Follow me on twitter
Many Blues fans this morning are feeling good, likely thinking all’s well that ends well. After coughing up a 2 goal third period lead with under 8 minutes left (thank you untimely penalties), the Blues were able to recapture the 2 points and ROW that almost eluded them with a 5-4 overtime win.
The luck of a shot off the iron near the end of the game and the unlikely scoring touch of their captain saved the day and put a completely different shine on last night. In reality, Blues fans shouldn’t be overly negative or overly positive as there were a lot of things that were done well and a lot that needed improvement.
Let’s start with the positives:
- Alex Pietrangelo was the best Blues on the ice, scoring 2 goals including the game winner while having a team high 8 shots and 4 blocked shots in almost 26 minutes of play.
- Brayden Schenn played 16:30 of wonderful hockey scoring a goal and an assist, adding 4 shots, 4 hits and blocked shot while winning 53% of his draws. Too bad he played 16:46.
- Paul Stastny also had a strong game posting a goal and an assist, 4 shots, 2 hits, and a blocked shot in 20:49 though 3:22 of that was on the power play.
- Vladimir Sobotka had one of his best games as a Blue, providing 2 primary assists and 5 hits in just under 19 minutes.
- Mike Yeo’s comments after the game about Schenn’s gaffe. Watch
here at around the 6 minute mark. Listen carefully to his comments and how he still praises Schenn and doesn’t beat him up over the mistake. Contrast that to what Ken Hitchcock likely would have said.
- Colton Parayko scored his first goal of the year, something that took him 41 games to do last season.
- Vince Dunn and Tage Thompson showed they can play in the NHL. Dunn made a few nice defensive plays including assistance in preventing a goal on a play where the Penguins had a mostly empty net. Thompson did less (0 shots, hits, points, and takeaways) but did not seem out of place.
- Corsi statistics suggest Jaskin, Schwartz, and Schenn had a good game which mirrors my thoughts while watching.
On to the bad:
- Brayden Schenn committed one of the dumbest penalties I have ever seen, especially given the Blues were already shorthanded, and it almost cost the Blues all of their points. His penalty led to the 2 goals that tied the score.
- Chris Thorburn looked to be less than effective than Ryan Reaves in playing less than 9 minutes. He failed to clear the puck at the blue line or to even tie up the man near the puck and the blue line and it directly led to a goal against. Many of us wonder how Wade Megan would have looked on that line instead.
- Oskar Sundqvist was poor in the dot, winning only 33%.
- Magnus Paajarvi was mostly a non-factor with one shot and 2 hits in over 13 minutes.
- Corsi statistics suggest Paajarvi, Bortuzzo and Sundqvist had the worst games of the Blues players which doesn’t surprise me except I thought Thorburn would be in the bottom three.
Side notes:
- Jake Allen had a sub 88% save percentage and continues to struggle finding the puck through traffic. None of the goals he gave up were terrible but I don’t think he made that many high danger saves and the defense blocked a few shots that likely would have been goals.
- Advanced stats got it wrong as the expected goals suggested the Penguins should have won.
- Both goalies had negative GSAA (goals saved above average), meaning they gave up more goals than the average goalie would have been expected to give up.
- Officiating was questionable both ways in my opinion.
- Will the league be consistent on the “distinct kicking motion” interpretation of goals? As long as they are consistent, I don’t have a problem with it but historically the NHL isn’t consistent.
- Pietrangelo had some good quotes saying that he was “looking for as hooting lane” and talking about how “those guys driving the net draw all the attention”. He also talked about how Murray was “leaning on both of them”. When he mentioned he was a “pass first guy” and then asked about his 14 goals, he replied that he “closed my eyes 14 times”.
- The Blues made a pitch to the NHL to host the 2020 or 2021 all-star game.
You can watch the highlights of the game here
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 will donate in their name.
St Louis Blues Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»