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A good road win in Toronto, a tough test tonight in Winnipeg

October 22, 2018, 6:54 PM ET [16 Comments]
Jason Millen
St Louis Blues Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT



The Blues will face a tough test tonight after coming off their best performance of the season on Saturday, a 4-1 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-1. The Blues controlled the game, stifling one of the NHL’s most productive offenses, holding the Leafs to only 8 shots through the 1st two periods and going 4 for 4 on the penalty kill.

The Blues opened the scoring about 5 minutes into the 2nd period on a goal from Robert Bortuzzo but the credit on the goal should go to David Perron who stole the puck with a good puck battle along the wall and then made a brilliant pass to Bortuzzo. Bortuzzo gets a bit lucky in that his shot goes off the Leafs defensemen’s stick but it’s a good, smart play the none the less (one that might be missed tonight but more on that later).


About eight and a half minutes later, Zach Sanford would double the lead on a good pinch by Alex Pietrangelo, another good pass from the wall by Perron and a wicked wrister by Sanford. Note Leafs #34 Auston Matthews getting caught in between on the play, not really pressuring Perron nor covering Sanford.


Less than four minutes later, Ryan O’Reilly would net his 1st goal as a Blues player. Everyone will likely talk about Vladimir Tarasenko’s primary assist on this goal but for me the better plays were the dive by O’Reilly and the play by Vince Dunn at the blue line to keep the puck in the zone and the steal by Pat Maroon to get the puck to Tarasenko.

Watch the Maroon steal and goal here

Morgan Rielly would cut the lead to two just under five minutes into the 3rd period. Ivan Barbashev would get rewarded with a good shift, adding an empty net goal to end the game 4-1.

In the game, Matthews and Nazem Kadri were -2 while John Tavares, Patrick Marleau and Kasperi Kapanen were -1, all being held pointless.

Unfortunately for the Blues, Robert Bortuzzo aggravated his lower body injury and was sent back to St. Louis and therefore will be out tonight against the Winnipeg Jets. Jay Bouwmeester will draw back into the lineup. Don’t look for the Blues to change any of the forwards or Jake Allen in net.

The Jets have won two games in a row and are 4-0-1 at home. They have the 5th best points percentage, the 3rd best power play, and the 6th best goals against per game. It should be a tough test for the Blues.

NHL Champions for Charity
We’ve gotten some traction on the charity wager among the Central Division bloggers. More on that to come.

It’s a great day for hockey.
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