The Blues added to their perfect start last night, besting the New York Rangers 3-2 with Alex Pietrangelo’s early second period power play goal holding up as the game winner. All of the scoring was done in the first 40% of the game.
Vladimir Tarasenko opened the scoring beating Henrik Lundqvist cleanly with a wrist shot on a breakaway thanks to a tremendous play by Colton Parayko. Parayko blocked a shot from the right point, getting enough control of it to push it forward to Tarasenko for the breakaway.
Christ Kreider evened the score a little over 4 minutes later. The Rangers had some sustained pressure and a right point shot bounced around a bit and right to Kreider in the slot where he fired it past Carter Hutton.
The Blues took the lead with about two and a half minutes left in the 1st period. Alex Pietrangelo came into the zone along the right wall dumping the puck and then pursuing it with an aggressive forecheck. He got control of it along the wall and slid it to Alexander Steen who found Paul Stastny in the high slot who slid the puck to Robby Fabbri lower and more centered in the slot. Fabbri made a great spin move and put a good wrist shot on net. Lundqvist couldn’t quite handle the shot. Stastny crashed the net and batted the puck out of mid air and into the net. Solid play by four different players contributed to the goal. Watch it
here. The first period ended with the Blues up 2-1.
A little over 2 minutes into the second period, J.T. Miller took a high sticking penalty on Carl Gunnarsson. Miller had a rough game but more on that later. Before Blues announcer Tom Calhoun could announce the penalty, Alex Pietrangelo had given the Blues a 3-1 lead. Again, the majority of the Blues players on the ice would be involved in the goal. Stastny won the face-off back to Kevin Shattenkirk who threw the puck down the boards. Tarasenko raised hit foot, deflecting the puck that went right to Stastny who had moved to the wall. Stastny quickly found Pietrangelo in the slot who one-timed the puck past Lundqvist. See it
here. This was the Blues 4th power play goal of the season in thirteen attempts.
Unfortunately for Blues fans, Mike Zibanejad would bring the Rangers back within 1 goal only 30 seconds later on a very bad goal by Carter Hutton. With Pietrangelo pinching in the neutral zone, Scottie Upshall made a good play marking Zibanejad and forcing him wide. Zibanejad let a backhand go from the bad angle and beat Hutton as he was falling off his post. See the goal for yourself
here.
After the weak goal, Hutton gathered himself and shut the door, stopping 15 shots in the third period along with the rest of the shots in the second period. He made several quality stops including a few on Miller who failed to elevate the puck on his best scoring chance and then put another good chance right into Hutton’s chest. Hutton’s play was streaky in this game but his second half was enough to earn the victory.
It was a rough game for the Blues who lost Jori Lehtera, Kyle Brodziak and Carl Gunnarsson to upper body injuries. The Rangers lost Dan Girardi as well. Those of us noticed Brodziak gone early in the second period but his last shift was with about 6 minutes left in the first period. Lehtera left with about 8:30 left in the second period while Gunnarsson’s last shift was with a couple of minutes left in the second period. Girardi left the game about 5 minutes into the second period.
Here are some notes from the game:
- Chris Kreider was the best player on the ice in my opinion, getting a goal and an assist and 7 shots while creating chances all night.
- Kevin “the decision” Hayes was pretty invisible all game.
- Ryan McDonagh logged over 30 minutes of ice time, almost 25 minutes at even strength.
- Tarassenko could have easily had 2 or 3 goals but Lundqvist made some quality saves.
- Reaves played under 5 minutes even with two forwards injured and was still -1.
- Magnus Paajarvi played just over 10 minutes with no shots on goal.
- Nail Yakupov played a little over 12 minutes. He’s fast and the effort is there to play 200 feet, perhaps more than any other Blues player. He isn’t always best positioned but is likely still learning the systems.
- The Rangers only got one shot on goal total for their two power plays.
- Blues goalies are generally being beaten to the glove side so far this year. This may bear watching.
Some notes from around the NHL:
- Sure Brian Elliott is off to a rough start but the following goalies all have GAA greater than 4 – Bishop, Mrazek, Halak, Gibson, Ward, Niemi, and Varlamov.
- Additionally, the following goalies have a sub 90% save percentage – Lundqvist, Mason, Anderson, Andersen, Dubnyk and Crawford.
- Joe Colbourne and Brad Marchand are averaging 3 points per game.
- 21 players are averaging at least 2 points per game including Stastny.
It’s a great day for hockey.
ETA - 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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