St. Louis Blues Pros And Cons From Game 56 Vs. Dallas

The St. Louis Blues needed a win against the Dallas Stars to end their home stand on a high note. However, that’s not how things went.

The St. Louis Blues were looking to end their three-game home stand on a high note with a win against a divisional rival in the Dallas Stars. The way things started, you would have thought that was exactly what would happen. It did not.

The Blues got off to a very good start. They had some jump and energy and were moving the puck well.

Despite getting outshot in the first period, they were defending well overall. Unfortunately, sloppy play later in the game coupled with missed opportunities, i.e. missed nets, cost the Blues in the end.

St. Louis scored the first two goals of the game. Both goals came from Colton Parayko, which is good for him but not great for the team.

There is nothing wrong with Parayko scoring, but the Blues have not been getting goals from their forwards. All the goals from the last two games have come from defenders. Like homeruns in baseball, it is great when it comes, but you cannot base your entire offense on something that is very inconsistent even if you have the best scoring defense in the league.

You could feel the momentum swing a little bit toward Dallas as they got a late power play goal. It was a fantastic deflection, that gave the Stars life instead of heading into the intermission up by two goals.

Dallas came out and made the most of their chances, even if the Blues limited the shots better in the second. The Stars pushed the Blues onto their heels and scored the tying goal after an extended shift kept the Blues scrambling.

The Blues continued to struggle in the third period. They got outshot again, though there were a few flurries of offense. Despite the struggles, they kept the Stars off the board and went to overtime.

However a poor decision by the officials at the end of the third period gave the Stars a power play. The Blues killed that off, but the kill did not give them any momentum. Eventually the Stars brought the puck up, crossed up the defense and snuck a goal through the five-hole for a 3-2 win.

Pros: Parayko

One of the few good things about the Blues, perhaps the only good thing, was Colton Parayko. The guy was good in all phases of the game in this game, showing that he is fully capable of being the top defenseman for a team if necessary.

The thing most people will notice was his two goals. The first one came on the power play, which has been an area of struggle for the team lately.

Parayko might be a defenseman, but this was the kind of goal that Alex Ovechkin would score. Parayko set up on the off-wing circle and the team found him for a one-timer that no goaltender would have a chance on unless it hit them.

After that, Parayko would double up the lead with another blistering shot.

What was great about this goal was the confidence shown. Parayko stood his ground in his spot and once he knew the Blues had possession, he immediately demanded the puck with loud stick taps.

Instead of hesitating, looking for another pass to make, Parayko took a couple strides toward the net, knowing he was going to shoot. Instead of worrying about missing and trying to finesse a shot, he just unleashed the beast and scorched the net.

Cons: Officiating

I’ll keep this one short as the referees did not cost the Blues the game in this game. It is rather the frustration of the inconsistency game to game beyond what we see in any other sport.

Make fun of NFL refs all you want and complain about baseball umpires or soccer refs or basketball refs in every way, but there is no other sport that has more disparity between games and even periods than hockey.

In this game, the referees did not call a clear too many men penalty on Dallas in the second period. The player being replaced was still at center ice when the other man came off the bench. Yet, somehow, the Blues get too many men called them with regularity.

Then, there was the phantom call on David Perron. As we see countless times in today’s NHL, the trail referee bites on things that the official that is right next to the play does not call even though that person is in better position to see it. Thankfully, the Stars did not score on that, but it cost the Blues time.

Lastly, nobody wants to call crosschecking anymore unless they absolutely have to. The penalty at the end of the game was holding the stick on Jay Bouwmeester. However, if they call the crosscheck that sent Bouwmeester to the ice in the first place, we might have a different result.

Cons: Sloppy defending again

Fans are focused on the lack of goals lately because offense is easy to spot. Like a lack of run production in baseball, everyone focuses on the hits and homeruns just like goals.

However, if you don’t have pitching, runs don’t matter. Look at the New York Yankees. They had a gigantic offense, but they got shut down by pitching. The same is true off offense in hockey. The Colorado Avalanche score goals by the bushel, but have yet to win consistently due to lack of defending and goaltending.

Fans can whine about trading for a goal scorer all they want, but the Blues gave up three goals for the ninth game in a row. Even the most consistent offense in the league is not likely to average four goals per game over a nine or 10 game stretch.

The Blues defense was sloppy in this game again. While it was on the penalty kill, you have three guys all along the boards for the Stars first goal. Even if the numbers are even on the scrum, that means you have one defender for the rest of the ice against two potential attackers should the puck come out.

On the second goal, the Blues just never could get the puck out. They did not really have a great opportunity to due to Dallas’ quick puck movement, but that forced a scramble by the Blues defenders due to puck watching and once you start slipping or diving to the ice, that opens a lot of holes in your defense. The Stars found those holes and connected with the man driving to the high slot.

In addition to all that, the Blues just make too many mistakes, which used to be something they were clean about. In this game alone they had 15 defensive zone turnovers just through the first few minutes of the third period, according to John Kelly. The box score lists six giveaways, so someone will have to educate me about what the difference is since I trust Kelly and his statisticians.

Regardless, the Blues continually make the same aggrivating mistake. They turn the puck over within a yard of either blue line, which is the worst possible spot, or they attempt dumb, weak, blind passes (often with the backhand) that go nowhere or give the puck up.

Overview

Despite the frustrating nature of this game, the Blues were in it the entire way. Maybe that’s why it is even more frustrating to lose.

When you are not at your best and still have every opportunity to win and should have won, it feels even worse, regardless of whether you get a point.

The Blues missed so many opportunities. The Parayko miss proved to be large. Vince Dun should have had a tap-in and shoved it back across the face of goal instead.

Jaden Schwartz had a grade-A chance and could not convert. Ryan O’Reilly was robbed with a big pad save with 4:30 left, but he needed to find a way to elevate the puck since there was so much net to shoot at.

Another frustrating part of this game is the Blues inability to take advantage of tired teams. I do not know the stats on it, but it seems like the Blues rarely win when they are the rested team and their opponent is playing the second of a back-to-back.

With the Blues up by two, they need to find a way to crush the Stars. Instead, they take a late penalty, Dallas scores and it’s a completely different game.

On top of that, for the second game in a row Jordan Binnington has come up with a questionable goal. The really unfortunate part is it was the overtime goal.

Binnington played so well, stopping several great Stars chances early in the game, but he’s fighting it right now. He’s facing NHL adversity for the first time.

The Blues need to take responsibility and stop putting him in there so he can “work it out” but that’s unlikely to happen. The worry is not Binnington’s position within the team, but fatigue down the stretch.

Next. Vegas Shafts The Blues Again. dark

A point is a point and it was beneficial since it keeps Dallas six points back. Even so, the inconsistent production and effort from this team is aggravating.

Home / Analysis