The end of the season for the St. Louis Blues has been nothing short of miraculous. They came into their game against the Pittsburgh Penguins having won 10 in a row and nine consecutive games on home ice.
However, you wouldn't know that with how they played in the first period. The opening 20 minutes was much more reminiscent to the first 10 games of the season than the most recent ones.
St. Louis only got three shots on goal, which almost felt generous. There was next to no offensive zone time, and they just looked apathetic.
Although the Penguins weren't much better, they were better enough. They took a 1-0 lead just about three and a half minutes in.
Joel Hofer had a rare miscue with the puck, not clearing it very far up the wall. Bryan Rust took it off the wall, drove to the net, deked Hofer, and tucked it in for the opening goal. That lasted the entire way to stay 1-0 into the locker room.
As deflating as that was, the Blues erased that quickly. Just 39 seconds into the second, Jake Neighbours tied it.
A blocked shot led to a transition breakout. After a quick overlap, Robert Thomas dropped it back to Neighbours, who snapped it home from the left slot to make it 1-1.
Pittsburgh regained the lead about four minutes later when the Blues had no luck. First, Thomas got hit in the face with the puck, but was not struggling enough for a stoppage even though he was down on the ice. Then a drive to the net resulted in a scramble, and Hofer couldn't get it covered long enough for a whistle, and the Pens jabbed it under his pad for a 2-1 score.
Thankfully, the Blues kept at it. Pavel Buchnevich tied it two minutes later with a fantastic drive down the right wing and an even better scoop shot for the goal to make it 2-2.
St. Louis continued the second period assault at 8:05 of the second. A brilliant stretch pass from Cam Fowler found Jordan Kyrou just behind the defense. Kyrou almost fumbled the puck, but snapped it home from the right hash and it was 3-2.
The opening to the third had some buzz, but neither team was connecting on their pushes forward. St. Louis changed that around six minutes in.
The Blues got another breakout play, with Jimmy Snuggerud coming in. Just when it looked like he would take the shot, he flung one to the left, and Neighbours got enough on it to chip it over the goalie and give St. Louis a 4-2 lead.
Sadly, the Blues' inability to score on the power play came back to haunt them. The Penguins showed them how it was done when Sidney Crosby found Rickard Rakell for a power-play goal with about nine minutes left to make it 4-3.
Pittsburgh pulled the goalie with over two minutes left, which made things nervy since the Blues feel like one of the worst in the league at five-on-six. That proved correct since the Penguins tied it on a deflection that went in off the post with 25 seconds left.
But, the Blues have been overtime heroes before and continued it here. After getting a power play, the Blues possessed the puck and worked it around. Eventually, Thomas fired one in from the left circle, and the Blues won 5-4.
Con: First period
One thing that the old Blues were guilty of that has crept back in the last couple games is poor starts. I get that it's late in the season, guys are banged up and you don't want to give up every ounce of energy making the playoffs just to have no energy for the playoffs.
However, when it's game night, you've got to find the energy early. The Blues did the opposite of that in this game.
You try not to nitpick an offense that has been humming, but three shots over the course of 20 minutes is not going to cut it. It wasn't like they were in the zone creating and just missing. Three shots was almost the entirety of their offensive output.
The energy wasn't there, the physicality wasn't there and, win or lose, it was not the effort we've come to expect from this group.
Pro: Win streak continues
As we just mentioned, it wasn't always pretty or exciting. However, the bottom line is that the Blues found a way to get two points.
That's what you need in the playoffs. You're going to be tired, beat up, and not always at your peak. If you find a way to gut out the W, it doesn't matter.
St. Louis now has 11 wins in a row, tying a club record. It's hard not to be a little excited since the only other time that happened, the Blues won the Stanley Cup.
Con: Power play
Well, it was nice while it lasted. The Blues were a respectable power play team not that long ago.
Now, they've reverted to type and it's a lot to dislike about the man advantage right now. I'm not sure that it is an advantage.
Through the first two, they had a grand total of zero shots on goal. Similar to the last few games, they've struggled to even hold the zone.
On the next two, one of which was almost a minute of five-on-three, they had more zone time, but spent most it struggling to hold the zone instead of legitimately threatening. Even during a double-minor against the Penguins, the Blues just couldn't get it going. They finally had a couple cracks at goal, but it was too little, too late.
Pro: Future is bright
Beyond just getting the win in this game, you can't help but be excited by this team. All the scoring came from guys that are either locked up long term or will be before it's even a worry.
You get two goals from Neighbours. He's under contract to the summer of 2027 and will still be an RFA.
Kyrou scored his 33rd of the season. He's inked to 2031.
Buchnevich has come back to life. Suddenly it's not a burden to have him under contract to 2031.
The game winner comes from Thomas. He's a possible future captain and also won't be hitting free agency until 2031.
Snuggerud got his first career assist. He's on an entry level deal for two more seasons after this and the Blues will almost certainly get him a nice contract beyond that.
The guys on this team are not going anywhere and there's plenty of reason to be happy about that right now.
Overview:
This one is a mixed bag, but you take it. The first period was close to awful.
Hofer didn't look that great in spots, but made big saves down the stretch. The defense was playing well overall, but scrambling more than you'd like.
The offense was hot one minute and then couldn't hold the zone the next. The power play straight up sucked, but then wins the game for you.
The worrying thing is this is two games in a row where the Blues should have handled the Penguins easily. The first one you lose, despite being the better team.
This one you win, though you could argue Pittsburgh was the better team over 60 minutes.
St. Louis' in ability to hold leads in regulation when the other team has their goalie pulled has officially hit panic mode. We legitimately have no reason to think they won't allow the tying goal, which is worrying since playoff games are almost always tight.
Yet, they find ways. That's what winning teams do and the Blues are doing that.
This is about as disgruntled as I've been with a win in a long time, but when you're still getting points every night, it's easy to nitpick and still feel alright.
A win is a win and we won't remember how it went down if/when the postseason starts and the Blues are in it.