The St. Louis Blues were coming off a solid, fun win over the Chicago Blackhawks in the Winter Classic. The question after games that have so many outside focuses is whether the team will come out as strong the next one or have a letdown.
Anything had to be better than the last time the Blues played the Ottawa Senators. When playing north of the border, St. Louis lost by an embarrassing 8-1.
The game started well enough with the Blues getting the better of the shots, though the teams traded chances and St. Louis was doing better defending. Nevertheless, the Blues got the first one, which has been important lately.
St. Louis managed to spring a breakaway for their captain, who split the defense. Brayden Schenn kept his composure with the Senators whacking at him and backhanded it over the glove hand for a 1-0 score about 12 minutes in.
Overall, the Blues were doing a pretty good job of clogging up the neutral zone for most of the first. They did allow some open looks from the wing, but the defense was closing down and Jordan Binnington made the stops.
St. Louis doubled the lead late in the period. Brandon Saad snapped a 19-game goalless drought by outhustling Ottawa on their backcheck and then slid the puck through the legs to make it 2-0.
It got feisty late in the period. With 1.2 seconds left, Nathan Walker got into a fight after taking an Ottawa defender to the wall and the Senators took exception to the clean hit.
Ottawa could have/should have scored about five minutes into the second. They got the puck in behind Binnington, but somehow had it slip off the stick at the goal line and the defense blocked the follow-up.
Every time Ottawa would kind of claw their way into the offense, the Blues would respond with a flurry of their own. Then, Saad did what he does this season - scored his second of the game, giving him three games where he's scored twice. Saad snapped one from the left circle across the grain and just inside the far post.
In the final minute of the period, it seemed as though Ottawa had put one on the board when they beat out an offside call and then Thomas Chabot roofed a slapshot from the left circle. However, the Blues challenged for offside and won, so it remained, 3-0.
There was a little back and forth to open the third, but there wasn't a huge push by the Senators. The Blues best early look came on a rush play where a cross-ice pass set up Alexandre Texier on the left circle, but his wrister was stopped with a good glove save.
It felt like both teams were content with the scoreline, but Ottawa got a little careless in the offensive zone with two minutes left. After a turnover, Saad picked up the puck in his own zone, came in on an odd-man rush, let Texier draw the defender away and then snapped home his hat trick goal to make it 4-0.
St. Louis kept that score as the final. It was the first time they've been over .500 by two games since October 24.
Pro: Saad
It's been a rougher season for Saad this year. Throughout his career, he's been Mr. Steady, scoring 20-plus goals almost every year.
While he can reach that this year, it felt incredibly unlikely as he only had four goals through the team's first 39 games. But, he's been a guy that can score in bunches and he showed that in this game.
Saad now has seven goals scored in just three games. He scored two goals in two other games and then added the hat trick against Ottawa.
These were solid, effort goals too. His first came from outracing the Ottawa man in their zone and the other two he went from d-zone to offense to score both off the rush.
Who knows if this propels him to anything, but the Blues need this kind of Saad more often.
Pro: Binnington
Let's not make too much out of it since Ottawa's chances were limited, in terms of quality. A shutout is a shutout though.
It wasn't like he faced no chances either. Ottawa finished the night with 20 shots overall.
The positive for this game, and just overall, has been Binnington looking more comfortable. While I was never on board with any of his detractors, it couldn't be denied that he looked different and the team felt like it played differently for him.
He's got wins in three of his last four games and two of those were shutouts. Detroit is bad and Ottawa is about the same level as the Blues, but a shutout in the NHL is still earned most nights.
The Blues need these kinds of games for their goalie to build his confidence back up. If they can make the playoffs, Binnington is the kind of playoff goalie that can steal you a series.
Pro: Solid team defense
I can sit here and say Ottawa didn't have a ton of grade-A chances, but the reality is the Blues had a lot to do with that. They were just solid positionally and when a mistake happened, either the person that made it got back or someone else slid over to help at the right time.
I don't want to say this was the best defensive game the Blues have played as a unit, but it was close. It was more about the cohesiveness of the five-man unit than any individual effort.
When you can't really single out any one or two players for defensive highlights, that's a good thing. That means that everyone was doing their job and nobody had to make some spectacular play to erase something else.
There were moments for everyone, including guys like Tyler Tucker and Scott Perunovich. Overall, the Blues just snuffed out a lot before it could even happen.
Overview:
This was exactly the kind of game the Blues needed following the Winter Classic. No let down and nothing overly flashy.
They got the job done with hard work and good teamwork. St. Louis isn't a fast team, but they can play with speed when all the other things are in place.
They don't have huge offensive stars, but they can score goals in bunches when they're doing all the little things right elsewhere. Guys that have been in the doghouse are suddenly stepping up.
Does any of that mean this team is on an upward trend? Not necessarily, but that's more due to their situation than their current play.
The reality is that they have played far better under Jim Montgomery than Drew Bannister and I say that as someone who didn't think it would have a lasting impact. Unfortunately, they were so inconsistent and dug a hole early that they had to go on an actual winning streak to solidify any playoff chance.
You can't win two games or even three of four and think it helps when you're just keeping your head above that .500 water. But, you need wins and the Blues have gained some.
The win against Ottawa gives them W's in four of their last five and points in five of their last six. As mentioned, that string of good play only has them two games above middling, but you have to take it.
St. Louis goes on the road to Columbus and Minnesota before coming home for another string of games. None will be easy, but they're all winnable and January will be huge for St. Louis to show if they're playoff contenders or pretenders.
Play like they did at home against Ottawa, in Chicago, or Detroit and they'll get back in there. Play as they did against Buffalo or, heaven forbid, how they played in Ottawa and we're doomed.
I think they're trending the right way though.