The St. Louis Blues came into their recent home stand with a less than stellar record against the Eastern Conference. They are starting to change that rather quickly.
The St. Louis Blues took on the New York Rangers for the first time in the 2019-20 season. The two sides had a mixed history in recent years, splitting the games right down the middle, 6-6-0, over the last six seasons.
Adding some intrigue was the Blues reverse of fortune against the East. St. Louis had dominated the opposite conference in recent seasons, but lately they have struggled with their east coast counterparts until recently.
A win over Buffalo in the previous game got St. Louis on the right track. However, things did not start out so smoothly in this contest.
New York got on the board first. The Rangers slipped a questionable goal into the back of the net just 94 seconds into the contest.
After that, the Blues put themselves behind the eight ball a little. They took a four minute penalty, giving the Rangers plenty of time to extend the lead.
Thankfully, the Blues defense hunkered down a little and kept New York off the board. That allowed the offense to spring into action.
It would be an unlikely source of offense to tie things up. Robert Bortuzzo, of all people, would get out of the penalty box at just the right time, catch a pass splitting the defense and score on the breakaway to make it 1-1.
St. Louis kept a theme going. Their next goal would be scored by a defender as well as Henrik Lundqvist let a goal slip just under his glove hand, similar to the one the Rangers scored on.
St. Louis carried a 2-1 lead into the first intermission. They turned the tables on New York, scoring 84 seconds into the second period, with their newly crowned All-Star scoring to make it 3-1.
The Blues seem to have a bad habit of making mistakes when up 3-1 or by two goals and did it again. The Rangers found the seam between two defenders and scored on a back door play to make Blues fans sweat.
St. Louis would cruise to a win though. Zach Sanford and Jaden Schwartz would score about four minutes apart to solidify an eventual 5-2 win.
Cons: Binnington
Before you go getting your panties in a twist, hear me out on this. While the con section is usually reserved for things that were bad to terrible, this one is simply because it was a departure from the norm.
Jordan Binnington actually had an OK game. By the time the clock hit zero, he had made 21 saves on 23 shots.
Not spectacular, but not bad. Similar to the Buffalo game, Binninton was not called into action incredibly often, but he made a few keys saves when needed.
The reason it falls under this category is that he looked out of sorts. While he made some good saves, he looked very shaky at times too.
The first goal was a prime example. Darren Pang can say it may have glanced off Alex Pietrengelo’s stick, and maybe it barely did, but that is a save Binnington makes 99 times out of 100.
Maybe Petro should close it down more. Still, it’s from a wider angle, which goaltenders will prefer because there is less net to cover.
For whatever reason, Binnington could not get the glove in the right position. It happens, but that is a goal that fans have blasted past goaltenders for, if we are being honest.
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There were a handful of other times in the game that Binnington looked a tiny bit rattled. On another chance, which he did save, he looked behind him and almost spun around, which could have dislodged the puck. Lots of goalies check to make sure the puck did not leak through, but it just seemed as though he assumed pucks were going to start getting through.
Ultimately, he got the win so it’s no big deal. Just not the good night we’ve come to expect.
Pros: Defense pushing up
The Blues first two goals came in vastly different ways. Nevertheless, they both showcased the team’s ability to have their blueliners score.
On the first one, it was just a case of perfect timing. St. Louis got the puck at just the right time as Bortuzzo’s penalty was ending.
Instead of heading right to the box, the defender’s defenseman sprang onto the attack. He got rewarded with a goal, slipping one past an ill-placed stick of Lundqvist.
Then, it was Vince Dunn‘s turn to get in on the action. Dunn was denied on a chance just moments before when he shot to the post side and Lundqvist made a save. The next time around, Dunner went glove side and snuck it in.
Like Binnington’s goal, maybe you expect Lundqvist to save that one most of the time. Still, it was a good example of the team’s defenders stepping up and contributing to the offense.
Cons: Questionable defending
The Blues played a typical Blues game when it came to the overall defending. They limited shots against for the most part and kept grade-A chances low.
However, while nobody will be perfect for 60 minutes, there were some times where you wondered what the heck happened. Like the team’s goaltending, perhaps we get so used to them coming up with a big play that it strikes even stranger when it’s a mistake that leads to a goal against.
As mentioned, on the Rangers’ first goal, the goalie needs to make that save. On the flip side, if it isn’t even close to a breakaway, a forward should not be allowed to go almost coast to coast without any physical contact against him.
It does have to be said that it was a turnover that sprang that attack, so the forwards were all near the end line. Still, for Filip Chytil to not even be tapped by a stick seems a bit weak.
Then, on the Rangers’ second goal, two high profile defenders made the same decision instead of trusting their partner.
Justin Faulk had settled into a nice flow with Pietrangelo in recent weeks. While he played well with Jay Bouwmeester earlier in the season, they have not played with one another lately, so the chemistry was not quite there.
That was evident when Brett Howden scored. There was a clear lack of communication or understanding and it cost the Blues a goal.
You can argue who is to blame, but both share blame in my eyes. They both made the wrong decision, regardless of what their normal responsibility should be.
As you can see in the video, Faulk starts on the right, but has eyes directly on the man with the puck. Bouwmeester is on the left, but sees the man cutting through the middle and starts to follow him.
Instead of telling Faulk switch to the pass or simply following his initial mark, Bouwmeester cuts toward the puck carrier almost at the exact moment Faulk did. Who knows who should actually have been covering the puck carrier, but the resulting play had two guys converge on the puck and nobody to guard the back door, which was connected with and scored on.
Maybe the result is different if you have to guys that have played together all season. We saw what the actual result was.
Pros: Perron
When you talk about late bloomers, there might need to be a special section in the dictionary for David Perron. While there were always glimpses of his talent, he has taken ever trade and set back, learned from it, and come out a better player because of it.
While Perron was good in his second stint with the Blues, he has been even better since returning from Vegas. He has emerged in 2019-20 as a player the Blues can rely on for big goals.
We are barely over halfway through the season and Perron just scored his eighth power play goal. That ties a career high.
He also now has eight game winning goals. Every one he adds to that total is also a career high since his previous best was four. He has also showcased a laser shot of late.
This goal was very reminiscent of what you see from Alex Ovechkin on the Washington Capitals’ power play. The team’s best scorer, lined up on the off-wing circle, one-timing it past the goalie on the power play.
Granted, they are not the same player, but this play was exactly why so many have begged the team to put Vladimir Tarasenko on his off wing instead of the point. That is a discussion for another time.
Perron’s goal was just insurance at the time, but it won the game. It also made the Rangers pay for going into the box.
Overview
The Blues had a shaky first 10 minutes or so, but settled into the game well after that. Other than that miscue on the second goal, the team’s defense did a good job of limiting the Rangers’ chances.
The offense had some lulls, but that is to be expected. They connected nicely on just about all of their goals though.
It took a great pass up the middle to set up the first goal. Zach Sanford had a nice pass to set up Dunn’s goal.
It takes a well-weighted pass to get a one timer right so it does not handcuff the shooter. A tic-tac-toe pass between Sanford and Ivan Barbashev ended in a beauty and a pinpoint pass from Brayden Schenn connected with a tap in from Jaden Schwartz.
The special teams was quite good. The penalty kill kept the Rangers off the board three times, including a double-minor and another silly too many men call. The power play still lacks efficiency at times, but that Perron goal loomed large.
It was a slightly odd game for the Blues to win. They got out hit and lost the faceoff battle, both of which are often keys for this team.
In the end, it came down to a little more grit and a little more precision. Now, the Blues have a day off and then the Anaheim Ducks are in town on Monday.