If you are a Blues fan that didn’t stay up late enough to watch the Blues game last night, you’re likely kicking yourself. If you turned the game off after Jordan Binnington’s 3rd period gaffe, you’re probably even angrier with yourself. Dare I say that last night’s comeback reminded me of the Blues January 2009 comeback in Boston? More on that at the end though.
The Ducks opened the scoring a little over five minutes into the game after newcomer Michael Del Zotto makes a poor play, chasing the puck carrier behind the Blues net, eventually allowing an easy goal for Nick Ritchie who comes out uncontested on Jordan Binnington.
The Blues would tie the game less than three minutes later on the 1st of their three power play goals, a brilliant deflection by Brayden Schenn, redirecting Vladimir Tarasenko’s shot through John Gibson’s five-hole.
The Blues would take the lead about 8 minutes later on their 2nd power play goal, a true snipe by Ryan O’Reilly.
The game would stay 2-1 until about 14 minutes into the 2nd period when Robert Thomas scored on a from above the right circle, a shot John Gibson should have stopped. Of course, the happiness was short lived as Rickard Rakell would score a power play goal after a Joel Edmundson penalty that really should have been called on Jordan Binnington for tripping Corey Perry.
Thing got even worse when Jaycob Megna scored a little over two minutes later to tie the game on a screened shot from the blue line. With the two quick goals against, Blues fans likely were starting to fight the here we go again thoughts.
The here we go again thoughts must have been trumpeting loudly when Jordan Binnington allowed this 3rd period goal, failing to catch the puck twice while taking himself out of position.
The Blues rallied late with two goals in 12 seconds to win the game. Colton Parayko would blast a shot wide that ricocheted off the end boards right to Thomas at the side of the net for his 2nd goal of the game with just over a minute left in regulation. The tying goal would be a rare 6 on 5 goal for the Blues.
Then 12 seconds later, Alex Pietrangelo’s shot goes of a Ducks’ skate and by John Gibson for the game winning goal, giving an elated Binnington the victory.
The Blues will be right back in action tonight against the Kings in the hump game of their 3 game, California road trip. The Kings are last in the conference in points and have only won 1 of their last 10. They are 13-16-3 at home, going 1-3-2 in their last six home games. The Blues will be looking to avenge their January 21st 4-3 loss in Los Angeles.
Jake Allen will get the start and has been good against the Kings with a 94.1% save percentage and 1.82 goals against average.
I’m assuming Robert Bortuzzo will drack back in for Michael Del Zotto.
I’ll guess the lines to be these:
Schenn-O'Reilly-Tarasenko
Maroon-Bozak-Thomas
Schwartz-Sundqvist-Steen
MacEachern-Barbashev-Blais
Edmundson-Pietrangelo
Bouwmeester-Parayko
Dunn-Bortuzzo
Allen
Is it me or does this Blues team remind you of the 2008-09? The team had a poor start, dismal December, turned it around near the All-Star Game, had very good February and had a dramatic comeback once the calendar year turned. Hopefully this playoffs turns out better as that team was swept in the 1st round.
As a reminder, the 2009 comeback can be seen
here.
NHL Champions for Charity
We’ve gotten some traction on the charity wager among the Central Division bloggers. One charity I’ll highlight is Best Buddies Tennessee
https://www.bestbuddies.org/tennessee/from your Predators’s Blogger
Paul McCann. Best Buddies Tennessee is dedicated to establishing a volunteer movement that creates opportunities for one-to-one friendships, integrated employment, leadership development and inclusive living opportunities for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. As a side note, I recently got to experience a Best Buddies even in the St. Louis area that was led by the Eureka high school football team. It was a lot of fun and brought a lot of joy to those involved.
It’s a great day for hockey.
St Louis Blues Blogger • 
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