The Blues failed in their attempt to take a strangle on their series with the Dallas Stars Wednesday night falling 4-2 in another game filled with dives and drama.
The Blues took an early lead on a Vladimir Tarasenko power play goal a little over five minutes into the game.
Who knew this would be about the high point of the night to come?
The Stars would even the game a little over 6 minutes later when Jay Bouwmeester would struggle with the puck. Jason Dickinsin would take advantage of Robby Fabbri beating him to the front of the net for the easy goal.
The Stars would get a gift power play with about 3 minutes left in the period as Tyler Bozak is called for interference on a pick type play. It’s a call I despise given all that the referees have let go in this series and it wasn’t nearly as bad as other pick plays that have not been called but you have to win regardless of officiating. On the ensuing power play, the Stars score with about 5 seconds left in the power play.
The Stars outshot the Blues 12-8 in the 1st period but have the advantage due to the power play goal after the weak call.
The Stars would really seem to take control of the game in the 2nd period, outskating the Blues, winning the puck battles, etc. They finally extended their lead midway through the period after Bouwmeester makes a poor play in the neutral zone.
Bouwmeester’s error is compounded by Tyler Bozak’s error. Robert Bortuzzo tells Bozak to cover Roope Hintz.
Unfortunately, Bozak doesn’t allowing Hintz to score.
The Stars would extend it to 4-1 on a John Klingberg goal with less than three minutes left but the period would not be without its drama.
With no time left in the period, Jamie Benn makes a spearing type motion toward Jordan Binnington who takes exception and goes out to Binnington. Normally this would be a coincidental minors situation but as Binnington is going off, he makes a slashing motion near Bishop. The camera angle was so poor on NBCSN I couldn’t tell if he connected or not but it doesn’t matter as Binnington gets the extra minor. Binnington was likely mad at Bishop for flopping yet again on David Perron’s slashing penalty. Bishop went down like he was stabbed with a machete, definitely selling a call that didn’t need to be sold.
The Blues would get within two from a nice Robert Thomas goal with a little over six minutes left. The goal illustrates exactly why Thomas needs to shoot more and defer less.
Later, Ryan O’Reilly may have banked a shot in off of Ben Bishop but none of the camera angles can show the puck is relative to the goal line so Toronto cannot make a determination. This highlights yet again how crazy it is that the NHL doesn’t have better offsides and goal line technology. I’m not convinced it was in, or not for that matter but the idea that we didn’t have any good looks to be able to tell is laughable.
Overall, Robert Thomas had his best NHL game while Jay Bouwmeester had his worst game in months. Ben Bishop’s save percentage moved back up to 93.1%, the Stars were better on special teams and had more shots so they won, just like most of this series has gone.
The Blues were out-worked and out-hustled for most of the night. They again seemed distracted by the Stars shenanigans and are not focused on playing hockey. If they don’t change their focus, they will be golfing soon.
The Blues will bring Joel Edmundson back into the lineup and slide Robert Bortuzzo out. As such the lines should look like this:
Schwartz-O'Reilly-Tarasenko
Schenn-Sundqvist-Perron
Maroon-Bozak-Thomas
Fabbri-Barbashev-Steen
Edmundson-Pietrangelo
Bouwmeester-Parayko
Dunn- Gunnarsson
Binnington
This series is much like the last for the Blues with it tied 2-2, them having been beating badly for most of one of the four games and the other three games being pretty close. Blues fans hope they will have the same outcomes for Games 5 and 6.
For the Stars, expect Fedun back in and Hanley out as it appears Hanley is injured.
NHL Champions for Charity
Given that the Predators pulled out the division title, all be it not without some controversial officiating in the last couple of games, Best Buddies Tennessee
https://www.bestbuddies.org/tennessee/ is the beneficiary. 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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