The St. Louis Blues have often had issues taking care of business against teams below them in the standings the last couple of seasons. So, that was a fear in terms of stringing together wins to end 2024.
However, the Blues that we need to see showed up against the Nashville Predators. They wasted little time getting into the action.
A team notorious for having slow starts and bad first periods managed to open the scoring just 80 seconds into the game. Robert Thomas picked off a bad back pass and scored after splitting the flat-footed defenders. It was 1-0 on the Blues first shot of the game.
They scored on their second shot as well, just 1:27 later. This time some good passing got them into the zone and created a nice lane for Zach Bolduc, who laserbeamed one from the slot, over the glove hand for a 2-0 score.
Then, the game hit a seesaw battle. The teams proceeded to trade goals, both putting worry and confidence into the home fans.
Nashville scored at 5:42, to cut the lead in half. Joel Hofer made a handful of saves, but the rebound kept popping out in front and, eventually, Mark Jankowski snapped one home to make it 2-1.
St. Louis restored the two-goal lead about four minutes later. Jordan Kyou took a slightly poor pass in the high slot, spun himself around, and fired a shot that snuck through to push it to 3-1.
Nashville cut it back to one with a power play goal by Steven Stamkos. It was a slightly weak holding call, so it was a little salt in the wound to give up a goal, but these things happen.
Fortunately, the Blues got back to work. Fowler made up for the penalty call by scoring with a slapshot between the blue line and the slot. The Blues power play had just elapsed as the shot was taken, so it doesn't go down as a power play goal even though Nashville only had four players.
The first period took about 45 minutes, but it was very entertaining. It even included a fight, which was neat since the person I attended the game with had never seen a fight in person.
The second period was less adventurous but still had offense. Nashville kept themselves alive making it 4-3 just over five minutes into the frame.
It was an odd goal. The Blues failed to get the puck out of the zone, and then there seemed to be defensive confusion. As the Nashville player cut from the blue line to the circle, the Blues bailed out to their normal positions, giving way too much space in front for Nick Blankenburg to slice to the front of the net and tuck it in.
It stayed that way for 10 minutes until the Blues pulled another endwall pass that resulted in a goal. This time Bolduc fired it in from the redline and Jusi Saros tried to poke it away from the goal. That touch negated an assist, but the puck went right to Philip Broberg who fired it to the far post to make it 5-3.
Things got crazier in the third period again. Nashville made it a one-goal game again with another power-play goal at 11 minutes.
St. Louis gave themselves insurance with their own power-play goal about four minutes later. Thomas got his second of the game going to his off-wing and sniping one from the left circle to make it 6-4.
At 18:45, the Blues put it on ice. While on the penalty kill, Colton Parayko just tried to clear the zone off the glass. The puck took just the right angle and went into the empty net for a 7-4 final.
Pro/Con: Power play
Statistically, the Blues went 1-4 on the power play, which isn't terrible. On the positive side, it provided offense.
They took advantage of the extra space with Thomas' goal coming at four-on-three. They also got a goal from Fowler that came as a result of the special teams unit, even if it doesn't actually count as a power play goal.
However, on the other two attempts, it was the usual impotent power play attack. It didn't even take that much pressure for the Predators to get the puck and either clear it or send it away from danger.
I fully understand defenses are only looking to play defense when on the penalty kill, so it's easier to focus. It's just the lack of any pressure or offense that is worrisome.
Pro: Thomas
For years, one of the things holding Robert Thomas back was his unwillingness to shoot. Then, when he did shoot, it was miles away from the target.
That has shifted, slowly, but steadily. We're seeing the results now.
Thomas' first goal came with a great snipe after charging directly toward the goal after that turnover. He didn't wait, hoping to set up a pretty play for someone possibly cutting into the zone late.
On his second goal, he was very decisive again. Taking the pass near the blue line, he drove right into a high-danger area and struck paydirt again.
That's what we need from him. He doesn't need to lead the team in goals, but he needs to play like he can actually score. Make those confident decisions and take advantage when teams back off.
Con: Four goals against
Some nights, stuff just happens. This was kind of one of those games, but it's still the overall point.
I didn't fault Hofer for the goals, but I saw some doing that on social media. Not every goal is as stoppable as your average fan thinks.
Regardless, it's rough giving up four goals. Making things a little more worrisome is that the Blues had 19 shot blocks too. If they didn't get those shots blocked, how many more goals might the Preds have gained?
We can also argue whether the penalties handed out were soft or not, but the PK didn't get it done. 2-4 isn't the best percentage and became a larger factor when the game kept ping-ponging.
Pro: Defenders
We give the Blues defense a lot of grief and they've given us reason to at various times. They had a game in this contest.
They contributed heavily to the offense. The blueliners combined for three goals and six points.
Everyone except Parayko was a plus-player too, which means no pairing got more exposed than others. Fowler scored his first goal of the season and first with the Blues too. He ended the night with two assists on top of his goal.
I already mentioned the shot blocks. Overall, the team's defense played well too, contributing 26 hits.
Overview:
Overall, this was a game the Blues should win. Despite all their flashy offseason signings, the Predators are currently contending with Chicago and San Jose for the worst record in the Western Conference.
As mentioned earlier, the Blues often do not take care of those kinds of teams. With all three post-Christmas/pre-New Year's opponents being bottom of the barrel, we all had reason to worry.
So, it's good for the Blues to have picked up this win. It's not sustainable to get wins when you're allowing that many goals.
The Blues offense is far too erratic to expect seven goals regularly. But, when you can get it, you take it because it's fun to see the potential on this team.
You get two goals from your second-leading scorer, your leading scorer gets another goal and the defense chips in for three. St. Louis is finally having their best players be their best players somewhat regularly.
At this point in the season, the Blues just need wins. It would be great to have a bunch of 4-0 wins where you felt good about every aspect of the team, but they need points.
The offense was up to the task in this game. The defense made some mistakes and paid for it, but it was never enough to be a killing blow the other way.
Now, the Blues face Buffalo before turning their attention north to the Chicago Blackhawks and the Winter Classic. On paper, that should be two wins. St. Louis has never been great at turning paper wins into real ones, so they need to stay on the ball.