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The Blues played a quality road game last night in Anaheim but fell a bit short, losing 2-1 to the Ducks. The raw data confirms that the Blues outplayed the Ducks with the Blues besting the Ducks in shots, hits, corsi, and expected goals. Of course, the only thing that matters is the scoreboard which shows a loss and zero points.
In the 1st period, Jay Bouwmeester made a weak decision with the puck in the corner which coupled with a strong play by Ryan Getzlaf created the 30th goal for Rickard Rakell. Jake Allen had little chance to make the save.
About a ¼ through the 2nd period, the Blues looked to get even on the power play but some miscommunication and likely unfamiliarity between Colton Parayko, Ivan Barbashev and Nail Yakupov caused some confusion and a bad turnover in the slot. The turnover led to a quick pass to Ryan Getzlaf who quickly buried the shot past Allen. Again, a play where Allen had little chance to make the save.
The Blues continued to push with Ivan Barbashev cutting the lead in half midway through the 3rd period. The Blues applied pressure through the rest of the period, including Magnus Paajarvi’s deflection that found iron, but they couldn’t get an equalizing goal.
The Blues received strong play from their 3rd and 4th lines but unfortunately the top two lines generated little in terms of quality scoring chances. If you don’t believe my assessment, look at the advanced stats. The top 6 Blues forwards last night in corsi and expected goals for % were all from the 3rd and 4th lines. Jaden Schwartz and Paul Stastny were in the bottom 3 of both of those stats for the Blues.
I won’t delve much into the officiating last night other than to say it was woefully inconsistent and must have been maddening for both clubs. The players must have been wondering from shift to shift how the game was going to be called. At least it wasn’t completely one-sided against one team but it still has to be frustrating.
The Blues won’t have any time to regroup as they take on the Sharks tonight in San Jose at 9:30pm CST. Unlike the Blues who arrived around 1am, the Sharks will be well rested as they are in the back third of a six game home stand where they have gone 3-1 so far.
Much like the Ducks, the Sharks have been good at home with a 23-8-4 record.
The Sharks are in first place because of their defense, allowing an NHL 2nd best 2.29 goals per game, mostly because they are giving up the 3rd fewest shots per game in the league.
As you might expect Joe Thornton has done well against the Blues with 54 points in only 49 games. Brent Burns has 22 points in 39 games, right around his career average. Of course, this season Burns is averaging over a point per game and is tied for 20th in goals scored.
The Blues lineup is unknown at this point but it’s not out of reason to wonder if Yakupov will be replaced with Sanford and to expect Carter Hutton to get the start.
As a side note, Brian Elliott was so sick last night that he couldn’t even serve as backup and the Flames lost 5-2 to Boston.
It’s a great day for hockey.
Fellow Hockeybuzz bloggers
Nashville Predator's Paul McCann,
Winnipeg Jet's Peter Tessier and
Minnesota Wild's Dan Wallace have generously agreed to a friendly charity wager. We were hoping to do the whole division but don't have it fully represented yet. The blogger whose team finishes the highest the standings at the end of the year gets to pick a charity to whom the others donate in their name.
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