I've Got The Blues...(and that's a Good Thing!): St. Louis Blues vs Winnipeg Jets

Jets Blank St. Louis in Winnipeg

Goals: None

Record 22-11-2

My Thoughts on the Game

After Carter Hutton set a franchise record, stopping all 48 shots the night before to earn his 9th career NHL shutout, Winnipeg's goalie, Connor Hellebuyck only had to stop half that many to shutout the Blues. St. Louis was outshot in this one 46-24.
We've given up 94 shots in 2 games, which begs the question..."Where has the defense gone?"
Yes, we miss Jayden Schwartz on offense but tonight everyone but Bouwmeester was back on defense. So, what is going on? Could it be that Schwartzy's style of play with the high-energy forechecking is a big part of the defense as well? I say that it is. One leads to the other.
St. Louis had chances early.

Edmundson's pass to Berglund, who seemed to be staring at an open net was broken up by the Jets' defense before the big Swede could get his stick on it and poke it home.
Parayko picked a guy's pocket at the Jets' blueline and skated in all alone. The Jets' defenseman, chasing from behind lost his stick and a glove while mauling big #55 and keeping him from getting an uncontested shot.
Steen worked his way in behind the defense and got a good chance, he drew a penalty and got the Blues on a power play but we failed to score. In fact, this penalty at 10:59 of the first period was the Jets' third penalty and the Blues failed to score on all 3 chances in the first.
Berglund and Jaskin both had good scoring chances, then late in the period Schenn stole a pass, got the puck to Tarasenko in close, but his shot sailed over the crossbar, all in the first period, yet the score was 0-0 after 20 minutes.

The Jets' first goal came 4:32 into the 2nd period when Edmundson and Parayko both ended up behind the net. Winnipeg's Brandon Tanev skated in with the puck and both defensemen followed him and the three collided against the boards. This left the front of the goal exposed and the Jets got the puck to Lowry, who stuffed it home.
The 2nd period was all Winnipeg as they outshot St. Louis 16-6. The third period shots were 18-9, also in favor of the Jets.
The Blues looked like they were low on energy, they weren't really a threat to score the rest of the game. I felt like we didn't have an effective forecheck and we made a lot of mistakes. The stat line shows it. We didn't look like the team leading the West.

The best part about this game is that it's over, but it's just the first of four games on the road in Canada this week.

Calgary, Wednesday. They are 4-4-2 in their last 10 games. We beat them early in the season 5-2 at home but lost in Calgary 7-4.
Edmonton, Thursday. They are next to last in the West but are 6-4-0 in their last 10. We beat them 4-1 and then 8-3 in November.
Vancouver, Saturday. They are just 2 points in front of Edmonton and are 4-6-0 in their last 10 games. We have faced them once so far, beating them 4-3 in Vancouver.

The injuries continue to be an obstacle, but it was good to see Pietrangelo and Brodziak back in the lineup. Definitely good to have Hutton back this week, too. Schwartz's return can't come too soon. I want him healthy, but we need him.
We might need some more help to make a deep run this year too. It would be interesting to know what kind of moves Armstrong is working on. With St. Louis being near the cap, it will take some creativity to get a quality offensive player who can help. The informed fan won't be surprised if a popular player or two get traded in order to make room for another salary, but the casual fan may be disappointed if someone whose name is on that Blues jersey hanging in their closet gets traded away. Time will tell. The trade deadline is a long way off.

#AllTogetherNowStL #LGB