The St. Louis Blues had no time to dwell on a disappointing overtime loss to the Winnipeg Jets. Less than 24 hours later, the Colorado Avalanche were in town following their frustrating loss in Nashville.
The Blues came out reasonably well. They were outshooting the Avs in the early going, although both sets of defenses were keeping the shot totals pretty low.
Unfortunately, it was Colorado who struck first. Cale Makar took the wrister from the right point, and Devon Toews got a big deflection on the way through. The shot was initially going towards the chest of Jodan Binnington, but the tip bounced it off the ice and through the legs to make it 1-0.
St. Louis had some good physicality and quality zone time. They created some chances too including a one-timer from Pavel Buchnevich in the slot, but he got stoned with a big glove save. It remained a Colorado lead into the intermission.
The Blues came out strong in the second, but couldn't get any luck. They had a great look in the first minute that went off the goalie's toe and then the post and then Jake Neighbours had a partial breakaway around five minutes in but fell when he tried to hit the brakes to cut behind the defender.
It felt like things would turn against the Blues when Buch took a penalty, but the PK was excellent and killed it off. Shortly after, the Blues tied it as Brayden Schenn managed to snap one home to make it 1-1 with about nine minutes left.
About four minutes later, the Blues took the lead. As they came through the neutral zone with speed, they just chucked a shot at the net from the right wall. Colton Parayko had gone to the net, collected the rebound and scooped it home for a 2-1 lead.
St. Louis kept their foot on the gas as they kept generating speed and driving in. They increased their lead with 10 seconds left in the second period. This time it was Justin Faulk who drove to the goal line and fired one to the front of the net. Dylan Holloway got just enough on it to deflect it inside the far post and it was 3-1 going into intermission.
St. Louis had to weather the storm in the third period. While they weren't devoid of their own chances, it was certainly a Colorado push.
The Avs had 13 third-period shots, including some quality looks in the final two minutes. Binnington kept up the momentum he had gained from the 4 Nations Final, turning aside a flurry of activity.
Although the Blues could not even get it out of their zone for an empty net chance, they did hold on. St. Louis held the score and won 3-1.
Pro: Binnington
The strange thing about this game was it was kind of a pedestrian performance for Binner for much of the game. That's not a knock against him, but the Avs didn't force him to make any huge saves in the first couple of periods.
However, he came to life in the third period. The last two or three minutes alone was enough to garner him plenty of attention.
He stopped Nathan MacKinnon with a big arm save and caught one off the elbow on the next shift as well. As I mentioned at the end of the recap, there was a big push by the Avs at the end and Binnington had to make three consecutive saves as Colorado kept getting whacks at the puck.
I wouldn't say Binnington stole the game, but he made it so the team didn't have to sweat as much since it easily could have been 3-2 going into the final minute.
Con: No nail in the coffin
It's hard to complain about a two-goal win, but the Blues could have put this one on ice earlier, theoretically. They had their chances and things just didn't bounce their way.
Jake Neighbours, alone, had at least three great looks and he either got robbed or didn't get clean contact as he would have liked. We should be used to those things since the team has had so many snake-bitten skaters all season, but it was just right there.
Buchnevich got stoned with the stretching glove save when he smacked one from the slot. Credit to Mackenzie Blackwood for making the saves, but this game could easily have gone the same way as the Jets game given the missed chances to increase the lead.
Pro: Top guys performing
Really, the Blues had a very solid game with all four lines. Nevertheless, it was good to see the top guys actually being the top guys again.
Jordan Kyrou had two assists. Buchnevich had a goal, almost had two, and was a +1 for the night.
Schenn led by example and put a goal in too. Parayko was great defensively and drove all the way to the net to cash in on a rebound.
I already discussed the good night for Binnington. Holloway hadn't scored since January 27 and January 9 before that. He's a guy that's showing an ability to be a 25-30 goal scorer, but he hit a lull and it was good to see him get back to his game.
Pro: Walker
I love heart and soul guys. I do. I think they're overvalued by the online community, but they serve a big purpose in the game and we saw what it can do with Nathan Walker in this game.
He's definitely not big at 5'9, but you wouldn't know that how he played. He was forced to fight and got the best of it by staying on his feet when the other guy tried to rip him down and also showed restraint by not just UFC blasting the guy when he was down.
Later in the period, Walker simply stood up to Jack Drury. Drury was the one that initiated the contact and Walker did his best stone pilar impression by just standing there and letting Drury fall off.
The guy's impact on the game just from his pure effort and physicality was impressive.
Overview:
This was a fun game to watch, and it feels like it's been a while since we could say that. The last game against the Jets was a decent performance, but letting it slip away ruined it.
This one was impressive due to the style of the game, not just the win. For the first time in forever, it felt like the Blues showed speed, had flow and creativity, looked confident, and threatened a team several times.
It didn't feel like one of those games where it was just a good night. It felt like this is what this team is capable of and they just don't do it often enough.
They defended like a team. Robert Thomas was out against MacKinnon quite a bit and he, and his linemates, didn't look lost or behind by two steps.
Guys knew when to go forward and challenge and when to hang back. The penalty kill showed they're actually decent instead of swiss cheese that has been out in the sun too long.
While the overall talent was nowhere near the international games, it felt much more like one of those 4 Nations Faceoff games rather than a mundane league game. It was exciting and also nice to not have to bite our nails down to the nub at the very end, even though Colorado was pressing.
As I've said so many times this season, we can't project this game forward. There's no reason to think this spills over into the Seattle game.
Enjoy it for what it was and be happy. Even when the Blues have won, it's been a slight rarity to actually feel happy and this game provided that.