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Blues/Jackets, Recap II: Still a big 2 points

April 6, 2013, 9:34 PM ET [47 Comments]
Chip McCleary
St Louis Blues Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Sorry for the delay in getting this up. I forgot how much fun it is to be nauseous and sick; apparently, I needed a refresher course.

My 3 Stars of the Game

1. David Backes, STL
2. Jake Allen, STL (earned it in the last 5 minutes)
3. Jack Johnson, CLB

Honorable mention: Bouwmeester, STL; Cracknell, STL; Anisimov, CLB.

***

The good

-- Probably the best game Backes has had in a while. Maybe now that we're past 30 games, he's ready to go.

-- If Adam Cracknell got a contract extension from the Blues, would anyone object?

-- If Bouwmeester can control things defensively like he has thus far, we may be laughing about this trade for a long time.

-- Roman Polak was great defensively last night. There's still people around the league who don't realize just how good he is in the 5/6 spot - and I'm OK with that.


***

The bad

-- Perron-Sobotka-Tarasenko. Still think it's not working; way too much time spent along the boards instead of generating offense.

-- The PP was slow before Stewart's goal tonight. A ton of that is because the Blues do not move the puck quickly at times; that allows the defense to get pressure on, and we lose battles from there. We have that quick puck movement in transition, and we had that earlier in the season on the PP - the boys need to get back to it.

-- Some of you are going to accuse me of going out of my way to rag on Allen for no reason at all – but that goal Anisimov scored? That was a weak goal. It happens - and it's the first one he's had for a while now.

-- Still not impressed with Andy McDonald right now. If he sat a game, that might not be the worst thing in the world.



Miscellaneous

-- Allen didn't play anything like this while in Peoria the last 3+ years. Simple question: why not? Is this a short-term thing and we should be worried about "Steve Mason syndrome" at some point in the next year or two, or is it a sign of the general lack of development of Blues prospects in Peoria over the last several years? I'm going to bet the latter, especially since I'm not been impressed with how Blues prospects who spend more than a year in Peoria tend to not develop into even occasional NHL'ers - something that has arguably gone on for about 10 years.

-- If the Blues had known how bad James Wisniewski was going to be last night, I'm sure they would have made it a point to abuse him at every chance.

-- Has anyone else noticed that in the last couple of games, the Blues have made some really dangerous plays with the puck around their own net? Thus far, it hasn’t burned them – but at some point, it’s going to result in the puck going into the back of their own net and we’re all going to say, “really – why did we even try that?”

-- One thing the Blues need to do more: start faking shots. There’s a lot of “go into the zone, fire the puck” plays and it’s getting predictable. Even when we do fake shots, it’s usually the defenseman out high and that’s predictable too.

-- Any guesses on when Kris Russell will get back into the lineup? The way things are going, the correct answer may be "not until someone gets hurt."

-- The Backes goal. That's got a good chance of being on a "best goals of 2013" highlight reel.

-- The Calvert non-goal? If that got waived off every time Tomas Holmstrom made contact with a goalie and scored, he would have only had about 13 career goals. I'm (sort of) OK with the call, I just wish (like many things) the referees would be consistent. Then again, I wish that was a reviewable play either way.

***

Days to the end of the season: 21

Now on the frontstretch to the playoffs, the Blues pull 3 points ahead of Edmonton and Columbus for 8th - and they still have 2 games in hand on both of them, along with Detroit.

***

Tomorrow: at Detroit, the start of a 4-game road trip. It's the feature game on NBC, so it's a chance to shine in front of a national audience - and, it's a chance to get another 2 points and push Detroit to the 8-spot and make them start sweating. A regulation win would put the Blues in 6th.
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