St. Louis Blues Pros And Cons From Game 63 At Minnesota

The St. Louis Blues were coming off a three-game winning streak. The Minnesota Wild were winners of their last two. Something had to give.

The St. Louis Blues had been humming at a fantastic pace in their last three games. They were winners of their last three and were dominant in doing so.

Only fantastic goaltending kept them from more than the nine goals they scored. Additionally, the defense cleared things up allowing only 50 shots in three games after allowing 52 in one game.

Every game is its own animal however and Minnesota did not care to be dominated. The Wild came out strong in the first and St. Louis was just a bit off.

A prime example of this was on the Blues first power play. St. Louis was a man up about halfway through the opening period and they just let the puck sit on the doorstep of their own goal for a prime shorthanded opportunity for the Wild.

The wonderful thing about this game we call hockey is that you can be off your game and still find success. St. Louis did just that by scoring the first goal of the game when Jordan Kyrou banked one off the goalie from a sharp angle.

It was just a little more than three minutes later that the Blues would get a second. Brayden Schenn got on the board to double the lead at 2-0 and the Blues were starting to buzz.

Minnesota would start finding a bit more room toward the end of the period. It was some big saves by Jordan Binnington that kept it 2-0 after one.

The Blues seemed like they had kept the momentum after killing off the final 12 seconds of a Wild power play to open the second period. However, it was not long after that Minnesota got a lucky goal to pop up in the air and then roll in off the back of Binnington to make it 2-1.

Then, around halfway through the game/period, Oskar Sundqvist put the lead back to two. He took advantage of a turnover, cut across the slot and buried a shot up high and Blues Nation unleashed all manner of sunshine related memes and gifs on Twitter.

The game went back and forth with little fanfare after that. Binnington made a big save on a Minnesota breakaway with two minutes left in the period and the Blues shorthanded for another too many men penalty.

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Speaking of those, the Blues managed two in one game. Half of the penalties the Blues gave to Minnesota were for too many bleeping men.

Still, the cream rose to the top and a fantastic diving stab on the penalty kill led to a two-on-one. Ivan Barbashev finished it off to make it 4-1 with the shorthanded goal.

The Blues would make that scoreline hold up. St. Louis won their fourth in a row after losing five in a row, which gives them a little cushion at the top.

Pros/Cons: Winter Classic announcement

The NHL announced the Minnesota Wild would be hosting the Winter Classic in 2021 back at the 2020 Winter Classic. While nothing was for sure and there was always the possibility of a Winnipeg game, the likely candidate was the St. Louis Blues.

The Chicago Blackhawks draw well on TV, but the NHL seems to finally realize they’ve been in it too much. People are burnt out.

So, the rumors ended up being true. The Blues will be playing in their second Winter Classic in franchise history.

Some might not care one way or the other. But, it is big news for a team that seemed like it might never play in one and will now have hosted one and played in another.

However, they butchered the way they announced it.

The video played was two Minnesota Twins playing catch in the snow at Target Field. Then, they say they have inside information and the ball they were playing catch with is suddenly a puck in the guy’s glove.

Alllll riiighty then. I think I’d rather have just seen the ever wooden commissioner announce it sitting behind a desk.

Pros: Kyrou

We still have not seen the best this guy has to offer, but Jordan Kyrou is showing people why the Blues need to hang onto him. I do not know if it is a vocal minority or if there was a lot of people being ok with Kyrou included in potential trades, but the team needs to hold onto this kid.

He’s got wheels, hands and a scoring touch. He’s not going to be a superstar in the NHL, but the Blues don’t need him to be. All they need is for him to be the next David Perron type and he’s fully capable of being that and more.

He is finally starting to seem comfortable at the NHL level after going through that inevitable rookie period where you feel you need to defer every time. Now, he’s got two goals in two games.

His goal to start the scoring was a bit fortunate, but it was also a scorer’s goal. He hit the right spot from a tight angle and made his own good fortune.

What will go unnoticed about the goal is Kyrou’s positioning. Plenty of players, including Blues players, would have just flown by the net once they passed it off and the rebound would have gone to Minnesota. Instead, Kyrou hung up to see what might happen. Sure, it took a bad rebound, but he was in the right spot.

Cons: Penalties

Penalties happen in a game. Finding a game without them is like finding a four-leaf clover. They exist, but are rare.

However, the Blues excel at taking stupid penalties. How in the world can one of the better teams in the league constantly and consistently take too many men on the ice penalties?

I didn’t think things could get worse than when we took those penalties with Ken Hitchcock in charge. It honestly might be worse now.

Thankfully, despite Minnesota coming into this game with the 10th best power play, the Blues were not made to pay for those penalties. It might be over simplifying things, but maybe don’t jump off the bench until the guy you’re replacing is actually off the ice for crying out loud.

Overview

The St. Louis Blues were far from perfect in this game, but they did not really need to be. Minnesota had flurries of offense here or there, but they were not completely on their game either.

Minnesota had 33 shots on goal, but only a handful were real chances and Binnington stopped all of those. It was only a little pop shot that rolled off his back that managed to beat him and keep him from getting his third shutout in a row.

Offensively, the Blues were a mixed bag. They were quite sloppy in the first six to eight minutes, but then they found their legs and managed to grab a tight hold of the game.

Schenn scoring is big. The Blues need him scoring and maybe this is the one that will get him going again.

Barbashev and Sundqvist continue to be a huge asset to this team. They might be third or fourth line players, but they are playing like they did in the playoffs.

It’s far too early to get too excited about these wins. However, the thing that gets your blood pumping is this is the style we saw in the playoffs last season. The only thing that’s missing is the bone-jarring hits.

The Blues now face another division rival with the Chicago Blackhawks coming to town on Tuesday. That might not be too much of a test, but we will see if the Blues have really developed the killer instinct to take them down.