Follow me on twitter Follow @stlgoalie ON Thursday the Blues lost their first home game, 2-0 to the Philadelphia Flyers. Very strong play from Michael Neuvirth and Ivan Provorov keyed the Flyers win along with the Blues missing the most of their prime scoring chances.
The Blues dominated the first half of the 1st period, even outshooting the Flyers 9-1 at one point but were unable to get one past Neuvirth. As I have said before, it often is a big problem when you dominate a team for a long stretch but don’t score. The Flyers turned the period around and it ended with the shots in favor of the Blues 13-8.
The Flyers would get the game winning goal just 38 seconds into the second period. On the play, the puck is dumped behind the goal from the left point. From there, Carl Gunnarsson loses the puck battle along the right wall. The puck gets moved to Brandon Manning along the wall at the right point. Manning walks off the wall toward center ice and flicks a wrist shot at the net. As the play is happening, Alex Pietrangelo and Jakub Voracek are battling in front of Jake Allen. Originally, the goal is disallowed but the call is reversed upon review.
When you analyze this goal more, you might notice that Manning’s shot doesn’t exactly hit a corner. On the play, Allen gets caught frozen. As Manning moves to the middle of the ice, Allen doesn’t move with him, getting him off his angle. It is this error that allows the marginally placed shot to go in. If Allen moves with Manning, Manning’s shot likely would hit him even if Allen didn’t see it. It’s possible Allen didn’t see Manning moving to the middle of the ice. Regardless, this type of play has been a problem for the Blues and for Allen. Overall, Allen had a good game but I still think there is improvement needed on plays generated from the blue line.
See gifs of the goal here:
#stlblues Another example of Allen's troubles tracking the play at the blue line. He doesn't move with Manning as Manning walks the blue line, rather staying square to where Manning was. Screen or no screen he should have been moving to his right at least a little. pic.twitter.com/MnF1CSJq1Z
— Jason Millen (@stlgoalie) November 3, 2017
A better view perhaps pic.twitter.com/zWtFrJosrW
— Jason Millen (@stlgoalie) November 3, 2017
Gunnarsson’s poor wall battle may be why he saw his ice time limited to 13:03.
Claude Giroux added an empty net goal with 6 seconds left.
The game saw a very odd play where defensemen Mark Alt’s stick went into Neuvirth’s mask. Watch it here:
Mark Alt's stick gets right through Neuvirth's mask. pic.twitter.com/zY2NH2U7oM
— Sons of Penn (@SonsofPenn) November 3, 2017
Throughout the game, the Blues missed a number of chances including hitting the post while Neuvirth was inside the net trying to avoid being hurt by Alt’s stick, Vladimir Tarasenko seeing open net and sending the shot over the net, and Scottie Upshall pushing a shot just wide. Neuvirth also made some strong saves, including snaring Brayden Schenn’s shot with his trapper.
Game notes: - The xGF was wrong again, saying the Blues should have won by 0.71 goals - The adjusted Corsi was also wrong again - Edmundson, Pietrangelo and Bortuzzo all had strong games with the last 2 having 5 games each - Paajarvi saw less than 8 minutes of ice time - The Flyers blocked 20 shots - The Blues deflected a number of shots away from the net rather than on goal
Tonight, the Blues host the Maple Leafs in an early 6pm start. The Leafs are 8-6 overall and 4-3 on the road and are on the last game of their 4 game road trip. They are 1-2 so far on the trip and are only 1-4 in their last 5 games.
As you would expect, the Leafs are led by Auston Matthews who has 10 goal and 18 points in just 14 games. Morgan Reilly leads their rear-guards with 11 points in 14 games. Last season the Blues held Matthews without a point in two games, the only team to do this other than the Flames.
Frederik Andersen will likely get the nod in net. He has very strong numbers against the Blues, mostly from his time with the Ducks, posting a 2.51 goals against average and a 92.3% save percentage.
The Leafs are the 2nd highest scoring team in the league at 3.77 goals per game and 6th on the power play, converting 25% of their chances. They are also 5th in shooting percentage at 11.6%. They also 6th best in goals per game on the road at 3.43. Coincidentally, the Blues are 6th at home at 3.67.
The Leafs are 6th worst in the league in goals against per game at 3.48 which aligns with their 7th worst save percentage at 89.3%. The Blues on the other hand are 2nd in goals against at 2.29 and 2nd in save percentage at 92.7%.
I’m guessing the Leafs lines may look like this: Forwards Hyman – Matthews – Nylander Komarov – Kadri – Kapanen JVR – Marleau – Brown Martin – Bozak – Marner Defencemen Rielly – Hainsey Gardiner – Zaitsev Borgman – Polak Goaltenders Andersen
For the Blues, Jake Allen has been good against the Leafs, posting a 2.29 goals against average and a 92.5% save percentage. Against the Leafs, Alexander Steen has 15 points in 11 games, Jaden Schwartz has 6 points in 6 games and Tarasenko has 5 goals and 6 points in 7 games.
Expect Jake Allen to be in net and Chris Thorburn to get back into the lineup. Perhaps Magnus Paajarvi will sit tonight? I think it will be Beau Bennett or Paajarvi. Here is my best guess at lines:
Forwards Jaden Schwartz - Brayden Schenn - Vladimir Tarasenko Vladimir Sobotka – Paul Stastny - Alexander Steen Magnus Paajarvi – Oskar Sundqvist – Dmitrij Jaskin Scottie Upshall - Kyle Brodziak – Chris Thorburn
Defense Carl Gunnarsson - Alex Pietrangelo Joel Edmundson - Colton Parayko Vince Dunn - Robert Bortuzzo
Goalie Jake Allen
The Blues record versus the Eastern Conference is 4-3 vs their Western record of 10-0-1.
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.