The St. Louis Blues looked to rebound against the Dallas Stars after an absolute gong show against the Chicago Blackhawks. The last home game went awry early in the first period, but this time around was a different story.
In fact, this game opened much more like a mid-1990s New Jersey Devils game. It was logged up through the middle, and chances were mostly off mistakes instead of genuinely earned chances.
There were only a total of 12 shots in the first period, split evenly between each team. Jordan Binnington and Jake Ottinger both made a couple of key saves, but weren't given a large workload.
The Blues managed to get to work fairly early in the second period. St. Louis scored in the first three minutes, getting Jordan Kyrou's first of the season. Kyrou won the puck in the neutral zone, and eventually the puck ended up back with 25, who snapped it home after a quick backhand/forehand.
The Blues took a penalty shortly after that, but for the second time in the game, St. Louis just clamped down and allowed nothing. Although the Blues returned the favor by not scoring on their next power play, they would score the next goal of the game.
Tyler Tucker, of all people, drove to the zone and then to the front of the net while Pavel Buchnevich got a couple whacks at it. Then, Jimmy Snuggerud managed to get his stick free just enough to barely poke the loose puck over the goal line to make it 2-0.
The defense continued to be solid the rest of the period. Dallas only managed five shots in the second period and only had one shot in the final seven minutes.
The third period was a lot of nothing for a good portion. The defense was doing well, but there was not enough push from St. Louis as the Blues only had one shot on goal through the first 14 minutes.
St. Louis finally got some grade-A looks in the final five minutes, but didn't hit the net on a two-on-one nor an open look from the right wing by Colton Parayko. Those missed opportunities made for a nervy final minutes as the Stars scored with just over two minutes left when Mikko Rantanen sliced through three defenders and then redirected a pass in with his skate to make it 2-1.
Thankfully, someone not affected by the Blues inability to score on empty nets in the past got things done. Pius Suter won a board battle right at the blue line and then outworked his opponent through the neutral zone to just barely shuffleboard the puck all the way into the empty net for a 3-1 win.
Pro: Binnington
Although Jordan Binnington didn't work a ton in this game, he was still a large key to picking up the victory. He faced a few rush plays and a partial break here and there and was just steady and solid.
When the defense had a rare miscue, he bailed them out. Binnington made a really big save in the third period when it was still early enough that the swing in momentum could have been very damaging.
Con: Early third period
The first 15 minutes of the third period were just odd. The Blues weren't exactly hemmed in or defending for their lives, but there just wasn't enough push back.
As mentioned, they only had one shot in the first 14 or 15 minutes. Obviously, you know the other team is going to make their push, but the counter to that is that when the Stars try to open up, it should leave chances on the other end.
The Blues just didn't really have any drive to get into the offensive end. They'd defend, get the puck out, and then go for changes. It worked, but it's dangerous.
Pro: Penalty kill
Special teams are often either very good or very bad for the Blues. In this game, it was very good on the kill.
Dallas got the power play in the first period about halfway through. A goal there completely changes everything, with it being 0-0 at the time.
Instead, the Blues didn't even allow a shot on goal and really didn't let the Stars have any good looks either. The same was true of the Stars second power play. Dallas did manage one shot that time, but it wasn't a true scoring opportunity, so the man advantage was anything but.
Pro: Overall defense
Prior to the season, one of the knocks about the Blues was the fact that many Jim Montgomery teams struggle to put the puck in the net. One thing that is not a struggle for most Monty teams is keeping it out.
The Blues were a definitive Monty team in this game as they just put the Stars in a sleeper hold all night. Dallas never got more than eight shots in any period, and they only had five shots in the second period.
There was the occasional good look, which Binnington turned away almost every time, but overall, the defense just didn't even allow a high-scoring team to even have the chance to create.
Pro: Effort plays
We all love to see the skill and watch those highlight reel goals. It's effort that plays and hard-nosed hockey that wins more games than not, though.
We got plenty of that in this game on all three goals. Yes, the Kyrou finish was quality, but it was his work ethic both in the neutral zone and again along the wall to not lose the puck in the offensive zone.
Snuggerud is going to show us some great goals this season, but he got another one in this game by just getting himself to the front of the net and being hard to get rid of. Two of his three goals have come from just being there and not being pushed away. Too often, you see young guys do fly-bys, but Snuggerud plants himself even if he's not the biggest out there.
Last, but not least, you have the Suter play. Not only does he get the puck out of the zone, but he easily could have just stood up and regrouped. Instead, he kept battling and got the Blues an insurance goal that really put the wet blanket over any fire the Stars may have gained late.
Overview:
This was exactly the kind of game the Blues needed from their entire roster after that disaster against Chicago. Everyone contributed with solid positioning, blocked shots, sealing pucks off on the wall, well-placed sticks, and just being a nuisance to the opponent.
You got good goaltending, great defense, timely scoring, and good penalty killing. If you want to be picky, you'd point out that the power play was ineffective, but this was the kind of game that you can let that slide.
One other slight detraction was that the Blues got outhit quite heavily (32-24), but it never really felt like they were getting beaten up. Even though the game was tight and pretty low scoring, it never felt like the Blues were the lesser team or just trying to squeak one out.
The result was very evident of the effort put in. Now, finding a way to make the effort in this game more of a habit throughout the season is key to how the Blues will do going forward.