The Blues and Wild will play Game 2 of their first round playoff series today in St. Louis at 2 p.m. CT on NBC. The Blues look to avenge the loss in Game 1 on Thursday and even the series at one all before heading to Minnesota for Monday’s Game 3.
The Wild took Game 1 at Scottrade by a final score of 4-2. I thought the Blues played pretty well in the first and third periods for the most part. They created a lot of zone time and the cycle worked well in the first period. They were hard on the forecheck and forced a good amount of turnovers in the offensive zone. Minnesota played well defensively and for the most part kept the Blues to the outside all night. The Blues attempted to fire a lot of rubber at Dubnyk in the first but, a ton of credit to the Wild, they blocked shot after shot. Zucker’s early goal sucked the life out of the crowd because it was all Blues in the first few minutes. Was Allen out of position? Yes, but Michalek got beat down the wall and play happened very fast and Zucker played it perfectly.
In the second period it’s hard to say what happened. The Wild took over in that period and the Blues kept going to the box and it wasn’t helping their case. I agree with what Hitchcock said about the second. He said that with how well defensively positioned the Wild were and how well they were blocking shots and passes, the Blues tried to force the extra plays. This time of year it has to go in deep or towards the net. Jay Bouwmeester had a great chance to get the Blues on the board when he clanked the post late in the second. The Wild PP didn’t look bottom five in the league to me. Bad calls or not, at this time of year it doesn’t matter. They have to play through it and find a way. Last night the PP goal that made it 2-0 ended up really being the difference. The Wild won the special teams battle and took the game because of it.
The Blues didn’t come out with great urgency to start the third but then got their feet moving and started creating chances. They had many good looks to tie the game up after Jaden Schwartz got the Blues within one with a great deflection past Dubnyk. A lot of Blues missed glorious opportunites including Jaskin airmailing a wobbling puck over a wide open net just before the Blues pulled Allen the first time. I thought with the momentum the Blues had built late in the game, Hitch pulled Allen a little too early. I would have liked him to wait until at least one minute or so, but the point is moot now. The Blues never gave up after the empty netters and at least that was good to see.
Complete credit given to the Wild also in Game 1. They played with speed through the neutral zone that forced the Blues to play more of a positional game than a step up physical game. Their passes from the Dmen out were the right play most of the night. Their penalty kill and powerplays both outplayed the Blues. Blocking shots and forcing the Blues to the outside all night. They didn’t blow me away with their play, but looked very solid. I thought both teams did a lot of things to win the game. The Wild capitalized and the Blues did not.
I expect a better sixty minute effort from the Blues today. When the Blues were on their game Thursday, they looked very good. When they were not, they looked very bad. At least from a creating offense standpoint, very bad. Defensively, the Blues need to do a better job of backchecking and keeping the third man high. Too many odd man rushes for the Wild in Game 1 that created high quality chances. The Blues need to get to the front of the net and fight for garbage goals. It looks like it could be the same lineup as Game 1 and Allen played well enough to earn another start. Should be a better game than Thursday, at least the result better be.
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