Sunday, December 3, 2017

St. Louis Blues vs Minnesota Wild - Game 27 Recap

Blues Lose in Minnesota 2-1 in Overtime
Goal: Berglund (2)
Record 17-8-2
My Thoughts on Tonight's Game

  • It was definitely disappointing to see the Wild score so quickly in the first period. It's a trend that we would like to see stopped. Here are the most recent first period goals allowed and times: (We've lost all 4 of those games)
    • vs Minnesota 4:26
    • vs LA 1:43 and 6:12
    • vs Anaheim 4:17
    • vs Nashville 2:32
  • The Wild's first goal came when Allen stopped a shot on an offensive rush by Minnesota's Jason Zucker, the rebound ended up behind the net where Ryan Suter directed it around the other side of the goal as Allen raced to the other post but the puck hit Allen's skate just before he reached the post and went into the net.  
  • Although the Blues ended up losing this one in overtime, there were some positives to take out of this game. 
    • Shots on Goal - Blues are getting lots of them. They put 42 on goal in this one and they are averaging over 40 shots on goal per game in the last five games. The problem is that too many of those shots haven't exactly been quality scoring chances. It seems like lots of them are right in the chest of the goaltender. There were some good chances in this game but Dubnyk was solid. When he did give up second chances the Blues just had a hard time putting their sticks on the puck and getting it in the net
    • Faceoff percentage - the Blues won 61% of them in this game.  It just didn't lead to goals. 
    • Power Play - The Blues were 1 for 5 on the PP in this one. Minnesota has been one of the league's best at killing the penalty on home ice at a nearly 95% success rate.
    • Penalty Kill - After struggling on this the last couple of games, they were perfect, killing off all three.
  • A glaring statistic to me was in the takeaway department.  St. Louis' game is pressure and forecheck, steal the puck and create chances off their defense. In this game the Blues had NO takeaways.  The way that is counted may be a bit subjective, depending on the person watching the game, but to not record a single takeaway says that the Blues weren't totally on their game.
  • Minnesota blocked 17 shots, compared to 5 for the Blues. 
  • Berglund tied the game late in the second period on the power play with a wicked wrist shot over the goalies left shoulder just under the bar.  This was Berglund's second goal in his third game of the season as he missed 24 games due to an off-season training injury to his shoulder.
  • It looked like the Blues were a little more in sync in this game than they had been. As we've said, it will take some time for those coming off injuries to mesh with the team. I still think the depth is going to be important as this season wears on. Yes, the team was playing very well without these guys, but we need depth to make a deep run.  So let's be patient and let 19 and 21 get back into the flow and not be too quick to want to pull the plug.
  • The Blues played an overall solid game and Jake Allen made some great saves. They gave themselves a chance to win, taking the game to overtime. 
  • Dumba scored just :39 seconds into the overtime period on a goal that probably could have been prevented with some better awareness by Tarasenko.
  • The Blues continue on the road when they take on the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday, Dec 5th.
#AllTogetherNowStL #LGB

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