The St. Louis Blues came into their game against the Detroit Red Wings as one of the hottest teams in the NHL. They had won nine in a row and eight in a row on home ice.
However, early on you just got a feeling it wasn't going to quite work out. The first period was somewhat non-descript.
The Blues outshot the Wings 11-3. The defense did its job, but the offense couldn't say the same.
For much of the game, it was more than just numbers. The Blues numbers were deceiving in that they weren't creating a ton of grade-A looks, meanwhile they were allowing better than Detroit's numbers suggested.
That continued into the second period. When the Red Wings only had five total shots, you still felt like all of their five were quality looks, while the Blues only had a couple.
St. Louis would still outshoot Detroit in the second, 12-9, but the attempts were almost the same and St. Louis was on their heels for much of the period. Cam Talbot made a handful of quality saves, though St. Louis could have done better to put the shots where he wasn't, but still.
Eventually, their luck, or lack thereof, caught up with the Blues in the third. St. Louis was very sloppy with the puck, and the Red Wings just kept pushing.
Detroit finally cracked the Jordan Binnington code 5:13 into the third. The Blues didn't get the puck out of the zone, and Detroit won a scramble for the puck on the right side of the net. It popped to the left to JT Compher, who had an empty net, to make it 1-0.
The Blues failed to capitalize on a power play midway through, which was the story of their offensive special teams the whole game. St. Louis' best look came with about six and a half left.
Dylan Hollway swiftly cut into the zone, but his shot was blocked. Ryan Suter followed up with the goalie seemingly out of position, but Talbot continued to stone the Blues with a spectacular glove save.
The Blues rolled the dice, pulling their goaltender with just over three minutes left. Like their power play, they couldn't accomplish much.
Their best look at the net was a Philip Broberg shot from the blue line that missed it altogether. However, the Blues made me eat my own words as they tied the game out of nowhere with 27 seconds left.
Cam Fowler took a long pass to Jordan Kyrou on the left of the slot. Kyrou fanned on most of the shot, catching the puck on the heel of the stick, brushing it through the five-hole, and actually deflecting in off Talbot's pad to make it 1-1 and send it to overtime.
St. Louis wasn't satisfied with just the one point. They created a few rushes into the zone, but eventually finished it off with a fantastic Cam Fowler backhander that roofed the puck into the net for a 2-1 Blues win.
Con: Power play
Even though the Blues eventually did score at six-on-five, they weren't very good with an extra man. You're not always going to score, and some nights, you just won't be able to beat the goalie.
However, the issue is that the Red Wings have the worst penalty kill in the league. They were only killing off about 68%.
Not only did the Blues not score, but they didn't really even threaten. All Talbot's big saves came at five-on-five.
Over time, I've learned that penalty killing is somewhat simplified. You don't worry about transitioning or puck possession; it's only defending and clearing.
Even with that in mind, you have three cracks at the worst PK and you don't even really sniff a goal.
Pro: Binnington
This was one of those games where you can't just read the box score. The Red Wings mustered only 21 shots overall and scored on one of those.
However, even though people will focus more on Talbot, we shouldn't overlook the Blues goaltender. Jordan Binnington was not his absolute best, but he made some big saves and kept St. Louis in it.
As mentioned earlier, and said by the TV crew too, even though Detroit only had five shots early in the second and never got a ton through, they had some grade-A chances. Binnington had to be just sharp enough to keep them alive, which he did.
Pro: Tenacity
St. Louis could easily have just packed this one in and looked to the next game. They ran into a hot goaltender and weren't overly sharp for 60 minutes.
Even if the Blues had lost, they would likely still be five points up in the playoff race. It would have been understandable to just accept things.
Instead, they just kept plugging away. They weren't dominating the Red Wings by any means, but they generated some looks and didn't get too down whenever Talbot did make a big save.
Early in the season, we'd have seen demonstrative behavior. Instead, we got a quick F-word at worst and then they'd just get right back to it.
The puck luck eventually found them as Kyrou's shot really had no business going in. However, a goaltender can't really react to a "changeup", so if it comes at an odd angle, it's just hard to deal with.
The fact they tied it was good enough, but winning was icing on the cake.
Overview:
As fans, we often feel like we are a part of the team and don't want to alter anything. We often say "we" and don't want to jinx anything.
However, we have no effect in reality. Still, it's hard not to think that the Blues are both a special team right now, but also realize that they could still be a first-round exit. You just can't tell.
Yet, at this point, we do need to realize that the rest of the league doesn't want to play us. Nobody is scared. They wouldn't be professionals if they were legitimately scared, but they would rather avoid the Blues and let someone else deal with that first-round headache if they can.
St. Louis had reached that wonderful point where even when they're not at they're best, they're still finding ways to win. They've blown out the bad teams, beaten the good teams and still gutted out a few wins they had no business picking up. That's what good teams and even contenders do.
I'm not saying this is a Stanley Cup caliber team, but if we're super honest, who thought 2019 would be the year until it actually happened? This team has flaws, but everyone does.
The big thing is, guys are finding their groove. Binnington made enough saves to keep them alive until they could tie it.
You get your leading goal scorer to come up big and tie the game, even if it was partially a whiff. Another of Doug Armstrong's massive acquisitions, Cam Fowler, made a highlight reel shot to win the game.
It's all falling into place at just the right time. Eventually, the Blues will lose.
I highly doubt they win out the rest of the regular season, but even if they do, they're not winning 16-straight playoff games. However, as long as they don't find a way to go ice cold, this team can do something special.
How far they can go is now up to them, not just their opponent.