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First things first, I want to wish all Blues fans well and safety of both their belongings and more importantly themselves as the region again has historic flooding. This is likely the quickest repeat of historically flooding in the area as the region is at levels very similar to that of New Year’s 2016. Stay safe. Not even attending Game 5 is worth risking your life but more on that later.
The Blues again started strong in Game 3 in Nashville but yet again it bore no fruit. They started the game, doubling up the Predatorin shots, eight to four. About eight and a half minutes into the 1st period, Ryan Reaves took a retaliation penalty against P.K. Subban, throwing a right elbow into Subban who had been cross checking and punching Reaves in the back and the back of the head. In classic NHL style, only the retaliation of Reaves was called. Reaves is a veteran and has to understand this and be better in this situation. Blues fans can complain all they want about how Scottie Upshall and Ryan Reaves were both being roughed up on the play but Reaves can’t throw the obvious elbow which becomes an easy call to balance Matt Irwin’s earlier penalty.
While the Predators don’t technically score on the power play, they score seconds after the penalty expires and before Reaves is even in the defensive zone, effectively making it a power play goal. If I was the guy doing statistics for the team (not the league), I’d count it as a power play goal.
The puck goes to Ryan Ellis at the left center point and Ryan Ellis takes a low shot that goes through traffic and into the net. Allen is slow to close the butterfly, likely because he is struggling to find a sight lane to the puck. Not only does he have Alex Pietrangelo and Collin Wilson but even worse, Alexander Steen does a drive by, cutting right into the shooting lane in terrible position letting the shot go through his legs. I wonder if Allen has a better chance at a save if Steen doesn’t cut through the lane. As a goalie myself, I bet so.
The Blues came about for the 2nd period and struggled yet again which seems to be a pattern at times for this team. Cody McLeod score about two and a half minutes into the period on poor plays by both Colton Parayko and Kyle Brodziak as well as perhaps a fatigue play by Allen. Parayko and Brodziak get caught essentially playing zone coverage on the same man, ignoring McLeod. A cross ice pass from Ekholm to Sissons, allows for a Blues left wall entry and a pass from Sissons to McLeod who tips the puck on goal. Paryako chases McLeod to the side of the net but he gets his own rebound and bangs the rebound in. For some reason, Allen doesn’t push slide back to the near post after the initial save. Perhaps this was a fatigue error? If he was 100% on his game, he drives to that post and at least has a chance to make the save.
The Predators go on to dominate the 2nd period, outshooting the Blues 18-4 with the Blues going significant minutes without even generating a shot. As fate would have it, the Blues first shot on goal in the period is a goal from Alexander Steen (so much for advanced statistics, lol). Steen makes a brilliant deflection on an Alexander Pietrangelo shot from the right point.
The Blues came out strong in the third period. Robert Bortuzzo came very close to bringing the game level at 2 but his shot from the point hit the post and stayed out of the net. Shortly after his near goal, the Predators hem the Blues in their own zone for almost a minute thirty seconds after Joel Edmundson whiffs on the puck near the goal line, turning it over to the Predators. Roman Josi makes the Blues pay as he blasts a shot from the center of the blue line through traffic and into the net (see a theme for this series?).
In Game 3, the Blues got dominated in dangerous shots, giving up 24 high and mid danger shots, 25% more than their prior Round 2 average and almost 50% more than their regular season and Round 1 averages. Of course, they only generated 12, a 20% reduction in what they had done in the first two games.
Tonight the Blues need another good start as they have had in every game in this series but unlike the other games, they have to ensure they get rewarded with a goal. They have given up the first goal in every game in this series and need to change that trend if they want to win tonight in Nashville. By now the Predators know the Blues won’t go away no matter the time and score. If Bortuzzo’s post had gone in, the Blues would have erased leads in every single game.
In addition to scoring first, the keys for the Blues will be to stop collapsing to low and maintain pressure on the Nashville defensemen, doing a better job clearing the crease and either blocking shots or clearing shooting lanes, and stopping the horrific turnovers the Blues have been making in their own zone whether that is just flipping the puck to the blue line for the predators to take or even worse.
It sounds like Coach Mike Yep is going to change the lineup around tonight. I’m guessing lines will be this:
Schwartz – Stastny – Tarasenko
Paajarvi – Berglund - Perron
Sobotka – Steen - Sanford
Upshall – Lehtera – Reaves
Bouwmeester – Pietrangelo
Edmundson - Parayko
Gunnarsson - Bortuzzo
Allen
Some interesting Round 2 Stats:
- Goal scoring is up 1.3 goals per game over the 1st round, now over 6 goals per game.
- The road team won a lot in Round 1 (55%)). They are winning more in Round 2 at 64%.
- Overtime games have fallen off a cliff, going from 43% of all games to 18% in Round 2.
- Western Conference Road teams continue to amaze, winning 58% of the time in Round 1 and 67% so far in Round 2 (a trend Blues fans hope continues tonight).
- The Eastern Conference continues to outscore the Western but the gap has fallen from 0.84 goals per game in Round 1 to 0.4 so far in Round 2.
Depending on what happens with the river cresting, it’s possible that thousands of Blues fans won’t be able to get to the arena on Friday. I really hope this isn’t the case but it is definitely a possibility.
It’s a great day for hockey.
Fellow Hockeybuzz blogger
Minnesota Wild's Dan Wallace agreed to a 1st round, friendly charity wager. Since the Blues won, Dan will be making a donation to Dream Factory St. Louis (http://dreamfactoryincstl.org/). Dream Factory grants dreams to critically and chronically ill children from the ages of three to eighteen. They have one of the highest program expenditure ratios I have ever seen, an amazing 97% is used for actual program services. Usually, more than 3% is used for administrative and fundraising efforts but not at Dream Factory.
Fellow Hockeybuzz blogger
Nashville Predator's Paul McCann has agreed to continue to pay it forward with me with a bet on this series with the Predators. Paul has chosen Best Buddies of Tennessee (https://bestbuddies.org/find-programs/tennessee/) as his charity. Best Buddies works to establish a global volunteer movement that creates opportunities for one-to-one friendships, integrated employment and leadership development for people with intellectual and development capabilities.
St Louis Blues Blogger • 
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