Bad breaks too much for Blues to overcome in OT loss at Detroit
The Blues' bad luck weekend continued in Detroit and ended with what appeared to be a poor no-call from the officials when Red Wings forward Justin Abdelkader scored the deciding goal in a 2-1 overtime win with a clearly broken stick.
St. Louis defenseman Alex Pietrangelo slashed Abdelkader's stick as he reached into the crease, but it held together just long enough to guide a rebound into the net before breaking completely in half on his follow-through. The referees declined to review the play.
The NHL's rule on broken sticks states that "any player whose stick is broken must drop his stick prior to participating in the play" at the cost of a minor penalty. Some ambiguity can be found in the definition of a broken stick, which is "one that, in the opinion of the referee, is unfit for normal play."
According to former NHL referee and current TSN analyst Kerry Fraser, the play Sunday was not reviewable.
@RevPal_Sharpton Not legal. Minor penalty for playing with broken stick & goal disallowed if detected. Non reviewable at this juncture.
— Kerry Fraser (@kfraserthecall) March 22, 2015
@uneasyeric Not part of allowable criteria for review. Ref needed to observe broken stick, disallow goal & assess minor penalty.
— Kerry Fraser (@kfraserthecall) March 22, 2015
St. Louis coach Ken Hitchcock told reporters afterward the goal shouldn't have counted, and the Blues may not have even been in overtime without a bad break earlier in the game. Abdelkader's long shot to open the third period went off the face of Blues defenseman Chris Butler and fell to the Red Wings' Erik Cole, who gratefully put the point-blank shot past Jake Allen to tie the game.
All of that came the day after Minnesota buried St. Louis 6-3 with a host of bad bounces off defensemen, or in the case of one goal, the back of Wild forward Thomas Vanek. The Blues learned the hard way that if opposing forwards get too close to the goal too often, bad things can happen.
Few high-quality chances in front of the net for its own offense left St. Louis with little margin for error and the weekend ended with just one point in two tough road games. Despite Sunday's loss, the Blues still took sole possession of first place in the Central Division, one point ahead of Nashville with nine games remaining for both teams.
If St. Louis wants to maintain that spot, it will have to do better at creating its own luck.
HAT TRICK
• Penalty kill playing with fire. An excess of penalties against the league's best power play always figured to be a risky proposition, even with a red-hot penalty kill.
The Blues extended their recent success to only two goals allowed in 42 power plays by killing off the Red Wings' first five penalties. But Detroit finally found the breakthrough it needed during a four-on-three 24 seconds into overtime, thanks to St. Louis' eighth two-minute minor of the third period.
Five of those were offset by Red Wings penalties, and a high-sticking call against Abelkader ended Detroit's first power play of the game after just seven seconds. But St. Louis paid for playing a little too physical and never really found its rhythm in five-on-five play, especially late in the game.
• Steen hits milestone. Few Blues have been more reliable offensively the past seven seasons than Alexander Steen.
He scored another goal Sunday to pick up his 300th point since joining St. Louis via trade from Toronto in November 2008. It turned out to be a brilliant move for the Blues, who also acquired Carlo Colaiacovo in exchange for Lee Stempniak, a winger with 232 points for six different teams since the trade.
A year ago, Steen led the Blues with career highs in goals (33) and points (62). This season, he's been more about sharing the puck, tallying 23 goals and a team-high 38 assists, seven more than his previous career high.
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• Pietrangelo sparking offense. The Blues' top defenseman without Kevin Shattenkirk has been stepping up to contribute some much-needed production from the blue line.
Pietrangelo made the final pass on the lone St. Louis goal for his fourth assist in as many games and his seventh in the last eight. His 41st point of the season pushed him into first among Blues defensemen, one ahead of Shattenkirk, who has missed the last 24 games with an abdominal injury.
The St. Louis offense has suffered considerably without No. 22, averaging just 2.54 goals per game, compared with 3.12 with him. That includes a red-hot January, during which it went 9-1-1 while averaging 4.09 goals per game.
Hitchcock still hasn't given a timeline for Shattenkirk's return, though he has been skating recently and said he expects to be back before the playoffs. In the meantime, St. Louis could use some more offensive help from Pietrangelo and its other seven defensemen, since Carl Gunnarsson missed Sunday's game with an upper-body injury.
You can follow Luke Thompson on Twitter at @FS_LukeT or email him at lukegthompson87@gmail.com.
