A few thoughts on the Blues loss in Chicago and the consequences of Minnesota's Saturday afternoon shenanigans.
In reading John Jaeckel’s post from the Blackhawks perspective I found one line that resonated all too well.
This is the kind of game you hope the Hawks learn something from.
How many times has some version of that comment been uttered on the air on in print in St. Louis with “Blues” in place of “Hawks” following a big game against a Central Division rival? Too many to count. A trend especially troublesome when those losses have consistently killed impressive winning steaks.
Look, taking two out of three games is an impressive clip. In aggregate it means at least four games will be played after number 82. But let’s be honest when the wins come from the Wild and Islanders and the loss is to Chicago, it’s not good enough. Not with the standards currently set.
Dominance over those who were once their peers has been established. Playoff bubble teams and below have proven little match. Reaching 91% of last season’s point total in just 72% of the games played while pacing for 110 points and boasting a +30 goal differential is testament enough. Simply put the Blues wouldn’t be where they are if they were not winning games they’re supposed to.
That’s just the first step in becoming all they can be.
The next step is not just hanging around the gold standard setters, but actually beating them. Not just winning at home, but on the road as well.
Until December it appeared the next step wasn’t too tall to reach. In their first six games against the likes of Chicago, Nashville, and Detroit (as well as Vancouver and San Jose) a 5-1-0 record was posted. After the slow start under Davis Payne the road record climbed to 6-6-1 from 2-6-0. Since then the mark against those same teams has fallen to 2-5-3 and away from Scottrade the Blues are 4-7-2.
What happened? The answer is twofold.
1) The kings of the hill realized that times have changed and they took their game to a higher level. The same level they would use bring to a battle against each other. It’s a whole different kind of push back most of this Blues squad haven’t had to deal with.
2) Complacency has set in to some degree on the road. Adherence to the principals that make them virtually unbeatable at home have not been brought along on trips. The best players do not perform like the best players.
Needless to say, they’ve not learned quickly or adjusted correctly.
Before all the trade gurus chime in, let’s be clear about something. This problem is not something a trade can fix. This group has learned how to win games. They’ve learned how to elevate their play to meet needs. The ability is within those already on the payroll. Now all that’s left is to figure out how to do what they already know how to do, but just on a bigger stage.
There are only eight dress rehearsals left against the best of the best before the playoffs to work on hitting those high notes.
Quick Hits
The McDonald-Berglund-Langenbrunner line was the best put over the boards by Ken Hitchcock. The trio accounted for 13 of 30 shots on Crawford and for only puck to get past him. Those who doubt the importance of experience in the place of raw skill should compare their contributions to that of the Perron-Backes-Oshie line.
McDonald’s goal was his third in three games and his fourth point in five games since returning from a concussion that caused him to miss 51 games this season.
Even though Brian Elliott gave up two goals on 26 shots, he still owns the league’s lowest GAA with a 1.55 and is tied with Henrik Lundqvist for the best save percentage (.941).
League Suspends Peters One Game
Brendan Shanahan had quite a bit of material to review from the Blues vs Wild game Saturday. The end result was a one game suspension for Warren Peters’ crosscheck to David Backes’ head. The hit by Cal Clutterbuck on Alex Pietrangelo did not result in a hearing nor did his alleged comments to Andy McDonald.
I’m with Shanny on this two out of the three incidents.
Clutterbuck left his feet, but he did make contact with Pietrangelo’s chest first. As far as the trash talking goes, telling McDonald he hopes he gets another concussion, as sickening and disrespectful as such a comment is, there didn’t seem to be much of an outcry save for a tweet by Andy Strickland and all he did was post a quote. If there was more to it, more would be said directly about it.
I’m not enthused with the decision to suspend Peters only one game. Regardless of the stated lack of intent to hit Backes in the head, he did intend to land a high crosscheck. If the league was truly serious about curbing hits to the head incidents like these would be prosecuted more harshly. To me its the equivalent of a murder saying “I meant to shoot him, but I didn’t mean to kill him”. Risky behavior needs to be criminalized further.
Transparency is about all the change from Colin Campbell to Shanahan has provided. Too bad transparency will not protect players.
St Louis Blues Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»