LA Kings vs St. Louis Blues - Game 26 Recap

Blues Flat Again, Lose 4-1 to Kings at Home
Goal: Berglund (1)
Record 17-8-1

My Thoughts on Tonight's Game

• The bandwagon may have a few empty seats after the Blues did something they hadn't done all year, lose their second straight game at home. When a team starts off as hot as the Blues did this season, everyone wants to climb aboard. They start talking about a cup and how this might be the year. But after they post a losing record in their longest home stand of the season, going 2-3-0 the fair weather fans will start looking for their next "favorite" team.
• The Kings, on the other hand are riding a bit of a hot streak on the road.  They had just won in Detroit on Tuesday and at Washington on Thursday. But even though they were on the second game of a back-to-back, they seemed like the team with all of the energy. It's becoming an all too familiar story line with the Blues.
• On three of the Kings' goals the Blues just seemed to be left behind and skated past. They gave up several odd-man rushes and the Kings were flying by us. We've been giving a lot of open ice to our opponents and not finding much open ice for ourselves.
• The return of Bouwmeester and Berglund may have thrown off a little of the timing and familiarity, but you can't blame two guys for either of these losses.  The Kings just outplayed the Blues tonight. In fact, Berglund scored the only goal for St. Louis on a nice tip in off the pass from Colton Parayko.
• St. Louis dominated in Shots on Goal (40-28) and Faceoff Percentage (57%-43%). We also had a perfect penalty kill and scored on a power play. However, the Kings led the main stat line and that was goals, which is all that matters in the end. 
• LA had backup goalie, Darcy Kuemper in net. He stopped 39 of 40 shots and moved to 4-0-2 on the season. Meanwhile, Blues backup Carter Hutton was pulled after the 2nd period and having given up 3 goals. 
• LA's 3rd goal was a true snipe goal. Left-winger, Adrian Kempe skated up the right side after a St. Louis turnover.  With Joel Edmundson defending, Kempe let a wrist shot go that went between the legs of Edmundson and, as if the puck had eyes it flew past Carter Hutton into the upper left corner of the goal. 
• I'm not sure, but it seems to me like the rest of the league has worked hard at figuring out ways to beat the Blues. We beat nearly everyone the first time around and surprised the hockey world with the fast start.  Now the other teams have made adjustments and the Blues will have to counter with adjustments of their own and I believe they will.  This team, staff and entire organization will work together and get it done.
• It was night to celebrate those who have fought and are fighting cancer. Ari Duggan's family dropped the ceremonial puck. Unfortunately, the Blues team and fans didn't also get to celebrate a win. Another chance awaits tonight, as the puck drops at 5 PM in Minnesota vs the Wild.

#AllTogetherNowStL #LGB #SpreadArisLight

Anaheim Ducks vs St. Louis Blues - Game 25 Recap

Ducks Bounce Back, Beat Blues 3-2

Goals: Brodziak (5,6)

Record 17-7-1

My Thoughts on Tonight's Game:

• It took the Blues 6 minutes to manage their first shot on goal. Their second one didn't come until 9 minutes into the period on their first power play of the game.  They would go on to have 4 power plays in the game, yet they failed to produce a goal in any of them.
• Here's my solution for a faster start. Put a line out there of Upshall, Brodziak and Thorburn to start the game and let them just go after the puck as hard and fast as they can.  Maybe that would get the other guys a little more fired up. It seems like Schwartz always has the energy.  Maybe make everyone else eat what he eats?!
• The Power play and penalty kill are definitely "head-scratchers". According to John Kelly and Darren Pang, the spots on the power play are now up for grabs.  You have to earn your way onto the power play.  I'm sure the coaching staff and players will get it figured out eventually.
• I've been saying for quite a while, it seems that when it comes down to a tight game, special teams is going to win or lose games for you.  Since our PP and PK have ranked in the bottom of the league all season so far, it's proving to be correct. We've lost some close games when we have failed to score on the power play and failed to kill off penalties.
• Tarasenko and Schwartz had a 2 on 1 rush later in the first period where Vladi's shot beat the goalie but went off the crossbar.  Had that goal gone in and tied the game, maybe the result would have been different.
• The Ducks scored very quickly in the second while the Blues were still a man short, and then went up 3-0 a couple of minutes later.
• I think Coach Yeo used the word "desperate" in his post game. The Ducks did play as if they were more desperate to win the game. They had lost 4 in a row prior to this game and you know how mean ducks are when you get them backed into a corner. (Actually, this analogy would have been better suited for a game with Arizona, Boston, Florida or Nashville but I thought maybe a little humor was needed)
• The Blues did a good job killing off a 4 minute penalty in the second period. Brodziak had another good short-handed scoring chance due to some good forechecking.
• Schwartz had a couple of good chances in the 2nd also.  We just couldn't put the puck in the net. We did outshoot them 39-30.
• Anaheim blocked 21 shots to our 12.
• Brodziak scored twice late in the 3rd but it was too little, too late.
• Something I've noticed and I heard former Blue, Jamie Rivers say about Parayko, but I've noticed it with Dunn now as well.  He said, "Instead of thinking that his shot from the point has to go through the back of the net, he needs to move his feet and just make sure his shot gets on net." A lot of those big slap shots are getting blocked and not getting to the net.  Getting them to the net is going to create more rebounds and scoring chances.
• One more thought on the power play. Since we are so good at 5 on 5, why don't we play the power play as if the other team isn't a man down.  Why change anything? Just keep playing our game. Just a thought.

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Minnesota Wild vs St. Louis Blues - Game 24 Recap

Blues Bounce Back With 6-3 Victory Over Minnesota Wild
Goals: Stastny (6), Jaskin (3), Schwartz (12,13), Brodziak (3) and Blais (1)
Record 17-6-1

My Thoughts on Tonight's Game

• I was at the game, so I like to rewatch it on the DVR in order to put my thoughts on paper.  It's hard to do when you're at the game, cheering and talking to your friends, etc.
• This was a good "bounce back" game after the tough loss at home the night before against another division rival, the Nashville Predators. The Blues lost that one 2-0.
• I felt like St. Louis was in control of the game pretty much from start to finish.  They had a couple of lapses, but thanks to some outstanding saves by Jake Allen in the first period they held a 3-0 lead after the first and were never in a position to lose that lead.
• Minnesota played a very undisciplined game, taking 21 minutes in penalties. The Blues, despite struggling on the power play all season, took advantage and scored 3 times on the power play in the game.  A noticeable change to the power play included recent call-up Sammy Blais. Whatever other changes were made seemed to work as the Blues were 3 for 8 for a 37.5% success rate, nearly double their overall season percentage, which now stands at 18.1%, 20th in the league.
• All four of the offensive lines scored goals and points again tonight.  This was the second game during the home stand that this has happened. The Edmonton game being the other.
• Stastny-Steen-Sobotka line: 1 goal, 3 assists
• Schenn-Schwartz-Tarasenko line: 2 goals, 2 assists
• Upshall-Brodziak-Thorburn line: 1 goal, 1 assist
• Jaskin-Sundqvist-Blais line: 2 goals
• Parayko continued his good offensive play with 2 assists.
• To show how up and down things can be, Minnesota goalie Devan Dubnyk had 3 consecutive shutouts a week ago, but has given up 18 goals in the past 4 games.
• After Minnesota scored the only goal in the 2nd period, Kyle Brodziak opened the scoring in the third with an unassisted, short-handed goal when he poke checked and stole a puck on his own blue line, then skated in on Dubnyk, wristing it home high on the glove side.
• Both teams had a short-handed goal in this game. I'm sure someone has that stat somewhere, but I'll bet that doesn't happen very often.
• Blais scored his first NHL goal.
• Schwartz had two more goals and now leads the team in goals (13) and points (32).
• Thorburn had one of the longest fights I can remember seeing.  He battled it out with former Blue Chris Stewart.  Although it looked like Stewart may have landed more punches, he actually had to go to the locker room afterwards to get his nose put back in place. 
• As good as this team has been, they lead the league in points although they have played one more game than Tampa Bay, there are still things that can be improved upon. 
• Faceoff percentage - Blues are at 48.5% (24th in the league)
• Penalty Kill - 76.7% (25th in the league) 
• Power Play - 18.1% (20th in the league)
• "Experts" say that between Power Play and Penalty Kill %, you want to be at or over 100%. The Blues are improving but at 94.8 still show room for improvement in that part of the game.
• The Blues will wrap up their longest home stand of the season with Anaheim next Wednesday and the LA Kings on Friday.

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Nashville Predators vs St. Louis Blues - Game 23 Recap

Predators Pitch Shutout Against Blues

Record 16-6-1

My Thoughts on Tonight's Game

• Blues came out flat in first period giving up a goal just 2:32 into the game and managing just 6 shots on goal.  
• They turned it around in the 2nd and 3rd periods, outshooting Nashville 28-16 but couldn't manage to score.
• Nashville played a tough game keeping the Blues on the outside all night. St. Louis could never really get much into the middle and Nashville goalie Rinne didn't give up many rebounds.
• The puck seemed to take a lot of funny bounces tonight.  It seemed like they just couldn't keep it on their sticks. 
• Power Play was 0 for 3. I've said it before. In these tight games, if you can't take advantage of the power play you won't win these kinds of games.  A hot team who has now won 9 of their last 10, playing in front of a great goalie just got the best of the Blues tonight.
• St. Louis even struggled to gain the offensive zone.  Nashville's defense seemed to puzzle the Blues. 
• Bouwmeester is fitting in nicely.
• Why does Bortuzzo get so many shots? 
• My gut feeling is that when Berglund comes back, Paajarvi may be the odd man out.
• Hutton's save midway through the 3rd period was the play of the game, for sure. And then to see Thorburn and Edmundson diving to clear the puck out from in front of the net was great too.  Thorburn actually got to it first.
• Not much else to talk about. Nashville got an empty net goal for the final score of 2-0. 

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Edmonton Oilers vs St. Louis Blues - Game 22 Recap

Oilers No Match for Red-Hot Blues

Goals: Tarasenko (11,12), Jaskin (2), Schwartz (11), Schenn (9,10), Upshall (3) and Stastny (5)

Record 16-5-1

My thoughts on Tonight's Game

• Wow! Is this team fun to watch when they play their game?! 
• Which would you have been more surprised at the start of the season? St. Louis with all the injuries to be where they are, leading the Western Conference 22 games in, or Edmonton to be as bad as they are, given the way they looked last year with Connor McDavid in the playoffs.
• The NBC announcers said the Oilers looked like a Jr Hockey team against an NHL team in the Blues tonight.  They were definitely giving the Blues a LOT of love. No complaining tonight from Blues fans that nobody gives us any respect. We made it hard for them to ignore us tonight.  Way to go, boys!
• Tarasenko nearly had a hat trick, but settled for the Gordie Howe hat trick instead. For those who don't know, a Gordie Howe hat trick is a goal, an assist and a fight all in one game. (Gordie Howe was known for his brawn as well as his skill and ability to score.)
• 12 points for the line of Schenn, Schwartz and Tarasenko tonight. 
• All four offensive lines scored tonight. 
• Parayko got 2 assists, and fellow defensemen Bortuzzo and Pietrangelo added assists as well.
• I predicted after last game that #91 and #17 had been silent too long and would get things going soon.  They each added 4 points a piece tonight.
• I saw some criticism of Tarasenko on social media that he wasn't giving 100% at times. I wondered if he maybe was nursing some soreness. (Remember, he left practice early a week or so ago and could have some lingering issue) You never know what's going on unless you're in the locker room and at the practices.  We shouldn't be so quick to be so critical. 
• Vladi showed tonight that he is a teammate and he will do whatever he has to do to help his team. He dropped the gloves and went at it with Matt Benning after Benning put a hard check on Schenn. I've seen 91 do more forechecking, blocking shots and he proved to me tonight he's a team player. And for Pierre McGuire to say that Benning is a lot smaller than Vladi I give you this: Tarasenko 6' 225 lbs, Benning 6'1" 204 lbs. How is this a mismatch, Pierre?
• This team just doesn't give the opponents much space to operate. It must be frustrating trying to find space and control the puck when you play against the St. Louis Blues.
• Jaskin's goal was due to hard work, not giving up and just a great shot that beat Cam Talbot in the upper right corner and nearly hit Talbot in the head as he squatted trying to react to the shot.
• Edmonton pulled Talbot after the Blues scored 2 goals on just 3 shots.
• Other goals were total team efforts with some great passing and teamwork. It was a fun night to be a Blues fan.
• Blues outshot the Oilers 40-29, but Edmonton only had 7 shots on goal in each of the first 2 periods. 
• Blues had 18 takeaways combined with only 2 giveaways. Great defense and excellent puck possession.
• Great start to the 5 game homestand. Blues are the only NHL team off Wednesday night but have back to back games Friday and Saturday against Nashville and Minnesota.

#AllTogetherNowStL #LGB #SpreadArisLight

St. Louis Blues vs Vancouver Canucks - Game 21 Recap

Blues Overcome 2 Goal Deficit, Beat Canucks in Overtime

Goals: Parayko (2), Sobotka (5),Edmondson (6) and Schenn (8)

Record 15-5-1

My Thoughts on Tonight's Game

• The Blues came out with a lot of energy.  The forecheck was aggressive and I felt like St. Louis controlled the first half of the period, although they didn't seem to be able to sustain any offensive pressure.
• Vancouver turned up the heat and controlled most of the second half of the first period.  They scored first when rookie Brock Boeser scored from the left circle with a wicked wrist shot.  Several bodies in front of Jake Allen kept him from having a legit chance at stopping it.
• It took the Blues nearly 7 minutes before they could get even and they did so on Parayko's second goal of the season. His slapshot beat goaltender Anders Nilsson high on the stick side. Steen was in perfect position, taking away the eyes of Nilsson, and before he could react the puck was behind him. The goal was Parayko's first even-strengthed goal in over 100 games.
• Parayko's goal ignited the offense as they continued with pressure in the Canucks' end of the ice for the last couple of minutes. 
• Period two was renamed the "Penalty Period" as 14 minutes of them were called. It was a wild period overall with several weird and unusual things happening. 
• Tarasenko nearly scored as his shot hits the goalie in the side and then his elbow knocked it towards the net.  It was going in when Nilsson dropped his stick and lunged for the puck with his blocker hand and stopped it just as it was nearing the line.
• After that, the Canucks kind of took over.  They scored a short-handed goal at the 5:23 mark and a power play goal 5 1/2 minutes later.
• The Blues bounced back when Sobotka scored from the slot at the 13:10 mark.  The possession was held in the Canucks' zone thanks to brilliant hustle and second effort by Dimitri Jaskin as he fought for and won the puck down in the corner behind the net and then again took the puck away out near the blue line as it looked like Vancouver might be heading the other way.  The puck ended up behind the net on the stick of Stastny, who set up Sobotka perfectly for the goal.
• The period ended with a 4 on 4 and the third period started the same way, but neither team could score.
• The Blues tied the game just 4:46 seconds into the period when Joel Edmundson scored his 6th goal of the year on a pass from Stastny. The Blues defenseman has doubled his career high in goals in the first 21 games of this season. The D-Men had 2 goals and 3 assists tonight.
• If you couldn't watch the game, here were a few things that are hard to explain but were truly a sight to see. 1. Rogers Arena looked like a space ship. 2. Pietrangelo's save of the wrap around attempt early in the game. 3. Tarasenko's sick move between his legs to beat the defender and walk in on the goalie. Exciting stuff!
• Schenn scored the game-winner in OT to keep his point streak alive at 7 games.  He has 5 goals and 10 assists in that stretch. Regardless of what picks Philly ends up with, this Schenn guy is the real deal and has made a HUGE difference in this team. Blues win in the trade that brought him here. Don't forget, we also got Klim Kostin in this deal. 
• Stastny had 3 assists in the game and Dunn had 2 helpers.
• Schwartz and Tarasenko combined for only 1 point tonight. I look for both of those guys to get going again in this next 5 game homestand coming up.
• Blues finish the western Canada trip 2-1 and continue to lead the way in the west. 

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St. Louis Blues vs Edmonton Oilers - Game 20 Recap

Schenn Leads Blues Past the Oilers

Goals: Sobotka (4), Steen (3) and Schenn (6,7)

Record 14-5-1

My Thoughts on Tonight's Game

• Edmonton came out on the first shift and tested the Blues. It looked at first like we might be in for another long night. 
• This game was physical.  Not just in the "hits" stat column but in every way. Guys getting hit with pucks, tempers flaring and extra curricular activities after the whistle were all very much a part of this game. Thorburn squared off and fought Kassian for a 5 minute fighting penalty early in the game but that was only a fraction of the bumps and bruises. It seemed like there was a lot of tension between these two teams that I wasn't really aware of.  I'm not sure what the history is there, but 42 minutes in total penalties kind of tells the story.
• This game looked a lot more like the Blues that started the season. Good defense, smart decisions with the puck and good offensive pressure throughout the game.
• First goal was due to a poor play by the Edmonton goalie behind his net.  Sobotka skated in to put some pressure on him and he mishandled the puck.  It squirted out in front of the empty net and Sobotka was there to knock it in. The best part was that the goal came while the Blues were shorthanded.  It was the first "shortie" of the season for them. As a reward for his goal, Sobotka was promptly hit in the side of the head by a puck off the stick of Edmondson who was trying to punch it into the offensive zone. Sobotka remained in the game.
• Schwartz was getting attention on the bench a couple of times in the third. I hope he's ok.  We gotta have him! He's a bulldog.
• The trend of "we scored one, now it's your turn" that started in the Calgary game continued as we allowed a tying goal exactly 29 seconds after the Sobotka goal.  It came while Edmonton was still on the power play, but would prove to be their only goal of the game. The Blues finally decided they didn't like playing the "we score, you score" game.
• The only goal in the second period was a power play goal by the Blues, an area where they have struggled mightily this season. (16.9%, 22nd in the league) Steen poked home a rebound on an Alex Pietrangelo shot.
• The Blues outshot the Oilers in every period but the 2nd period seemed to be where they took over the game outshooting the home team 19-12. 
• Allen looked to be back in form as he saved 29 of 30 shots while facing last year's Hart Memorial Trophy winner, Connor McDavid and crew.
• Upshall continued his aggressive play around the net. He went in hard in the Calgary game and continued tonight. 
• In the third period Schenn scored twice to notch his 6th and 7th goals of the season. He scored on a 2 on 1 break with a quick wrist shot over the right shoulder of goalie Cam Talbot. The second was a beautiful play. It started with Parayko outside the right circle who passed to Schwartz in front of the goal. Schwartz one-timed a little pass to Schenn down near the goal line and he pounded it home. Schenn had several good chances in this game and could have easily had 3 or 4 goals.  I predict he will have a hat trick soon this season. 
• I like this lineup as well as any we've had this season.  Adding Berglund and Bouwmeester in the coming weeks will be interesting. Whoever Coach Yeo decides to move out when those guys return has had a lot of ice time during a stretch of good hockey by the Blues. The depth they will bring will be important as this season trudges along. It's a long season. Injuries and fatigue will come and having had experience during all this success will be important for our backups. It's not something I've heard talked about but I feel is a very valid point.
• It's hard to get these game recaps up on nights of late games, so please check back later the next day for my posts. Thanks for reading.  

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St. Louis Blues vs Calgary Flames - Game 19 Recap

Blues Drop Second Game in a Row With 7-4 Loss in Calgary
Goals: Tarasenko (9, 10), Schwartz (10) and Steen (2)
Record 13-5-1

My Thoughts on Tonight's Game 

• We knew that we couldn't keep up the pace we were on for an entire season, so don't panic, we still lead the West.
• If you like to see goals then this was your game to watch. However, if you're a Blues fan then you surely weren't happy with the number of goals the other team scored, especially in the third period (5!). 
• Yeo shook up the lines a bit by adding Beau Bennett to the Schenn and Schwartz line. Bennett had been a healthy scratch for the past four games and to be honest, I thought he looked a bit rusty out there. Tarasenko moved to the line with Steen and Stastny. Sobotka moved down to the third line with Sundqvist and Jaskin.
• St. Louis struck first when Tarasenko scored 3:32 into the first period. Parayko made a nice drop pass and #91 flicked a wrister past the Calgary goalie, who was screened by one of his own men on the play.
• The theme of the game of "you score, now we score" would begin to play out when Calgary answered just 1:32 later on a goal by Mark Jankowski who scored on a one-timer from between the circles right in front of Jake Allen to beat him high on the glove side. Jankowski came on the ice after the puck had entered the zone and the Blues just didn't see him and he was all alone.
• Two-thirds of the way through the period it looked like Allen was settling in.  He made several big saves, but got beat again when Grandpa Jaromir Jagr made a nice pass to Jankowski in front of the net at the 13:45 mark to give Calgary the lead.
• The Blues put on some nice offensive pressure right away with the Schenn, Schwartz and Bennett line and drew a penalty, to give the Blues a power play at the 15 minute mark in the first. Schwartz tied it again about a minute later after Steen broke his stick on his slap shot attempt and kind of missed the puck.  As it slid on across the ice it came right to Schwartz who buried it for his 10th goal of the season. 
• No goals were scored in the second and Calgary turned up the defense. St. Louis could only manage 4 shots in the period. They also were whistled for a "too many men on the ice" penalty, which seems to be our favorite penalty. By the end of the period Yeo had Tarasenko back on the line with Schenn and Schwartz. Bennett dropped back and played with Sundqvist and Jaskin.
• Starting goalie for Calgary, Mike Smith looked like he took a puck off the side of the head at the end of the first period and didn't return after the first intermission.  Backup goalie, Eddie Lack played the last two periods. St. Louis had beaten him earlier in the year at home, putting 5 in the goal against him.  I thought they would turn up the pressure and put a lot of shots on goal but Calgary protected him well.
• Calgary scored first in the last period for a 3-2 lead but the score would more than double from there before the night was over.  
• Steen scored 6 minutes later to knot the score again, but Calgary soon earned a power play after a scrum around the Calgary net. Jaskin had skated hard at the net and with a defender draped on him, he skated into the post.  Calgary took exception to his hard charge and tempers flared.  Sundqvist was called for roughing against two different players and ended up on the short end with 2 guys in the box while only one Flame was penalized. Coach Yeo was not happy.
• Calgary scored on the power play, but once again the Blues answered just 12 seconds later on Vladi's second goal of the night. 
• Just when you thought we were gaining some momentum and things felt like we would maybe win this one, the Flames scored again just 1:46 later. This time, there was no answer from St. Louis.  Calgary added two more goals, including one "empty-netter" for the final score of 7- 4. 
• Although it seemed like we were in the game up until the last few minutes, the stat sheet shows that Calgary outplayed the Blues in some important categories. 
• Shots on Goal: C 37 StL 24
• Face offs: C 59% StL 41%
• Takeaways: C 20 StL 12
• I thought we looked a little rusty at times. Maybe the line changes knocked off some of the timing.  I try to keep things positive and not be too critical, but I would rather have seen Bennett added to the third line from the beginning. I think a week after the line of Schenn, Schwartz and Tarasenko is named one of the top three in the league it doesn't make sense to shake that up with a guy who hadn't played for 4 straight games but I'm not getting paid to coach. I understand that sometimes you gotta shake things up and that's what our coaching staff did. I stand behind them. 
• Need to get things back on track. The Edmonton Oilers are up next on Thursday night.

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