St. Louis Blues Pros And Cons From Game 26 At Tampa Bay

The St. Louis Blues took care of business the last couple times they faced the Tampa Bay Lightning. However, after a couple disappointing losses, the question was whether the Blues could rebound in Tampa.

The St. Louis Blues seem to always have a good game against the Tampa Bay Lightning. It seems difficult to think about it in those terms, given how good the Lightning can be, but playing them might have been just what the doctor ordered after some rough losses in the last two Blues games.

The first period might have been an odd duck for any other team than the Blues. It was normal for St. Louis though.

Tampa outshot the Blues 6-1 in the early portion of the first period. It seemed as though the Blues were going to be under siege, but they kept their composure, got some saves and found their game.

After that, the Blues ended up outshooting Tampa 12-10 in the remaining portion of the period. It is not great to fall behind in the shot totals, but to outshoot a high octane offense 11-4 after those early minutes.

The second period was just as back and forth, but there were actually goals scored. Tampa Bay got on the board first, but the Blues would tie things up in less than two minutes on a shorthanded goal.

St. Louis would get their first lead of the game almost halfway through the game. Unfortunately, the Lightning turned the tables as they took less than three minutes to tie the game.

St. Louis came to play in the third period. They scored two goals within a three minute span, including a power play goal, to get a two goal lead.

The Blues undisciplined play did haunt them a little as they took one too many penalties and the Lightning would make the score 4-3 with a power play goal of their own.

As usual, the Blues made it a nail-biter by not scoring an empty net goal. Still, the Blues held on with some key saves at the end and won in regulation by a final of 4-3.

Pros/Cons: First and second period

Every game has ebbs and flows, but this one was interesting with how hot and cold it ran.

As mentioned, the Blues were ice cold in the opening of the first period. You do have to give credit to the Lightning who are very gifted offensively and they came out strong.

That said, the Blues have made a habit of playing rope-a-dope early in games and that is dangerous against a team that can light the lamp as much as the Lightning. Still, the Blues, for whatever reason, seem to end up with better results when they do not start strong. They did turn it on in the second half of the first period and got some sustained pressure against a team that is sometimes suspect defensively.

On the flip side, things definitely opened up in the second period. Scoring two goals in short order is great. St. Louis got a shorthanded goal from Oskar Sundqvist and then he scored at even strength to take the lead. Both are somewhat rare for the Blues these days, so they were very welcome.

To counter that, the Blues could not hold the lead once attained. Additionally, the Blues were extremely unlucky on both Lightning goals.

Pros: Oskar Sundqvist

This guy continues to boggle the mind with how much he has transformed. Sundqvist was the forgotten piece in the trade with Pittsburgh that sent Ryan Reaves to the Penguins. The Blues were mainly focused on the draft pick that became Klim Kostin.

While Kostin is definitely the future, Sundqvist has far surpassed expectations. Not only does he play the hard-nosed style that Craig Berube wants, but he has emerged as a reliable goal scorer.

Nobody is going to expect Sundqvist to put up 20-30 goals, but he is finding ways to score at key times. This game was a prime example.

Sunny has shown himself to be quite adept as scoring on breakaways. Maybe he should be one of the guys the Blues use in shootout scenarios. The fact it was a shorthanded goal, taking advantage of a tired Lightning defender, showcases Sundqvist’s in-game IQ.

His second goal was not that impressive and likely should have been saved. Still, Sundqvist let it go in a prime scoring spot and used the defender as a brief screen. Whether a goaltender should have stopped it or not does not take away from the smart play to put it on net.

With so many players on the injured list, this was just the kind of performance from a fringe player the Blues needed.

Cons: Another injury

Unfortunately, as great as Sundqvist’s performance was, it was short lived. Minutes after Sundqvist scored his second goal of the game, he would leave due to an injury.

It was not anything malicious, but Luke Schenn got a hit in on Sundqvist. Unfortunately, Sundqvist seemed to tweak his knee or something with his leg.

He could not really put weight on it as he left to the locker room. Once Sundqvist went down the tunnel midway through the game, he never came back out. It was announced during the second intermission that he would not return to the game.

This injury hurts on multiple fronts.

On the one hand, the Blues are simply getting short on options. They will have to play Nathan Walker now, but their main options in the AHL are either hurt also or still trying to get back into game shape after offseason surgery.

On another hand, the Blues are losing a fantastic two-way player. Scoring has been hard to come by as it is and now they have lost a guy that scores in key moments, even if not as often as top-line guys.

They are also losing one of their better defensive players. The Blues had already split up their fourth line just to fill out their roster and now have to fill other spots.

Pros/Cons: Special teams

For most of the game, special teams was actually a prominent part of the Blues success.

St. Louis got a rare shorthanded goal. While it was the third for the team this season, it was the first to not be scored on an empty net.

The penalty kill was superb early too. Facing one of the league’s premier power plays, the Blues held the Lightning shotless on their first two power plays.

The Blues also got a power play goal that proved to be a game winner. It was a nice shot by Brayden Schenn, set up by Ryan O’Reilly, which is good because the Blues top guys go silent sometimes.

The counter to all that is that it was not all sunshine and lollipops the entire game.

The Blues penalty kill eventually faltered. St. Louis tested their ability to kill penalties a little too often and when you do that, eventually you will crack and the Blues did late, making the game more interesting than it needed to be.

Add to that David Perron taking ANOTHER offensive zone penalty. The player’s union would never stand for it, but an idea to fine him every time he takes a penalty in the offensive zone was floated to me and that seems to be the only thing that might get through to him since he continues to do this in his 13th season.

Also, the Blues continue to fail at scoring on five-on-three power plays. While this is more a technicality than anything, given the Blues scored a second after the five-on-three ended, they have not scored on a two-man advantage in the regular season in three years. The last time the Blues had a 5v3 goal in the regular season was December 9, 2016.

Overview

This was not a perfect game – far from it in fact. However, this was a solid game to build off of after stealing a point in Nashville.

The Blues were not great defensively, but you did not feel they had to rely on Binnington the entire game. The Blues relied on him a little too much in the final minutes, but we have come to expect that by now.

St. Louis was not fantastic offensively, but they were efficient. They got a good amount of shots, but made the most of them instead of just chucking pucks into the goaltender’s belly.

The big takeaway, unfortunately, is the loss of Sundqvist. We can hope for the best, but injuries have not gone well for the Blues so far in 2019-20. The fact he could not support himself to get off the ice is not encouraging.

Bortuzzo's selfishness punishes the team. dark. Next

In terms of pure results, this was a good one. As crazy as the game went, you almost expected the Lightning to tie it up. With that in mind, we should all feel grateful for the win and tell the Blues to get out of there and move on to Dallas.

Nevertheless, it is impressive that the Blues manage to play so well against Tampa. St. Louis has now won four straight against the Bolts

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