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The Blues kept inching their way towards the playoffs on Sunday night, rallying three different times from either one or two goals down before winning the game in overtime. The overtime winner was the first and only time the Blues had the lead.
The Blackhawks opened the scoring about 13 minutes into the game on a power play goal from rookie Alex DeBrincat after Robert Bortuzzo was sent off for slashing Patrick Kane. DeBrincat let go a well-placed, blocker side shot that beat Jake Allen. Allen had little chance to see the shot and attempt a save thanks to traffic created by John Hayden and Joel Edmundson.
DeBrincat would get his 2nd goal of the game about 6 minutes later in yet another Blues lapse in the last minute of a period, a trend that is all too disturbing and frustrating for Blues fans. On the play, Colton Parayko joins the rush in the offensive zone and Ivan Barbashev is slow to cover Parayko’s point. Barbashev’s delay allows the puck to get past him and out of the zone, creating an odd man rush for the Blackhawks. Barbashev hustles back to make the play a 3 on 2 and Alex Pietrangelo deflects the pass which causes the shot to go wide. Unfortunately, Pietrangelo follows Barbashev below the goalie while the backchecking Brayden Schenn also goes below the goal line on the other side of the net, leaving Artem Anisimov and DeBrincat alone in front.
Allen provides a very poor sealing of the post and this couples with the poor defensive coverage leads to the last minute goal. Allen actually ends up putting the puck in with the knob of his stick.
Less than a minute into the 2nd period, the Blues went on the power play thanks to a Jordan Oesterle holding penalty. Vince Dunn slid onto the 1st power play unit with Vladimir Tarasenko and his presence was almost immediately felt. Again, much like Saturday’s power play goal, the Blues had more and quicker puck movement and as strong net front presence. Dunn let the shot go from the point with Alexander Steen deflecting it past J-F Berube who had little chance on the play.
About three minutes later, Duncan Keith took a careless high-sticking penalty and the Blues would capitalize yet again on the power play. They would again use puck movement and net front presence to key a point shot from Dunn creating a goal, this time from Dunn himself.
Blues fans would later be frustrated by another late period goal against, this time with only 2 seconds left in the 2nd period. Barbashev and Allen would combine again to be key contributions to the goal against. As the Blackhawks enter the zone, Barbashev motions to Dunn to take Nick Schmaltz, which he does, but Barbashev fails to mark David Kampf in front of the net. Barbashev gets beat to the front of the net, allowing Kampf to deflect the pass by a poorly positioned Allen. Allen gets caught falling off the post on the play.
The score stayed 3-2 Blackhawks until under 5 minutes to play in the 3rd period when Vladimir Sobotka pulls the Blues even for the 2nd time. On the play, Vince Dunn starts the play and picks up his third point with a shot from the point. Kyle Brodziak deflects the shot wide but follows the puck and tries to score from the side of the net. His shot goes off Berube and into the crease area where Sobotka shows good hand-eye coordination putting the puck in the net.
As has been the case a lot recently, the Blues gave up a goal less than 2 minutes after scoring with DeBrincat getting the hat trick. On the play, Colton Parayko gets lost and leaves DeBrincat open for the one timer.
Allen moves well across the crease but his poor blocker arm positioning keeps him from making the save. In the photo sequence below, notice how his blocker starts out somewhat facing DeBrincat but shifts to facing the side wall. His arm starts out too far into his body and is pulled even further into his body, causing the blocker to turn. If his arms were out more in front of his body, he would be able to keep the blocker square to the shooter and would have made the save. Note how close the puck is to him as sit goes by him into the net. The photos show the illustration of how close he was to making a great save and the slight positioning change needed to have made the save.
The Blues rallied yet again, getting the game tying goal from Pietrangelo with under two minutes to play. With the extra attacker, the Blues used a lot of net front presence and traffic from Brodziak and Alexander Steen to screen Berube from Pietrangelo’s point shot.
The Blues capped the comeback with an overtime goal from Patrik Berglund from a simple slapshot that somehow beat Berube. Berube surely wanted that shot back as it looked rather pedestrian by NHL standards. See for yourself.
Some game notes:
- Dunn and Pietrangelo combined for 12 shots and 8 points
- Dunn played over 21 minutes
- Parayko was a -3
- Oskar Sundqvist had a team low 6:22 of ice time
- Brodziak was 71% in the dot
- The Blues outshot the Hawks 41-30 overall and 19-7 from the 3rd on
- The Blues outhit the Haws 43–24
- Patrick Kane had 6 shots but no points and was stopped by Allen on a breakaway
- Two power play goals without Vladimir Tarasenko
While Blues fans likely enjoyed the 2nd come from behind overtime win in a row, the Blues still face a tough road to the playoffs. The Stars and Flames have been falling off lately but even if you assume the Blues will finish ahead of those two teams, they still have to pass one other team, likely one of the Avalanche, Ducks or Kings. The Blues have little control over those three teams as they only have one game against the Avalanche.
Tonight the Blues will be hosting the Boston Bruins. Boston is in a battle with the Lightning for 1st place in the Atlantic division, trailing by 5 points but with 2 games in hand. The Bruins have been one of the best teams on the road this season, going 20-10-4 but are 2-4 in their last six road games. Overall, they are 7-2-1 in their last 10 games.
The Bruins have been high flying this year, 3rd in the league in goals per game and 6th best on the power play. Their defense has also been strong, 3rd in the league in goals against per game and 9th best on the power play. All of these have contributed to them being one of the best teams in the league, 3rd in point percentage.
The Bruins are dealing with more than their fair share of injuries. They will be without David Backes, Patrice Bergeron, Zdeno Chara, Jake DeBrusk, Charlie McAvoy, and Rick Nash tonight. The Bruins will still have their two leading point producers, Brad Marchand (75 points in 57 games) and David Pastrnak (70 points in 71 games) and their leading defenseman, Torey Krug (52 points in 67 games).
All three of those players have enjoyed success versus the Blues. Marchand has 6 goals and 8 points in 9 games. Krug also has 8 points in 9 games while Pastrnak has 4 points in 4 games.
Anton Khudobin will get the start in net which seems a bit curious to me. Khudobin has posted below average numbers against the Blues with a 90.3% save percentage and a 2.85 goals against average. Tuukka Rask has done well with a 91.9% and 2.26 goals against average. The Bruins had a day off yesterday and are off tomorrow so it isn’t a back to back schedule. Perhaps coach Cassidy is playing a hunch.
Jake Allen will be in net, looking to avenge his loss to the Bruins earlier this season. Allen played well, stopping 43 of 45 shots but he Blues couldn’t support him with enough goals. Historically, Allen has done well against the Bruins with a 94.4% save percentage.
Jaden Schwartz has done well against the Bruins with 9 points in only 8 games. Alex Pietrangelo has been on fire with 4 goals and 11 points in his last 5 games. Vladimir Tarasenko will be out again tonight.
It will be interesting to see the lineup tonight but I am betting it will start like this:
Forwards
Jaden Schwartz - Brayden Schenn – Alexander Steen
Vladimir Sobotka - Kyle Brodziak – Patrik Berglund
Dmitrij Jaskin – Ivan Barbashev – Tage Thompson
Nikita Soshnikov – Oskar Sundqvist – Chris Thorburn
Defense
Carl Gunnarsson - Alex Pietrangelo
Vince Dunn - Colton Parayko
Joel Edmundson – Robert Bortuzzo
Goalie
Jake Allen
In the Western conference, the Sharks, Ducks, Kings, Flames, Wild, Avalanche, Stars and Blues are all fighting for five playoff spots. The Blues now sit 6th in point percentage but are still essentially 2 points out if you use existing point percentage as your projection model.
Games to watch today –
8:30pm CST – Flames host the Ducks
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.
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