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The Highs And Lows Of Blues Hockey |
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The St. Louis Blues jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first period, thanks to goals by David Backes, Dmitrij Jaskin, and Kevin Shattenkirk.
Marian Gaborik (2) and Anze Kopitar answered for the Kings to tie the game in the second, but Jori Lehtera broke the tie less than a minute later.
The Blues went into the third period, with a 4-3 lead, and they gave the game away. The Blues let the Kings rack up 15 shots in the third period, and the Kings would respond with goals from Jeff Carter, Jake Muzzin, and Dwight King. They would win 6-4.
Martin Brodeur did not play a good game, but man, the Blues did not help the veteran goaltender at all. The Blues were out-shot 29-17 in the last two periods alone. That is just unacceptable. You CANNOT expect to win games like that.
The Carter goal is on Brodeur. As a veteran with as many wins as he does, he knows he needs to slide to the post on a two-on-one. He slid to the middle of the ice, and Carter had the net to shoot at. That's on the goalie.
Gaborik's second goal, Carter was left alone on the power play, in front of Brodeur. Brodeur made a great diving poke check on Carter, but the Blues also left Gaborik alone, who scored on the rebound.
The Dwight King goal was one of the flukier goals I have ever seen. Two bounces low to the ice, then a bounce about four feet high to bounce of the shoulder of Brodeur. That goal should be blamed on physics. How is that possible?
The Kings turned it on after a poor first period, and the Blues played two really bad periods. Give credit where credit is due. The Kings deserved to win this game.
Looking at the play of Blues defensemen, Alex Pietrangelo, you can see that his play has been as up and down as any other player on the Blues this season. Some night's he looks stellar, then night's like tonight happen, and we're stuck asking why?
Pietrangelo was on the ice for the Blues first goal, he was then on the ice for five of the Kings goals tonight. FIVE.
Pietrangelo is the Blues number one defensemen, and when he's making defensive mistakes shift after shift, he looks like he should have his minutes diminished. Pietrangelo played over 26 minutes, Shattenkirk played under 22 minutes, Lindbohm played under 11 minutes. There is room to spread the shifts out. Especially games like this, when Pietrangelo is getting abused, and guys like Lindbohm is playing strong hockey.
Speaking of Petteri Lindbohm, how good has he been since his call up? Forcing Ian Cole and Chris Butler to rotate spots in the press box while he remains in the line up. He's been solid defensively, while adding a bit of physicality to the game as well.
Tonight, he registered his first NHL point, an assist on the Dmitrij Jaskin goal.
He's been using his shot quite a bit, which is good because he's got a heavy shot. He just continues to surprise everyone. No one expected him to be this good, at least not this soon. He was supposed to go back to Finland this season, but thanks to a spectacular training camp, he decided to stick around in the American Hockey League, and is now playing with the Blues, and he's playing very solid hockey.
Consistency Proves To Be A Problem
Since I've started watching the Blues, about 20 years ago, there has always been a very large issue with the Blues. Inconsistency.
The Blues can look like all-stars one game, then turn around and look like a bottom feeder the next. For instance, Tuesday night and tonight.
On Tuesday, they struggled a bit in the first period, but then dominated the rest of the game. They did whatever they wanted to do with the puck, and they were successful at it. Not only that, they dominated defensively. In the third period alone, they held the Kings to one shot on goal. Just one.
Tonight? A strong first period, then they get walked all over the rest of the game. They gave up 15 shots in the third, 37 overall shots in the game.
Check in tomorrow, as I will be taking a look at who should stay and who should go, once the trade freeze ends after Christmas.
St Louis Blues Blogger • 
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