Follow me on twitter Follow @stlgoalie
Last night the Blues defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 6-4, with the Leafs getting 2 goals in the latter half of the 3rd period to make things interesting.
The Leafs opened the scoring midway through the 1st period when Andreas Borgman snapped a wrist shot by Jake Allen from the right circle on a 3 on 2, beating Allen high blocker. The goal was created by poor plays by Scottie Upshall and Chris Thorburn. Even though Upsall had cleared the red line and could easily have dumped the puck deep, he tried a cute flip pass to Thorburn who couldn’t handle the pass. The puck was quickly moved the other way for the odd man rush. With Borgman being a left handed shooter, Allen got caught playing the angle of the shooter’s body rather than the angle of the puck. He may have scored with the well placed shot anyway but being off his angle made it tougher for him to try and stop it.
See what I mean here:
Less than 3 minutes into the 2nd period, Vladimir Tarasenko scored a goal from the tough part of the ice, right around the crease. Frederick Andersen had a tough controlling Jaden Schwartz’s initial shot because of the deflection by James van Riemsdyk who didn’t get enough of it to make an effective shot block. Tarasenko finds the rebound and backhands it into the net. Watch it here.
Less than 5 minutes later, Joel Edmundson gives the Blues a 2-1 lead. Edmundson has joined the play down low which is fine because all five Leafs have collapsed to at least the faceoff circle and Schenn is the players closest to the Blue line that he has vacated. Schenn gets the puck and is able to walk out to the middle of the high slot and lets a shot go. Andersen gets a glove on the save but the rebound goes to Edmundson for the easy goal. Again, the active defense helping to create a goal. Watch it here.
Just over the halfway mark in the 2nd period, Alex Pietrangelo makes it 3-1 with a beautiful goal. Pietrangelo gets the puck at the right point and has a ton of room. Unlike years past where he would have just taken a stride or two and either shot it on net or used a pass shot, Pietrangelo carries it deep toward the crease where he makes a nifty move, tucking it into the net. Patrick Marleau is so worried about tying up Tarasenko that he lets Pietrangelo go free all the way to the goal line. Words can’t describe the move well so watch it here.
Magnus Paajarvi extends the lead to 4-1 on a good play by Dmitrij Jaskin and some luck. Jaskin does a good job gaining the zone. His pass to Vladimir Sobotka gets blocked and goes to Nazem Kadri. Kadri makes a terrible play and the puck ends up on Paajarvi’s stick who beats Andersen through the 5-hole. Watch it here.
The Leafs would get the goal back 45 seconds later. The Leafs come in on a 3 on 3 but both Brayden Schenn and Vince Dunn cover Mitchell Marner, leaving Tyler Bozak free at the far post. Allen stutter step pushes, stopping briefly where Marner is before pushing again to get where Bozak is. The pause in the middle is enough to prevent him from getting his leg pad over in time to make the save and the score goes to 4-2.
The Blues get their 3 goal lead back just 17 seconds later. Sobotka steals the puck on the forecheck along the wall and chips it toward the back of the net so that Paul Stastny can skate to it. Stastny wins the puck battle (though Leafs fans likely want a tripping call) and slides the puck to Schenn in the right circle. Schenn sends the pass to Sobotka at the far post for the re-direct into the net. Andersen has no chance in stopping the shot. Watch it here.
Less than 5 minutes later, the Blues push the lead to 4 with a goal from Alex Pietrangelo on a 4 on 3 power play. Tarasenko lets a shot go from the point with Schenn in front of Andersen. Andersen makes the save and Pietrangelo slams home the rebound. I’m stunned that Babcock did not challenge the play as Schenn slashes the mask of Andersen before the goal. I’m not sure he would have won the challenge as Zaitsev does hit Schenn before the contact but you would think it would be worth a try at least.
I have no clue why the Leafs didn't challenge goaltender interference here. That's a pretty clear swing to Frederik Andersen's face. pic.twitter.com/xWA6MRvs1J
— Jeff Veillette (@JeffVeillette) November 5, 2017
The Leafs would add two more goals to make things a bit interesting. Alexander Steen loses a puck battle in the neutral zone which leads to a 2 on 3. Steen then further makes his play worse on this shift by not covering Connor Brown who slides the puck past Allen who has overcommitted to the shot and gets beat when it turns out to be a pass.
On the last goal, the entire team was a hot mess even though they had five back defending. Thorburn fails to mark up Bozak in front of the net who scores while Allen is facing the wrong way in the net. The game ends 6-4.
For a well as the Blues played at times, they also were very sloppy at times. Coach Mike Yeo seems to agree, saying “we just got really loose against a very dynamic offensive team. That’s not the way you want to approach things and the funny thing is, it’s not just the chances you give up. Then all of a sudden you stop getting chances. You stop getting the offensive zone play.…
I know I have been talking about it a lot but it’s a noticeable difference. The defensemen are a lot more active and engaged in the play. Yeo commented about this after the game saying “we want them to be involved and the forwards deserve a lot of credit.…
He also talked about how “the forwards controlled the puck really well down low to open up some time and space for the d men and allowed some plays to develop.… He further added “the number of chances and shots we are getting on a night to night basis from the D…. it’s in the fabric of our game, the way that we want to play the game.
Other game notes: - The xGF and adjusted corsi stats were correct. - Carl Gunnarsson had two giveaways - Should Gunnarsson, Bortuzzo & Dunn rotate in the press box when Bouwmeester is back - Oskar Sundqvist and Magnus Paajarvi both had 3 takeaways - Like the Flyers the game before, the Leafs blocked 20 shots - The Blues had 7 giveaways - The Blues have killed 12 of their last 13 penalties - Pietrangelo leads all defense in points (15) but Gostisbehere & Karlsson get more per game - Pietrangelo and Edmundson are 1 and 2 in goals scored by defensemen - Gunnarsson is tied for 8th in goals scored by defensemen - Blues have 34 points among their defensemen for 2.27 per game. Last year’s average was 2.1 - Blues defense are averaging 1.13 goals per game versus 0.47 last year. 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.