The St. Louis Blues, 4-2-3, hosted the 4-5-0 LA Kings last night. The question on everyone’s mind was would there be a let down after the dominating performance against the Colorado Avalanche the game before?
The St. Louis Blues answered that question in spades last night with another tenacious and dominating performance. The line up was a little different in this set with Sammy Blais out with a thumb injury, making him day to day.
The St. Louis Blues inserted Zach Sanford into Blais’ spot. Although I was skeptical of the choice, I was satisfied and encouraged by Sanford’s performance. He was hard on the puck and was generating chances for his linemates, Tyler Bozak and Robert Thomas.
Thomas was able to convert one of those chances into his first goal of the 2019-20 season and nearly had another that many thought, until the replay, was a goal. Sanford, himself, had a few golden opportunities to get a goal but failed to bury it. All in all, the job was accomplished and Sanford delivered in this one.
There was no let down in the team’s play in this one. Aside from an unusually poor turnover from Ryan O’Reilly in the defensive zone, the Blues didn’t do anything to really hurt themselves in this one.
From top to bottom and start to finish, the Blues displayed another full 60 minutes of St. Louis Blues Hockey. They were tough, tenacious, heavy and held onto pucks.
I’ve been very, very encouraged by these two games from the Blues. The defensive pairings are different than last year and even the given pairing of Jay Bouwmeester and Colton Parayko have been split up. We’ll talk about that in the report card.
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The only downside to this game was losing Vladimir Tarasenko to an upper-body injury in the first period. I messaged a buddy of mine when the play happened and I asked, “Did he just get hurt?” The showed him on the bench and he didn’t appear to be in any pain or discomfort.
He said, “He looks fine.” I replied, “I guess. He just looked odd on that play. Like he hurt his shoulder and stopped.”
Unfortunately, my assessment was correct. Whether it is indeed his shoulder has yet to be confirmed, but he did reach for it on his way back to the bench immediately after the strange-looking play.
My guess is the shoulder popped out of the socket, which can begin to happen with shoulder injuries. The guess is, that although it wasn’t painful and he may have been able to go back out if it were the playoffs or Cup Final, the Blues are erring on the side of caution and the training staff said to sit it out to give it time to relax.
I imagine we will hear more today when the official report comes out. I just hope it is “minor” like that and Vladi will be back on the ice in a short time. Aside from that tidbit of bad news Let’s get to the grades!
Offense- A
Once again the Blues offense was exactly what they needed to be in order to have success as a team. They were hard on pucks, generating turnovers as opposed to handing them out like earlier in the season.
The forecheck and tenacity was apparent nearly from the beginning. It was another fun game to watch as a fan and another prime example of Blues hockey. The defense was active in the o-zone and had the first two goals of the game for the Blues.
Each line showcased its own specialty to the team outline and kept LA on their heels. LA wasn’t stymied in this game, by any means, but the Blues carried a lot of the play in the game and their offense was buzzing and creating chances. The shots on goal were close to equal for both teams, but the Blues were the team creating the more dangerous opportunities.
Defense- A
As I mentioned before the pairings are different from the ones we assumed would be the for sure pairings. After some experimentation and moving guys around, Craig Berube and Mike Van Ryn appear to have settled for now on the pairings.
Let’s just say that as good and stellar as the defense for the Blues were last year, this group appears poised to be even more dangerous than that! Colton Parayko is now paired with the captain Alex Pietrangelo and that pair is dominating.
Bouwmeester has been slotted alongside Faulk and the two of them have looked nearly as electric as the top pair of Parayko and Pietrangelo. That has left the pairing of Vince Dunn and Robert Bortuzzo. These are two guys who have found themselves playing together in the past and Bortuzzo, to me, is a great fit for Dunn.
Bortz frees up Dunn to move around more and generate offense knowing that the more stay-at-home defenseman Bortuzzo is there in case the offense coughs it up and the puck comes the other way.
The defense is generating scoring chances from all three pairings, they are carrying the play and limiting the grade-A chances for the opposition. It’s a pleasant turn of events and a great asset to have in this league. The Blues defense is arguably the best group of six in the NHL.
Pairing that with the forwards all buying into the team defense and getting back on the backcheck makes the defense that much more impressive. The formula for winning in the NHL is pretty simple. It’s tiring and it’s not easy, but the process to generate wins is simple.
The Blues defense has the process down to a T and when all parties are bought in they make it look easy. I don’t expect the entire season to be perfect, but the Blues have certainly the recipe for consistent success so long as they are all ready and willing to play the St. Louis Blues way.
Goaltending- A
Jordan Binnington, again, was his calm, cool, collected self with a furious and ferocious fire that smolders under the surface. The guy just does what Blues fans have been asking of a starting goaltender for years.
He makes the saves that he needs to and gives his team a chance to win every single night even when the team hasn’t been ready and willing to play a full 60 minutes of St. Louis Blues hockey.
Making his usual skate to the sideboards in between action, Binnington bumped into Kyle Clifford after Clifford was called for a penalty against Ivan Barbashev. Clifford took exception to the contact and both were in a brief staredown before Clifford cross-checked Binnington in the chest.
Binnington didn’t have time to react as Barbashev and Oskar Sundqvist flew in to protect their teammate. I wouldn’t have been surprised to see Binnington give Clifford and return shot, if he had the time.
Binnington is a fiery competitor and isn’t afraid to mix it up with the opposition as we all witnessed in Round 2 of the playoffs last season. That is when he shouldered Ben Bishop as the two crossed paths on the way to their respective locker rooms between periods.
Binnington moving forward, along with a steady and consistent team buy in to St. Louis Blues hockey, will begin to build his case for this season’s Vezina winner.
Special Teams- A
Holy Smokes! Three power play goals in one game?!?! Wow! That’s what I’m talking about!
I’ll say the power-play is the secondary reason the Blues won this game. Secondary only because it was due to the heavy and tenacious play of the team that led to the opportunities and without that there are no power plays in this game.
Even without Tarasenko on the top unit after his exit due to injury, the power play looked good. Only at one point did they allow the LA penalty kill an opportunity and almost surrender their third short-handed goal of the short season.
The only negative thing I can say about the power play is this ridiculous, in-fashion back pass on the entry. Maybe someone can explain to me why we would have four guys skating up the ice with some speed only to stop and stand still on the blue line while we drop a pass back to a speeding forward who will just flick it left or right to the standstill player next to him?
It’s predictable and led to the opposition’s one good chance at a shorthanded goal. This team is not a skilled finesse team. I would prefer to see them turn the defenders around and get the puck deep with speed rather than have them all starting from a standstill at the blue line.
Regardless of that little gripe of mine, the power play converted three times and there is nothing we can complain about of that.
The Blues penalty kill has been a staple of the team and really has become a given. Very rarely do we see the PK look silly or out of sorts. They pressure when they need to and do an excellent job of keeping the shooters to the outside, allowing Binnington an opportunity to see the shot.
They are shot-blocking machines and Alex Steen is the up-top goaltender for the team. Give these guys all the credit they deserve as they tend to make Binnington’s job a little easier on the kill than most any other team.
Coaching- A
Coach Berube and his staff are pulling all the right levers for two games straight. The team is engaged and bought into his system and that spells danger for the rest of the league.
Kudos to him and Van Ryn for keeping with the defensive pairings experiments and seemingly have created a situation where the Blues blue line looks to exceed even last year’s group.
I’m going to be writing an article on the measurable effect that Craig Berube has had on this team. It’s really astonishing to see how when this team underperforms, or doesn’t play the way they need to in order to be successful, Berube pulls a few guys aside and BAM!!, the team looks like it was shot out of a canon. They play like a singular, massive wrecking ball on the opposition.
We all have heard of Cesar Milan the dog whisperer. Well, Craig Berube is the Blues whisperer.
This guy just gets the players and knows exactly who and when to prod them or hit them with a little come to Jesus discussion. He is very impressive at what he does and I think has learned a lot from all his past experiences as a head coach in the NHL and AHL.
Overall it was another solid performance by the defending champs. 60 minutes of St. Louis Blues hockey at its finest! The future for the season looks bright.
Let’s all hope for the best with the Vladi injury. He’s a big part of this team and even with that being said this team has the depth and character to overcome an extended stay on IR for Vladi if, God forbid, it is required.
The Blues go marching into Boston on Saturday, the spot where they won their first ever Stanley Cup last season. There will be some emotion in that game. I’m looking forward to it.
I hope Thomas keeps his head on a swivel in this one for Torey Krug coming off the top rope this time. I expect some boos and an electric atmosphere. Hopefully the Blues can stay grounded in their game and start the road trip off with a bang and a remind to the Bruins why we’re the champs and not them!
Drop the puck!