St. Louis Blues Only Play Third Of A Game And Win
The St. Louis Blues didn’t come to the arena with their best against the best of the Eastern Conference. Nevertheless, their best at the end of the game was enough.
The St. Louis Blues still have plenty of problems they are trying to work through. Those same issues came to light at the beginning of the game against Montreal.
The Blues did not play terribly by any means. They had a decent start to the game but could not get anything past the Canadiens backup goaltender, Al Montoya.
Still, despite Montoya’s early heroics with some decent saves, the Blues continued their habit of making backup netminders look like studs. Before the Blues scored, they had fired 21 shots on goal and could not put one past him. Additionally, they wasted several opportunities by passing up chances, which is another thing the team happens to do a lot.
Montreal is a heck of a team. They are the number one team in the Eastern Conference for a reason.
They have a lot of speed. Montreal has a good defense that seems to have blended in with Shea Weber faster than Nashville has gotten the benefits from P.K. Subban. They also have one of the best goaltenders in the league, which the Blues did not even have to face.
On the flip side, the Canadiens have injury problems. Their leading scorer is out for significant time and they have not been playing well of late anyway.
Not facing Carey Price and seeing a less than 100% Canadiens squad should have meant a big game for the Blues. Sadly, they seemed to get down in the dumps a little after not being rewarded for their efforts in the opening 10 minutes.
The Blues lacked energy and will in the second period. They fell into bad habits such as backing off the puck as well.
It seemed as though it was going to be one of those games by the time the final horn sounded. Shutouts are rare these days and somewhat embarrassing, but the Blues just didn’t look like they were going to put one in the back of the net.
Fortunately, the team’s best for only a third of the game was enough. The Blues scored two in fairly quick succession in the third period and then finished it off in overtime.
It was not a pretty game by any means. Some of the goals were very nice, such as Jaden Schwartz‘ game winner.
Still, there were just too many mistakes. If not for Jake Allen making some timely saves and Schwartz coming up with another two goal game, this one could have and maybe even should have gone the other way.
Giveaways set up the Canadiens for some good looks and odd-man rushes in overtime. The Blues were quite fortunate on several instances.
In the end, the game played out reasonably evenly for both teams though. Montreal’s first game was extremely bad luck on the Blues part, so perhaps everyone got what they deserved.
The Canadiens deserved a point and got one. The way the Blues were ending the game, they deserved the extra point and got it.
The only worrying thing is how playing this current way will translate on the road. So far it has not since the Blues only have three away wins all year.
Looking Ahead
The Blues won’t have home cooking for a little while. St. Louis will be on the road for the next four games.
Up first is the New York Islanders, who just knocked off the Rangers. The Islanders are currently last in the East, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they are the worst in the conference.
The Blues need to use that game to get some of their road issues figured out. Much tougher tests face the team following Thursday’s game.
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