Although the St. Louis Blues have been picking up points regularly, the reality is that they lost four straight heading into their afternoon game at the New York Islanders. Making matters worse, they lost due to easily avoidable circumstances in Toronto and Philadelphia.
The Blues had early leads in both games and allowed comebacks. Once the game went into overtime, it was the lost puck battles that cost them.
The issue was that more focus on details seemed to only make things worse. So, when the Blues scored the first goal against the Islanders, it gave fans no comfort.
Nevertheless, you'd rather play from ahead than behind. The Blues picked up the goal just 42 seconds in. They transitioned zone to zone quickly, and Pavel Buchnevich picked up his first even-strength point in 17 games when he fed it to Brayden Schenn on the right circle, and the captain wired one across the grain and in for a 1-0 lead.
It was a fairly dull period overall in terms of actually hitting the net. There were 12 total first-period shots, with the Blues having six. Still, you got a sense of how the game might go when Jordan Binnington still needed to make some good saves to keep the lead.
Despite the second period being the Blues worst all season for goal difference, they played a little more freely and looser. They had 11 shots themselves and scored the next goal of the game late in the period.
St. Louis got some havoc in front of the net. After a shot got through traffic, Pius Suter deposited the loose puck into the net to make it 2-0 at 17:51. Even though the Blues were ahead, it did not feel comfortable. They had 11 shots, but gave up 11 as well. Binnington had to bail them out several times.
That became the story of the game in the third period. Binner made several spectacular saves and finished the game with 30 stops overall.
Unfortunately, he couldn't get the shutout, and the game almost imploded in the final minutes. Anders Lee scored on a rebound at 16:40. Binnington seemed to have slid a little out of position, but the Blues got caught flat-footed on the zone entry anyway and never recovered.
It seemed like the comeback was complete with just over two minutes left. The Islanders scored, but it was waived off for goalie interference. Unfortunately, the refs punished the Blues as they put Justin Faulk in the box for four minutes on a high stick.
The Islanders pulled their goalie again, but the ability to ice the puck helped St. Louis. They still needed a big, late glove save from Binnington, but St. Louis held on for the win.
Con: The high stick
If you decide there's a penalty at the end of the game and there's blood, I understand the double minor. However, the fact that a penalty was called at all just isn't in the spirit of the game.
Faulk lost the blade from his skate, so once he puts pressure on that foot, his weight is going out from underneath him, and he's not in control. If the stick swung out on his way down, it's understandable again.
However, that was not the case. Faulk lands hard, the stick is in the air, perpendicular to the ice for a good two seconds or more, and then slowly starts coming down. The Islanders player actually skated into it, which made the whole thing ridiculous.
Frankly, it was about as silly as if I held my hand out, you ran your face into it, and I'm given a fighting penalty. Thankfully, it did not cost the Blues the game.
Pro: Binnington
Having played the position, watching online discourse about goaltending is one of the most frustrating things. I've seen Hall of Fame goalies run out of town (Patrick Roy in Montreal), and fans had no issue with it because they were on a run of poor form.
While both Blues goalies have had their share of poor play this season, the reality is that both of them are the only reasons the team has even been remotely competitive. While the Blues played relatively well on Long Island, they only won because of their goaltender.
Binnington stopped 30 of 31 shots. A good amount were high-danger chances and several came at key points in the game. That glove save at the very end was just the icing on the cake Binnington had been baking all game long.
The offense was sparse, scoring two on 22 shots. The defense was better, but still had hiccups. The goaltending was great and consistent.
Pro: Top lines
As mentioned, the offense wasn't anything to write home about. Whether purposely or subconsciously, they still seem to take a quality over quantity approach and take it to the extreme.
That said, you had your top guys figure into the scoring. You get goals from your captain, and Suter continued to be a welcome addition as he stays towards the top of the team goal list.
Buchnevich hopefully feels a little better about himself as he contributed to the five-on-five offense for the first time in over a month. Dalibor Dvorsky also picked up an assist with a nice outlet pass.
Dylan Holloway and Jordan Kyrou picked up points on the Suter goal. Those are two more guys who have been working harder lately, but not getting the stats to back it up. It was good to see the actual scorers getting involved, even if it was assists.
Overview:
This was the kind of win the Blues needed. They weren't great and they didn't dominate.
They didn't race out to a big lead and just salt the game away. St. Louis gained a multi-goal lead, allowed a late goal, and didn't cave.
Whether you think the Islanders ran out of time or the Blues finished it off, the reality is the Blues got the win either way. They needed to overcome a late push just for their own mental stability.
This has been a team that regularly expects something bad to happen. It almost did, but that's the good part. When the final horn sounded, it didn't happen. Almost doesn't count as long as you have more goals than the other team at the very end.
Yes, weird stuff keeps happening. You get a break with the immediate goalie interference call, only to have the refs punish you with a double minor for something that couldn't have been prevented. Nevertheless, the Blues actually defended with confidence, and their goalie came up with the saves they needed to preserve the lead.
Nobody should pretend this was a pretty win, nor think it's going to springboard them into a win streak. I'm still just as worried about a two-goal lead as I was before the game, but the players can't worry.
They need points and wins, especially in regulation. They accomplished that in New York and can refocus on the next game.