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The stage was set for a must see contest of power houses dishing out a mixture of speedy jabs and powerful uppercuts to be played out to a national audience. What took center when the lights came on was a circus side show instead of two heavy weight contenders.
In the end the visiting San Jose Sharks held on to their undefeated title by dropping the St. Louis Blues 6-2. Just not before the clown car crashed head long in to the boards.
Only a hair under six minutes passed in the first period when Blues forward Maxim Lapierre went in on the forecheck and recklessly put Sharks defenseman
Dan Boyle face first in to the boards.
Lapierre was sent to the locker room as was fellow 4th line forward Ryan Reaves and Sharks forwards Matt Pelech and Andrew Desjardins. Desjardins returned after serving his 17 minutes of PIMs, the other three did not.
Play was stopped for an extended period as Boyle was put on to a stretcher and taken to a local hospital. Reports are that he is moving his extremities and is alert.
Once the puck dropped again it was as if a fog blew in off the river and settled in around the Blues. San Jose could still see clearly.
Logan Couture and Joe Pavelski would supply the first period offense. Both on the power plays resulting from continuing confrontations stemming from the Lapierre hit. Once such incident,
this Brett Burns hit on Brenden Morrow, is what really set the tone for the remainder of the game. With the puck coming up the bench side boards from deep in the Blues zone Morrow made a move as if to play the puck, but never got the chance to. Before he could make any attempt he was catapulted from two to three feet away from the boards directly in to it by Burns. What looked to be a clear interference call, one so dangerous that it should have been called a 5 minute major, was no more than a two minute boarding.
The Blues fail to score on the power play and San Jose keeps rolling on.
While it may seem like the finger is being pointed at the officials, that's not the case. In similar fashion to the Joe Thonrton hit on David Perron a few years back the Blues did not rise to the occasion. The penalty kill was helpless to stop the most potent power play in the league. Allowing three goals on 7 man advantages. After killing 11 straight to start the season the Blues have allowed seven power play goals in their last three games (7 for 14, 50%). All on home ice by the way where they were 4th best at 89.4% last season.
The much vaunted Blues 5 on 5 Shooting % stayed consistent at least. They converted on two of 19 shots on goal, 10.5%. Coming in to the game they were at 10.6%.
As strange as it sounds, they were where they needed to be in terms of offensive conversion at even strength. Where they failed was keeping the puck out of their own net. An area that one would have believed been a strength.
Jaroslav Halak allowed four goals on 26 shots before being lifted in favor of Brian Elliott. He allowed two goals on 13 shots in the third period.
How was Todd McLellan's squad able to get the upper hand and break through the Blues' impenetrable wall? Suffocating pressure. Once the fog set in the Sharks went to work as the LA Kings have done so well to the Note. Using superior size to reduce the available space to effectively move the puck. Add in sloppy handling of passes and poor puck management (death to lateral passes just inside the blueline) and it's a lethal combination for disaster.
Keep in mind San Jose did this with 5 defenseman and 11 forwards for most of the game.
There were some positives for St. Louis.
Vladimir Tarasenko finally ended Antti Niemi's bid for a shutout with his 4th goal in five games halfway through the final period. His line with Jaden Schwartz and Patrik Berglund created the majority of the Blues' quality scoring chances. Derek Roy was close to a goal that would have made the score 4-1 heading in to the third period, but Buns' well timed hook prevented it.
Roman Polak scored his first goal of the season to make the game 5-2.
Still, one game does not make a team, nor does four games. Ken Hitchcock will need to find the reset button quickly as his club travels north to Chicago for a major early season divisional matchup with the Blackhawks. Both ends of the special teams equation will need to get back on track. Spotting the Hawks goals at the madhouse is a very bad idea.
Hit Reaction
-- It's a forgone conclusion at this point that Lapierre will have some sort of meeting with the Department of Player Safety soon. The question is how long will he be suspended and how does Hitchcock shuffle the roster. Given what the league just gave Kaleta, I wouldn't be surprised if it's a length time off.
Call it the pussification of hockey, but I didn't like the hit. Boyle didn't go out of his way to put himself in a vulnerable position. Lapierre could clearly see the numbers and name plate. All that was missing was the stop sign kids wear. Not sure if that would even stop him. That's the type of hit the league doesn't need. It calls to question if the players who execute those types of hits are the types of players the league needs to be successful.
As a staunch proponent of the CPR line, I was not a huge fan of the Lapierre signing because the energy line spots were already a congested mess so why mess with what works. These side show antics, don't get under the opponents skin as much as it does his own teammates. CHirping and finishing clean checks is one thing. What he did to Boyle is something else... and on the far other end of the spectrum.
-- The Burns hit on Morrow should be closely ranked in severity and reckless to the Lapierre hit on Boyle. Morrow would leave the game briefly, but would return. Did the officials call based on the outcome rather than the presumed intent (which both seem to be blatantly obvious)? Appears to be so.
-- A few Sharks players were very vocal after the game about their perspective on the play that left Boyle unconscious on the ice.
Couture
"It's just disgusting to see that type of play in hockey when a player that probably shouldn't even be in this league is taking out one of the best players in the world. (Lapierre) has got a history."
"After the first shift, (Lapierre) is yelling at us from their bench ... that he's coming after us. Then he does that. I don't even know. It's pretty gutless. And he turtles. Be a man if you make a hit like that. Fight someone. Don't turtle ... (Lapierre) ran right behind the linesman. Nothing else to say about it."
Pavelski
"Idiots are idiots out there. Dan is a world-class defenseman...(Lapierre saw) straight numbers (in front of him). There's guys in the league that will target that ... it doesn't matter, they'll just go. It (stinks). Guys responded appropriately."
Note they didn't have commentary about Burns' hit though. At least that wasn't on the record in Joe's locker room.
Quick Hits
-- In what to watch for in my preview I said to keep an eye on the Backes line vs. the Thornton Line... Backes, Oshie, and Steen were a combined 24 CF and 45 CA for a 37.4%. Thronton, Hertl, and Burns were a combined 33 CF and 39 CA for a 45.8% CF%. Not much better but enough that it made a difference. The Blues' top line had no mojo going all night.
-- Pietrangelo and Bouwmeester were both well under 50% CF% as well. Almost all other players, besides Berglund were above 50%. In short it was the top players who couldn't convert at even strength to tip the balance of the game back more to center. The game was fairly even if not for the vast differential in special teams performance.
-- San Jose was credited with 18 blocked shots. It sure seemed more like 81. Lays upon layers of shot blockers easily took away shooting lanes, especially while killing penalties, due to the lack of speed and confidence in which the Blues moved the puck.
Must See Replay of the Game
Once again it goes to Tarasenko.
St Louis Blues Blogger • 
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