Every year when I have to type game 80 for the St. Louis Blues, it always feels like that end of school feeling. If you're making the playoffs, it's a bit exciting, but overall it's a bit sad either way.
The end is on our doorstep, not just in sight. So, how would the Blues wrap things up over the last three games, which started against the Minnesota Wild?
Things got off to a pretty good start. The Blues took the lead just 1:22 in when Colton Parayko unleashed a slap shot from the straight-away point and it powered its way through the goaltender for a 1-0 lead.
Unfortunately, the period ended as poorly as the beginning was good. The Wild tied the game with just over five minutes to go. Former Blackhawk Nick Foligno knocked in the loose puck after an initial save from Joel Hofer and then another shot off the post. Adding insult to injury, the Blues had an odd-man rush just moments earlier and Pavel Buchnevich tried a bad pass instead of shooting it, which led to a turnover and a push the other way.
Then Parayko took a boarding call, and got in a fight, with two minutes left. Making matters worse, the guy he put into the boards, Danila Yurov came up with the power play goal in the final minute of the first, giving Minnesota a 2-1 lead.
As crazy as the first period was, it was just an appetizer for the second period insanity. Things went off the rails pretty quickly.
The Blues were on the power play early in the game, but ended up giving up a shorthanded goal. Michael McCarron finished off the two-on-one with a shot from the right side to put the Wild up 3-1.
With six seconds left on the power play, it looked like it was a one-goal game. The Blues scored a nice goal, but it was challenged for offside.
While the Blues didn't score on the power play, they scored shortly after. Following a riccochet off a skate, Otto Stenberg put it into an empty net by following up the puck on the left side to make it 3-2.
27 seconds after the goal, the game was tied. Buchnevich made up for his earlier mess up, by chipping another off-skate puck over the goaltender and it was 3-3 before it was even five minutes in.
The Blues looked like they had a fourth goal not long after that, but another one came off the board. This one was much closer, but Cam Fowler didn't get a goal due to him barely crossing the line before the puck had.
Nevertheless, the Blues had turned the corner for the game. Another example of how to follow the play and drive the net was shown when Theo Lindstein with a beautiful backhander to make it 4-3 with 4:19 left.
The Blues didn't do themselves any favors by taking a penalty in the first minute of the third period. Fortunately, the penalty kill managed to get things done and bailed out Jake Neighbours.
Neighbours repaid them for their work by scoring the fifth goal of the game. Hofer made a tough save on one end and the Blues rushed to the other. Neighbours glid in on the right and banked the rebound off the goalie's skate and in for a 5-3 lead.
The Blues continued to be undisciplined when Dylan Holloway took a tripping penalty near the midway point. The penalty kill was solid again, but this time Holloway missed the net on what should have been the Blues sixth goal when he got out of the box.
Interestingly, in a game that had no meaning for the Wild, they pulled their goaltender with over three minutes left. Jimmy Snuggerud hit the center of the net from his side of the blue line to make it 6-3, which ended up being the final.
Pro: Penalty kill
While it would've veen nice for them to get through the entire game without allowing a power play goal, the reality is that the PK unit did a very good job against the Wild. They got plenty of work too.
St. Louis gave the Wild five power plays in this game. Four out of the five ended up being for the full two minutes.
Outside of the goal given up in the first period, the Blues penalty kill did a good job of keeping things from less than stellar scoring ranges. Of course, the Wild got shots, but they weren't peppering Hofer and not just unleashing chances from the slot or back door all the time.
Con: Penalties
It's impossible to never take penalties. A penalty free game is a rarity in today's NHL.
However, the Blues needed to be much smarter. These weren't physical penalties where they went in for a hit and got overzealous.
Two of the penalties were for tripping. It wasn't like they were stopping a breakaway. They got beaten and just reached out and the stick got caught in the wrong spot. Those are avoidable.
Two of the other penalties were a dealy of game where somehow Snuggerud flipped it all the way across the rink and out and then a too many men penalty. Those are all avoidable.
The only tolerable one was the boarding call. It's not a smart hit, but at least he was trying to be physical.
Pro: Offensive variety
We would all love to see hat tricks every week. It would be nice for the Blues to have a scorer that was consistent on a level of Brett Hull where you thought they could get something close to a goal per game or every other game.
However, goal scorers can get cold or bet smothered by defense. So, if you can have other guys step up, that's great.
That's what happened in this game. St. Louis had six goals and had six different goal scorers.
It's been a rough offensive year for Parayko, but he finally got rewarded for unleashing a shot. Two of the young Swedes got involved with Stenberg and Lindstein getting one.
Buchnevich, Neighbours and Snuggerud also chipped in. If you include the disallowed goals, the Blues had eight different guys put one into the back of the net since Robert Thomas and Cam Fowler got those.
Overview:
For a game that didn't mean anything to either team, it didn't come off that way. This was much closer to a rivalry game than one between a team out of the playoffs and another who sat 10 of their regular players.
Win or lose, it was good to see both teams play with pride, especially the Blues. Momentum does not carry season to season, but the hope with these kinds of performances is to take pride in your performance even when there's not a ton on the line - somewhat like early season games are like.
The lack of offensive chances is still a little worrying. The Blues did not have one period where they got double-digit shots on goal. I guess you can't complain too much when they had eight in the back of the net and six that counted.
Still, while Hofer didn't have to make any 10-bell saves, he still had to be sharp and on his toes. Three goals on 31 shots is still over a .900 save percentage and that's what you should always strive for.
The season continues its close with a ridiculous 8:30 start against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Thanks national TV for putting a midwest team and eastern team with a puck drop that will be that late.
Regardless, this was a good bounceback win for the Blues. They could have easily packed it in for the night once it was 3-1, but instead turned their jets on.
The run they've gone on since the Olympic break continues to show this team isn't as far off as the social media fools want you to think. Trading people like Thomas or Neighbours would be about as dumb as it gets right now, but there's still talk about that among the fans.
Let's let the professionals make those calls and just enjoy the last couple games.
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