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Blues shoot down the Hawks, travel to Denver to take on the Avs

October 19, 2017, 2:21 PM ET [26 Comments]
Jason Millen
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I think Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville summed up last night’s Blues 5-2 win pretty well – “they played well and we were brutal.” Coach Q certainly isn’t one to mince words. The Blues thoroughly dominated the first two periods, outshooting the Blackhawks 26-8 and more importantly outscoring them 3-0. Of course, having three extra power plays in those periods helped but the control of play was more than the power plays.

Jaden Schwartz opened the scoring, receiving a nifty pass from Vladimir Tarasenko as he cut across the top of the crease and then sliding a backhand past Corey Crawford. You can watch the goal here. What many likely missed was the play by Robert Bortuzzo that led to the entire sequence. Bortuzzo dumped the puck into the near corner of the Blackhawks zone and followed the puck in, winning the puck battle in the corner and behind the net, getting the puck to Schwartz. Schwartz then sent the puck back around the glass to Tarasenko near the far point before getting it back for the goal. Bortuzzo deserves a lot of credit for a smart, hustle style play that directly contributed to the goal.

Before the end of the 1st period, Schwartz had a scary moment on the penalty kill, losing an edge and going into the boards face first. Luckily, he seemed to avoid injury and came back into the game, making his presence known yet again about 6 minutes into the 2nd period.

Jake Allen had few options in playing a dump-in as both teams were completing a long change. An ongoing fore-checker removed his left defensemen as an option and Allen played the puck off the wall and into space at the far blue line. Schwartz straddled the line and caught up to the puck, sliding the puck past Corey Crawford who misplayed the situation badly. Crawford goes down way too early in a poke check attempt, letting Schwartz easily skate around him. Watch it here.

Vladimir Tarasenko extended the lead to 3-0 less than 2 minutes later when Artem Anisimov couldn’t handle a Brent Seabrook pass. Tarasenko ripped a shot by Crawford who had virtually no chance of stopping the shot. Watch it here.

Kyle Brodziak added to the lead about 7 minutes into the 3rd period, foregoing the pass to Tarasenko on their 2 on 1 break, rather choosing to snipe a shot past Crawford. Watch it here.

The Blackhawks would get two power play goals on 4 remaining opportunities before Schwartz would get his hat trick from an empty net goal. It is interesting to note that the Vladimir Sobotka double minor penalty only seemed to be called after the stoppage in play and the resulting scrum. The high stick that was called happened long before the stoppage in play and before the Blues played the puck without a whistle. It doesn’t matter as he deserved the call and the NHL Department of Player Safety fined him the maximum allowable amount but it did seem odd.

Other games notes:
- Jake Allen made a number of very strong saves in the game, a few on Patrick Kane.
- Vince Dunn made a number of strong plays including springing Schwartz on a breakaway early in the 3rd period.
- Samuel Blais seemed to have a decent game.
- Sobotka took a lot of penalties and was only 40% in the face-off circle
- Mike Yeo said it was probably Jaskin’s best game of the season yet he didn’t even hit 8.5 minutes of ice time.
- The more Blues fans see of Schenn, the more they must really like the trade.
- Joel Edmundson had a team high 8 blocks. Gunnarsson was 2nd with 7.
- The expected goals statistic got their second Blues game right, moving them to 2-5.

Wade Megan cleared waivers and is heading to Chicago in the AHL.

Other NHL Notes:
- The Kings are the only team without a regulation loss.
- Knight fans shouldn’t get too excited. They are 5-1 but they wins come against weak teams - 13th, 24th, 26th, and 28th(x2) ranked teams from last season.
- Forget Alex Ovechkin, give me Nikita Kucherov. More points, actually has a game winning goal (3 to be exact), and only 1 less goal.
- Shayne Gostisbehere seems to have gotten over his sophomore slump with 10 points in 6 games.
- Kevin Shattenkirk in Ranger Blue appears to be what we expected – 6 points in 7 games but a whopping -6.

Tonight the Blues will travel to Denver to take on the Avalanche. Much like the last year, the Avalanche started the season hot, winning 4 of 5. Much like last year, the Avalanche seemed to be cooling off quickly, losing 2 in a row. The rest of October may give you a sense as to what this team will be this season as they have games against the Blues, Blackhawks and Stars.

For tonight, I expect the lines to start like this:

Forwards
Alexander Steen - Paul Stastny - Vladimir Tarasenko
Jaden Schwartz - Brayden Schenn - Sammy Blais
Magnus Paajarvi - Ivan Barbashev - Vladimir Sobotka
Scottie Upshall - - Kyle Brodziak - Dmitrij Jaskin

Defense
Carl Gunnarsson - Alex Pietrangelo
Joel Edmundson - Colton Parayko
Vince Dunn - Robert Bortuzzo

Goalie
Carter Hutton

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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