Goal: Brodziak (9)
Record 34-21-3
- Coming off two big wins earlier this week in back to back nights, another tough test for the Blues rolled into town for an early start on this Mardi Gras weekend. The two-time defending Stanley Cup Champion Pittsburgh Penguins were in town along with former Blue, Ryan Reaves who was making his first appearance back in St. Louis after being traded to Pittsburgh in the offseason.
- The Blues gave a short video tribute early in the first period recognizing Reaves' time with the club. The St. Louis fans gave him a nice ovation.
- Things didn't look too bad for the first 23 minutes of the game. St. Louis outshot Pittsurgh in the first period 10-7. Both teams had a few scoring chances, but Jake Allen and Matt Murray were solid to start the game.
- 3 Minutes and 10 seconds into the 2nd period, Kyle Brodziak led a 2 on 1 break with Chris Thorburn. Brodziak waited until the last possible moment to pass the puck and Thorburn wasn't able to get it into the opening of the net. He did, however manage to center the puck back in front to the stick of Brodziak, who punched it home for a 1-0 Blues lead.
- The towel man hadn't even thrown out the towel yet when Sidney Crosby tied the score exactly 21 seconds later. Crosby got the puck in the corner and from the goal line shot the puck at Allen. Jake was hugging the right post, but somehow the puck didn't stay where Jake thought it was and it trickled into the net. It was Crosby's 400th goal of his career.
- Tied at 1-1 was how the 2nd period would end. The Blues thought they had taken the lead early in the 3rd when Pietrangelo's shot from the point was deflected by Stastny and went in, fooling Murray. Pittsburgh challenged and the referees determined the puck was played with a high stick and took away the goal. None of the replays that NBC showed were conclusive from what I could tell. I'd like to see what the referees saw that we couldn't see.
- For the most part, the Blues did a good job of containing the high-powered offense of Pittsburgh, keeping them mostly to the outside of the ice. The game was much closer than the score would indicate. As Coach Yeo said, this was a game that would come down to a mistake or two and an opportunity for one team or the other to capitalize.
- The first mistake came at the expense of the home team. Vince Dunn gave up the puck at his own blue line and Bryan Rust raced in on Allen and beat him through the five hole to take a 2-1 lead. The momentum had shifted.
- The Blues were the benefactor of the next break and were given a power play opportunity when Reaves was called for hooking on Gunnarsson. Murray made an outstanding glove save on a rocket off the stick of Tarasenko to keep the big Russian from tying the game.
- Shortly after the big save, the Penguins cleared the puck and while retrieving it, Vince Dunn was absolutely mugged back in the Blues defensive zone. Watching the replay, Rust grabbed his jersey from behind and then jammed his stick in between his skates and tripped him. No damage came from the play, but if the obvious penalty had been called it would have given the Blues a 5 on 3 advantage. (I think we are 0 for 7 on the 5 on 3 for the season, so it may not have mattered, but hey! we are bound to break that streak sooner or later. It could have been today)
- The Blues hung in the game until midway through the third but made another mistake in their own end. This time it wasn't a rookie defenseman, but rather the captain, Alex Pietrangelo. Petro got his pocket picked behind his own goal and the Penguins capitalized with a centering pass and a wide open shot from close range that Jake couldn't stop. Pittsburgh 3, St Louis 1.
- Playing catch up, the Blues pulled Allen for an extra attacker but quickly gave up an empty net goal to Crosby for the final score of 4-1.
- Some random thoughts and observations:
- Tarasenko played with more confidence again today. Amazing what a couple of goals will do for a guy.
- Bortuzzo played a very physical game today. He had some solid hits.
- We turned the puck over too much today.
- Pittsburgh sort of outplayed us at our own game. They were beating us to pucks and winning one-on-one battles more often than us and poke checking, fore checking and just a menace all day.
- As Taylor Swift says, "Haters gonna hate" and I'm sure there are those who are blaming Jake for this loss. I'll say this. 1 goal isn't going to beat the defending Stanley Cup Champs too often, and you can't give guys one on one opportunities right in front of your goaltender and expect him to be able to save them all.
- The first goal by Crosby was "soft" on Jakes part, but you're talking about arguably the best player on the planet right now who can find a hole where most guys can't even imagine a hole. We just had a couple of mistakes and the Penguins made us pay.
- On to Nashville Tuesday and Dallas on Friday. Luckily, Winnipeg lost today and so did Dallas so we didn't lose any ground.
#AllTogetherNowStL #LGB
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