Saturday, February 24, 2018

Blues Drop 5th Straight With 4-0 Loss at Home

Winnipeg Jets vs St. Louis Blues - Game 62 Recap
Goals: none
Record 34-24-4
My Thoughts on the Game

  • The Blues, fighting for a playoff spot, desperately needed a win to bounce back from their previous three straight losses. Their opponent, the Winnipeg Jets had lots of reasons to not let that happen. St. Louis had beaten them in Winnipeg 2 weeks earlier by a score of 5-2. They were coming off a loss in their previous game in LA, and they are battling for the top spot in the Central Division.
  •  The Blues tested goaltender, Connor Hellebuyck early in the game. Schenn had two open looks in front of the net, Sobotka had an open shot and Brodziak had two chances. 
  • At the 3:19 mark, Scottie Upshall drew an interference penalty on Winnipeg which sent the Blues onto the power play. They managed some pressure, but couldn't score. Schwartz, Sobotka, and Dunn all put shots on goal during the man advantage.
  • The shots on goal were 6-0 in the early going in favor of the Blues.
  • However, the ice would tilt the other direction and boy did it tilt quickly! 
  • St. Louis gave away the puck in the defensive zone and Winnipeg's Nic Petan scored on the back side after a pass went between Vince Dunn's skates in front of the net. Jets 1 Blues 0 at the 10:03 mark.
  • 45 seconds later, Blake Wheeler scored from the right wing near the face-off dot over the right shoulder of Allen to make the score 2-0. The photo shows Darren Pang's illustration as to Jake's positioning on the play.  He was out of position, too far to the left of the goal and left too much room on his right side and Wheeler found the top corner easily.
  • St. Louis mounted some offensive pressure late in the period but couldn't manage a goal. Thorburn was whistled for a hooking call at the 17:43 mark of the period, killing any momentum that the Blues had gathered.
  • Winnipeg capitalized with a 3rd goal at the 18:31 mark of the period with a power-play goal by Kyle Connor. The goal came on a rebound that St. Louis couldn't get to.
  • Patrik Laine added a 4th goal 6:04 into the 2nd period. Laine's goal was similar to the goal by Wheeler. He came up the right wing and beat Jake over his right shoulder in the far upper corner of the net. 
  • The Blues became timid after the 4th goal. Their forecheck disappeared. It seemed like they were worried about getting beat on the other end and were afraid to attack. 
  • St. Louis outshot Winnipeg 34-23 and won 67% of the face-offs, but were still shutout. 
  • Things don't get any easier as the Blues travel to Nashville to face the Predators in an 11 AM game this Sunday.
#AllTogetherNowStL #LGB 

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