The St. Louis Blues had opportunities to take the win against Philadelphia, but it was not to be. St. Louis was off just enough to allow the Flyers too much.
The St. Louis Blues came into this contest, seemingly, with everything to play for. They could further cement their dominance in the division with two more points against idle teams, extend a four-game win streak and set a new record for consecutive wins at home.
Instead, as tends to happen, the team was a bit sloppy and occasionally careless. Those opportunities were all the Philadelphia Flyers would need to capitalize and eventually win the game.
The game started well enough for the Blues. While it would take until the final third of the first period, the Blues would get on the board first. Additionally that goal came on the power play.
Unfortunately, that would not happen enough – both the goals and the power play. Instead, the second period belonged to the Flyers.
The first one was a bit fortunate as the puck somewhat bounced in after the Blues had just killed a penalty. The second goal was less fortunate as the Blues failed to track a man on the back side and the Flyers got the goal exactly three minutes later.
St. Louis ended the second period with some energy. There was even a late period scrap, but unfortunately that gave a power play to the Flyers to start the third period.
They took advantage with some fine passing, a nice deflection and a tap-in goal for a 3-1 lead. While the Blues had earned their deficit, they also earned their point.
The Blues repaid the favor from the second period by scoring just about three minutes apart. Ryan O’Reilly scored on a rebound and Alex Steen scored on a great pass from behind the net.
Unfortunately, it was a huge scramble for the Blues at the end. St. Louis barely got a point since the Flyers had the better of the chances after the game got tied.
St. Louis did salvage a point, but that sloppiness carried into the overtime. The game got extended by a post, but eventually the Flyers would capitalize on the Blues lax defending and claim a 4-3 win.
Cons: Power play
All the time, I have to tell myself that power plays are fickle. The best teams hover around the high 20% range, which means they are scoring less than two out of every 10 times.
That said, when you see how good the Blues power play can be and then see how bad they can be, it is enough to pull your hair out. Philadelphia gave the Blues every opportunity to extend a lead, tie the game or even win the game.
Instead, the Blues just let almost every chance go by the boards with barely a chance on goal. The Blues scored one on the power play and had one other solid chance.
Other than that, nothing. St. Louis went 1-6 on the power play.
Of course, in typical Blues fashion, that included extending their ridiculous streak of not scoring with a two-man advantage. We have now entered the fourth calendar year with no five-on-three goals.
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Making matters worse, the Blues had a power play late in the game. Who got the best chance off that power play? You guessed it – the Flyers. St. Louis gave up a partial breakaway to the Flyers off a Justin Faulk turnover.
You’re not going to score on all of them, but to be given chance after chance and come up with nothing is incredibly frustrating. The Blues had a full two minutes every time too. It was not as though the Flyers ever coaxed the Blues into the box, so they had a full power play each time and got one goal out of it.
Pros: Blues Bounce Back
One thing you have to admire about this team is their ability to bounce back. Whether it is from a brief losing streak or a bad loss or just a mediocre performance in game, they seem to find a way to rarely let things get away from them.
The bummer about this game is there were opportunities to not even be in that situation. Nevertheless, if we take things as they are, the Blues shrugged off allowing three consecutive goals and having a two-goal deficit.
Those are the moments that their championship experience pays off. Instead of seeking a two goal shot, which doesn’t exist until Vince MacMahon makes a hockey league, they focus on chipping away.
O’Reilly’s goal was just such an example. It was just what the doctor ordered.
The Blues drove down the ice on a three-on-two. However, it wasn’t some pretty play or fancy move that scored. It was just a quick shot toward goal and a gritty drive to the net by O’Reilly that netted the puck.
The tying goal was a little more highlight worthy.
It was still typical Blues hockey. They won a board battle to keep the puck in and then it was Steen that drove to the net to flip in the backhander.
The nice part of the play was the third line combination that Tyler Andrus had just talked about earlier in the day. Steen scored but the quickness and accuracy of the pass from Robert Thomas was something to marvel at.
Cons: Turnovers, Iffy Defending And Petro’s Diving
The Blues pride themselves on being a solid defensive team and, mostly, that is an accurate description. The odd thing is how sloppy they can be when the defense is not quite right.
The Blues were only credited with five giveaways, but even if that number is accurate, they were almost all in key areas of the game. The second Flyers goal had a little of everything.
Jay Bouwmeester was put in a bad spot by a backhand pass up the wall, but he had the opportunity to clear. Instead, he fanned on the puck and turned it right over. After that, nobody recovered properly. The Blues ended up with two guys on the same side of the net, with nobody following the player around to the back side where the goal was eventually scored.
The aforementioned Faulk turnover almost gave the Flyers a shorthanded goal.
Then, the team captain did not make himself look that great either.
It should be said that Alex Pietrangelo made some good defensive plays, so this is not ripping on him for the sake of it. However, his diving around at the end of the game made him look somewhat foolish.
The worst of the two examples actually had a better ending. The Blues gave up an odd-man rush in the final two minutes of the game and Pietrangelo went down on his stomach. All the Flyers had to do was drag it around him and get a shot attempt. Ironically, he actually got the block to put it out of play on that one.
In overtime, it was deja vu. Pietrangelo was the main defender back on a poor change and the Flyers hit the stretch pass.
As you can see in the video, there really was not a ton Pietrangelo could do. He had to respect the shot, but likely should have realized covering the slot would have forced a shot easier to save for Jordan Binnington.
Instead, he bit on that and failed to dislodge the puck with a stick sweep. Thus, the play ended up seeming quite ridiculous as Jakub Voracek was able to go across the entire slot untouched.
You see those kinds of dives dozens of times in any game. However, when your captain comes out looking silly on two of those plays and almost gives a goal up on one and does on another, it just provides a sour taste.
Overview
The odd thing about this game is the Blues did not play that poorly. They simply made far too many mistakes. Perhaps that is a definitional problem, but that’s how I feel about it.
St. Louis had plenty of opportunities to win and maybe/probably should have. Get one more power play goal and this game does not even go to overtime.
Credit needs to go to the Flyers as well. Brian Elliott made enough saves to keep St. Louis out and their defense shut things down in key moments. While the Blues offense was coming in the first and third, it was almost nonexistent in the second, which allowed the Flyers a chance to push forward and get two goals.
Mostly, from the fan point of view, it just sucks to lose any game. We tell ourselves no team wins 82 games, but it is still hard to follow that mentality through in an individual game.
This is one that does not need to be dwelled on too long. Watch the film, clean up the back side issues and the careless turnovers and you’ll be golden.
Now the Blues must switch their focus to the road. The Blues will be in Colorado for an afternoon game Saturday and then a trip out west to face the Canucks on this coming Monday.