The St. Louis Blues entered their road game against the Washington Capitals having won two games in a row, both in impressive fashion against the Colorado Avalanche and Seattle Kraken. The Blues were the only team left in the NHL that had not won three games in a row.
It was a slightly mundane opening to the game with both teams mainly focused on defense. However, the Blues ended up striking first.
It was Philip Broberg to nab the first goal. The defender snuck in on the back side and tucked home a nice cross-ice feed to make it 1-0 with a little under nine minutes left.
The Capitals would tie it about four minutes later. The Caps also set up a backdoor-type play, but Pierre-Luc Dubois made a nice move around back-up goaltender Joel Hofer and backhanded it into an empty net for a 1-1 score.
Less than three minutes later, Broberg struck again. For the second time, the defender was left unmanned and he scored on a breakaway after avoiding a big poke-check attempt by the Washington goaltender. It was 2-1 going into the intermission.
Onto Period 2
The second period was also a bit of back and forth without much offense to show for it initially. That changed very quickly at the end of the frame.
Washington tied it with 3:05 left in the period. Connor McMichael made a little drag move to open up a lane past the defender and snapped one past Hofer on a good shot, but he might have done better.
Regardless, the Blues wasted no time getting back at it. Less than a minute later, Dylan Holloway retook the lead by deflecting a Ryan Suter point shot.
Barely 30 seconds after that, Colton Parayko made it 4-2. There was a scramble in front of the net and Parayko snapped home the loose puck when it popped out to the left of the goal.
Third period
The third period continued the oddity of this game. There was a decent amount of back-and-forth action, with a slight edge to the Capitals, but there was almost no offense.
There were nine total shots taken by the time the third period ended, with five of them coming from the Capitals. For a game that was still in the balance and that didn't have a ton of blocked shots, it was odd to see so few chances.
The Blues sensed that Hell must have been getting pretty cold and put the game on ice. Not only did they finally win their third game in a row - the last team in the NHL to accomplish that this season - but they scored on an empty net too. The Blues won 5-2.
Pro: Broberg
While you have to blame the Capitals for not tracking the weak side and allowing a defender to take them to school, you still have to give credit to Broberg. A two-goal night is nothing to scoff at.
You have to be able to realize there is open space there and take advantage of it. You also have to have the finishing ability as well.
We've seen plenty of Blues defenders, including in recent history, that likely would not have been able to convert those chances. Broberg showcased a keen awareness, soft touch, and killer finish.
Pro: Team defense
As a five-man line, the Blues defended very well in this game. There were still a few lapses or gaps that the Capitals didn't take advantage of, but those were few and far between.
Overall, they got the job done splendidly. You hold the team with the most goals in the league to 18 shots and only five in the third period, you're doing something right.
Additionally, they shut down the Capitals power play twice. Although they did allow Alex Ovechkin to have four shots, Hofer only needed to make one good save off those.
Pro: Offensive explosion
Where did this Blues offense come from? Whatever the team has been eating or drinking, they need to order more of.
You get five goals against the team that had allowed the third-fewest in the Eastern Conference. You score five goals on just 19 shots too.
The Blues now have three or more goals in their last five games. They've got a total of 24 goals in that same span, averaging just under five goals per game.
Overview:
We can joke and poke fun at things, but the reality is that the end of February is way too late for a team to have won three straight games. The Blues had so many chances to do it, even when they were worse than mediocre, but just couldn't do it.
Now, not only did they win three straight, but they beat Colorado and Washington and wiped the ice with Seattle too. It's not as though they were beating nothing but bottom feeders.
What's interesting is how the Blues are doing so many small things well now. They've all but dominated faceoffs going back to the Winnipeg game. Outside of Robert Thomas, the rest of the centers have been poor all year, so it's anyone's guess as to what the turnaround has been caused by.
The penalty kill is suddenly actually good. The power play went 0-1, but is still looks better.
What's crazy is how quickly a three-game streak can turn things around. The Blues are now just three points back of a playoff spot.
The math is still against them since both Vancouver and Calgary have two games in hand, but at least it's close. A push towards the end of the season can be nothing but good for both the players and the box office.