the hottest team in the NHL this early season. The Avalanche top line did score a goal, but they never generated much in this game in terms of pressure or speed.

Goaltending- A

Jordan Binnington was tested early on in the game and stood tall. The Blues team play was so dominant in this one that Binner’s life as an NHL goaltender was pretty easy.

He made the saves he needed to. Aside from a well placed shot from the point by MacKinnon, where Binner was screened, it would’ve been a shut out.

After the game, Binnington praised the guys in front of him and said that this is what we do to teams when we play our game and it makes my life easy back there. Aside from their lone goal Binnington was able to see every shot pretty clearly thanks to the tough defensive play in front of him.

Special Teams- A

The power play looked good. There was movement, physicality and taking shots. More importantly, they didn’t allow the Avalanche penalty kill to generate dangerous scoring chances. Additionally, they converted on a Schenn shot to open the scoring of the game.

I am far from saying the power-play woes are a thing of the past after one good performance. Still, it definitely showed that the power play is capable of being an ACTUAL power play. Let’s hope it continues and we see some consistency in the future.

The penalty kill was put the test too much, yet again, in this game. If I had a score for team discipline it would be a D. The team is still taking too many penalties. Although it didn’t hurt the team this game, it will if it isn’t a focus.

The penalty kill has been one of the best in the league so far this season and to any Blues fan that is expected. St. Louis has always had a solid penalty kill and the Blues fans won’t stand for anything less.

Coaching- A

Kudos to Coach Berube for pulling the top line aside and having a meeting with them. They were on fire in this game. Yet again, Berube displayed his innate ability to push the buttons of players effectively to get the best out of them.

This is by far Craig Berube’s greatest attribute as a head coach. He seems to know exactly when and who to say something to and get the best out of his team. It’s uncanny how many times this guy flips a switch and it pays off.

In this game, he moved Alex Steen to the second line and moved Blais down to the third alongside Tyler Bozak and Robert Thomas. It paid off.

Steen drove the second line and showed them the straight-line play they needed to get back to success. Sammy Blais slotted in alongside Tommy and Bozey and the two kids were wheeling and dealing on that third line creating havoc for the opposition defense. They were fun to watch and looked like the line did last season with Pat Maroon.

Overall the Blues dominated. It was the first 60-minute game they played and when they play the style of team defense and team play portrayed this night the sky is the limit for this club. I’m excited again for this team.

I know it’s going to be up and down this season as it is with most Cup winners. Still, it was refreshing to see that the guys still know what they need to do to win each and every night.

They square off against the LA Kings on Thursday at 7 pm (CST) before going on the road for back to back tilts with Boston and Detroit. So long as they play like this they can win any game.

Drop the puck!