The St. Louis Blues had no time to dwell on recently being shutout by Boston the night before as they marched into Detroit to face a Red Wings team currently on a 7 game losing streak.
Thankfully for the St. Louis Blues, the schedule wasn’t allowing them any time to sulk about being shutout in Boston. They arrived in Detroit at 1:30 am and needed to rest before a 4 pm (CST) puck drop with the floundering Red Wings.
Despite the short rest, the Blues should have been able to dominate the Red Wings if they played the way they did in Boston and the games prior to this tilt. The Red Wings are young and rebuilding.
They have budding stars in Anthony Mantha and Dennis Cholowski. Their team speed is elite, and with another year or two of seasoning, I expect them to start making a push for the playoff picture. That isn’t this year and the team still needs some work in terms of learning what it takes day in and day out to win consistently in the NHL.
The Blues, on the other hand, have won it all and know what needs to be done to win games. They have the system and players in place to go into a game like this against an opponent still finding its way and win it.
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Even without the Blues sniper Vladimir Tarasenko and the heavy-hitting, offensive surprise, Sammy Blais out of the lineup, the Blues have all they needed to get a win in Detroit despite the short rest.
What I expected was exactly what we got in the first period. The Blues jumped out to a 2-0 lead and seemed to be controlling the game.
Then in the second period, Detroit’s speed started to take over. The Blues, being on short rest, seemed to put it in cruise control in the wrong way and tried to do just enough to win. It almost led to them doing just enough to lose. Let’s look at the grades.
Offense- B-
They scored five goals, Joe! Why the B-? It seems like a tough grade. Let me answer that for you.
The Blues were up 2-0 and then 3-1 at one point in this game. The offense was getting in deep and controlling the play in the first period and a half. Then Detroit made some adjustments and the forward group never responded.
If it wasn’t for a too many men penalty by the Red Wings, the Blues never would’ve gotten the chance to tie it up, in my opinion. The forwards looked gassed and just had no answer for the Detroit adjustments made, team speed, and emotion.
Detroit was taking it to the Blues and seemed to stymie the offense in the last period. Detroit had way more in the tank and the Blues offense wasn’t generating much. So in a game where they scored five goals, they didn’t play an A+ style of hockey for 60 minutes.
Defense- C
Surrendering four goals is never good. Granted, a couple of the goals allowed were uncharacteristically soft by Jordan Binnington, but the Blues defense was scrambling at times and missing coverages.
They allowed the Red Wings into the soft areas. When you do that with a guy like Dylan Larkin you are going to pay more times than not. The team speed of Detroit seemed to cause problems for the Blues.
The Red Wings have a speedy group from top to bottom and, when they learn to play a 200 ft game and learn that skill alone doesn’t win the majority of the games in the NHL, I believe they will be dangerous.
Taking into consideration the soft goals allowed, the Blues defense still allowed too many shots on goal. A lot of those shots were of the grade-A variety and not typical of a Blues defense. I’ll chalk it up to the short turnaround and the team speed of Detroit being able to capitalize on the limited supply of energy for the Blues.
Goaltending-D
Binnington received the nod in this back-to-back set as Jake Allen has been battling the flu for some four or five days. Not since he was pulled from the Stanley Cup final game has Binnington allowed this many soft goals.
He didn’t do enough to give his team the chance to win. In fact, they won despite him and despite the overall more determined and energetic play of the Red Wings.
Binner let in some soft goals in this one. Goals that if they had lost, and maybe even though they won, may still give him nightmares. One went in the glove and then over and out and bounced into the net making the game 3-2.
Then the go-ahead goal by Tyler Bertuzzi, off the draw, fooled Binnington and seemed to catch him unready. Something very, very uncharacteristic of Binnington.
This is the lowest grade I’ve given Binnington this season. I don’t expect it to be a score he gets often. With the short rest and it being a back-to-back, I’ll definitely give him the benefit of the doubt.
Couple that with the fact that the team in front of him didn’t do much to limit the chances against and he was busy. It’s going to happen. Nothing to worry about here.
Special Teams-B
After the special teams cost them the game in my opinion in Boston, they won this game for the Blues this early evening.
The power play went 2-4 with one of those capitalizing on the too many men penalty. That tied it up in the third and got the game to overtime when the Red Wings were surging and taking the game over.
It was a key moment and, unlike earlier games this season, the powerplay delivered in this key moment. The penalty kill did their part, despite the team being tired and killed off two out of three opportunities for the Red Wings.
I admit I am hard on the power play. Part of that is because I’m a Blues fan and have jaded glasses when it comes to the power play. They are converting at a good clip now and are 7th in the league as far as conversion rate.
It looks a little less stagnant and more mobile than it has. The passing is more decisive and quick and I hope that continues and increases as we go on this season. Special teams are a very critical part of this game as we saw in the game against the Bruins and in this game here. Both games came with different lessons and outcomes.
Coaching- C
The Red Wings made some in-game adjustments and the Blues didn’t have an answer. This boils down to the coaches as much as the players. I love this coaching group and trust them to get the job done and the guys prepared for every game.
What is a smidge concerning is that when opposing teams make in-game adjustments the coaching staff doesn’t seem to have an answer. Now I can’t confirm that, but from an armchair perspective, it seems like the Blues don’t adjust when the opponent does.
To me, this seems like the coaches have no response. It very well could be that they do and the players just don’t execute it when it’s made, but, in the end, I think the coaches need to get the players buying in when the adjustments are needed. I could be dead wrong in this analysis, but when I see other teams doing it and the Blues fail it leaves me scratching my head and the blame has to be on the coaches.
Overall a win is a win whether dominant or ugly. We will take them all.
This game was won by a little luck and special teams. In a game where we should’ve dominated despite the quick turnaround, I can’t give the team soaring marks. Binnington had his worst game as a Blues in this one. The team came out fast and dominant and then the gas ran out. We gladly take the two points and the rest after.
The Blues don’t play again until Wednesday, Oct. 30 at 7 pm (CST) against a visiting 4-7-0 Minnesota Wild team that is in transition. They’re scuttling, but have found some traction the last few games. It’s a game the Blues should win and easily. Like the Detroit game, no one can be overlooked.
Drop the puck!