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Well most Blues fans are likely still fuming about the negative 3 points swing in the 3rd period in Nashville Tuesday night. Before we get into that, let’s look at a little Central division perspective. Remember, the Blues play 8 Central division games out of 10. They are 2-1-1 in the first 4 Central division games. If they go 2-1-1 in the 2nd 4, fans should be fairly pleased overall.
While fans have a right to be upset about the penalty shot that was awarded in overtime and became the eventual game winner, the Blues earned this play by dumb, lazy plays in the third period.
The Predators 2nd goal was a comedy of errors. On the power play, Jaden Schwartz makes a poor play and doesn’t get the puck deep. Alexander Steen then is in good position on the wall but loses that puck battle and inexplicably loses his man. You can lose the puck but not the puck and the man. Then once in their own end, Brayden Schenn and Vince Dunn play a 3 on 2 about as poorly as you can. You can watch the latter part of the play
here. Of course, why you would be running a 4 forward, 1 defenseman power play with 5 or so minutes left in a 2 goal game baffles me a bit. It is even more concerning when you realize Nashville already had 5 short-handed goals on the year, putting them in the top half of the league.
On the Predators game tying goal, the Blues get caught with too many players deep in the Predators’ offensive zone. Jaden Schartz makes a very poor read. As Nashville gets the puck behind the net, Colton Parayko is still advancing toward the net as he was looking for a pass and starts to peel off. Jaden Schwartz was already retreating back toward the blue line and is effectively even with Paryako when Nashville gets the puck. Based on his momentum, he should have continue back to the blue line as he will have a much easier time to get there and cover space than Parayko. Instead, he decides to curl and weakly forecheck the play. This leaves Craig Smith wide open for the easy pass and an odd man rush that results in the goal. Watch it
here.
Sure the call on Schwartz for a penalty shot was very weak in overtime but make no mistake, this game was lost in the third period.
The Blues had a few days to put this out of their mind as the play in Dallas tonight. The Stars are only 2 points behind the Blues and have 2 games in hand. A regulation victory would be huge as it would ensure that wins in the games in hand only allowed the Stars to tie the Blues point total.
The Stars have had 5 days to think of the 6-0 beating they received from the Vancouver Canucks. They had won 5 in a row before that game. The Blues and Stars split games in December with the home team winning both games.
It sounds like Zach Sanford isn’t a player yet as he was assigned to San Antonio of the AHL, so the lines likely remain the same but with Jake Allen in net.
Forwards
Alexander Steen - Paul Stastny – Vladimir Tarasenko
Jaden Schwartz - Brayden Schenn – Patrik Berglund
Ivan Barbashev - Vladimir Sobotka – Dmitrij Jaskin
Scottie Upshall – Kyle Brodziak – Chris Thorburn
Defense
Carl Gunnarsson - Alex Pietrangelo
Jay Bouwmeester - Colton Parayko
Robert Bortuzzo -Vince Dunn
Goalie
Jake Allen
The Blues traded for Nikita Soshnikov from the Toronto Maple Leafs, sending a 4th round 2019 pick back in return. Soshnikov likely won’t join the team until the end of February because of Visa Issues and I wouldn’t look to see him even sniff the lineup until March as he is just returning from injury. He is a bit older (24) even though he only has 70 NHL games under his belt. He spent time in the KHL. He has 14 points as an NHLer.
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.