The St. Louis Blues had the vibes on their side entering their game against the Winnipeg Jets. They won their last game before the 4 Nations Faceoff and just about every hockey fan everywhere was feeling pumped after that fantastic tournament.
Unfortunately, reality hit for Blues fans as we saw the same flawed team return to the ice. The offense was nearly non-existent in the first period.
The Blues only managed five total shots on goal and got scored on in the first five minutes. A lackluster effort along the wall led to a turnover near the attacking blue line and Winnipeg went on a two-on-one the other way. They finished it off with a backdoor roof shot to make it 1-0.
St. Louis finally got their legs under them towards the end of the period. They turned the tables, springing an odd-man rush in their favor off a neutral zone turnover and Robert Thomas was selfish, rifling a wrister over the blocker to make it 2-1 with 4:26 left in the period.
The second period continued an odd trend for the Blues that we've seen quite often. Although the shot totals were the same (8-8), Joel Hofer was the one making the saves that altered the course of the game. If not for him, it could have been out of reach.
As it was, the Jets still scored the only goal of the period. 11 minutes in, Winnipeg went from their own end zone to the attacking half-wall, banked a pass off Ryan Suter's skate and it fell right to the stick of Gabe Vilardi to make it 2-1.
Fortunately, the Blues came to play in the third. Thomas netted his second of the game just 16 seconds in when he collected a Pavel Buchnevich rebound and jammed it in on the wrap-around for a 2-2 game.
St. Louis kept on it, still relying on Hofer saves to keep it tied, but eventually cracked the even score late in the third. With a four-minute power play, the Blues got a power play goal from Buchnevich to take the lead. He faked the slap shot from inside the circle, took a step to his left to the hash marks and then slapped it past the blocker to make it 3-2.
The Blues failed to score on the following power play, which proved critical. Despite having two defenders in front of the net, the Blues couldn't keep Vilardi from making a big deflection in front. His second goal tied it with 28 seconds remaining.
The overtime went back and forth with teams trading odd-man rushes. Both goalies made some big saves, giving their teams an equal opportunity at that extra point.
Unfortunately, the game ended in a shootout, which is a ridiculous way to decide things no matter how much fans may like it. Once it got there, you knew how it was going to end.
The Blues failed to score at all and Blues-killer Kyle Connor got the only goal of the shootout to win it for Winnipeg.
Con: Connor
Can we get real with this guy? Connor has some talent, but he'd be on the level of the top scorers in the league if he could play the majority of his games against St. Louis.
This goal doesn't count for him statistically, but the guy is like a vampire and the Blues are like an already bleeding body, waiting for him to pounce. He couldn't do much of anything for Team USA in the 4 Nations, but he came right back and buried the Blues right away.
Pro/Con: Hofer
This isn't my normal pro and con for one guy. As far as his game, you couldn't ask much more of Hofer.
He made all the saves he should have and some he didn't have any business stopping. When the game was tied 2-2, he made two huge stops to keep it that way including a big blocker save on what appeared to be an empty net.
In the end, he only had 25 saves on 28 shots, but it was the quality of shots that made his game the difference maker.
The downside of it all was the Blues relied too heavily on it. Statistically, you can't look down too much on the 28 shots allowed, but when your goalie has to make at least 10 big stops that were the only reason you even got a point, it's not good.
Pro: Top line
As disappointing as the result was, at least we finally got the top-line duo rolling again. I suppose I should amend that to say rolling with goals.
Thomas now has points in five straight and Buch has points in four of the last five. However, the goals have been few and far between.
Thomas had one in his last five before this game and Buchnevich had none. Not only did each score, but they came up big.
Thomas had two game-tying goals and critical times of the game. Buchnevich showed good patience without overthinking and blasted what should have been the game-winning goal.
Con: End of the game
Slice this up however you want. We can say the Blues had a decent overtime, but the final minute of regulation and the shootout were just bad.
Honestly, I'm not sure what the Blues needed to do differently on the tying goal. You've got your defenders in a decent position around the net. I guess maybe you need to have more of a body on Vilardi, but why does the shot even get through there?
Regardless, it's just an example of why this team won't make the playoffs. The amount of points they've dropped just in allowing teams to score six-on-five is probably the margin they're out of the playoffs or close to it.
Then, shootouts just suck. You're allowed to like them if you want, but I despise it. You're relying on a weird skill challenge that doesn't even involve some of the best players.
It's an indication of mentality, perhaps, but when the Blues leading goal scorer is not one of your first three shootout shooters, how are you supposed to win? Even when they beat Chicago, it took Radek Faksa, a fourth liner, to be the only one to put an actual move on the goalie.
There's just not enough skill on display by the Blues to even make it entertaining.
Overview:
I'm still basking in the 4 Nations glow, even though the USA lost a heartbreaker, but this was a heavy dose of reality. Yet another game was right there for the Blues to get two points and they snatched a loss from the jaws of victory.
Did St. Louis deserve to win? Perhaps yes and perhaps not.
They were outshot and out-chanced in terms of grade-A opportunities, but it was on a silver platter for them. You work hard enough to put yourself up by a goal in the final three minutes and can't see the game out?
St. Louis did the little things that usually lead to wins. Their porous penalty kill kept the Jets off the board and your power play finally scored late in the game.
The Blues won the faceoff battle, had more hits, and kept the shot totals fairly low. All that and you still find a way to lose.
The result simply had to be the other way around. The Jets are far enough ahead that giving up a point was meaningless, but you had to get two and they didn't.
The discouraging thing was we saw some improvements from what this team was doing wrong prior to the break and it still wasn't good enough. Now you've got a pissed-off Colorado team coming in after losing 2-1 to Nashville despite almost doubling the Preds shot totals.