Blues Find 3rd Period Success in San Jose
Getting timely saves can sure go a long way in the NHL. Goaltender Brian Elliott came up large in his first career start for the Blues preserving a 4-2 road win in San Jose.
Late in the third period Sharks D-man Dan Boyle took a nice cross ice feed from Joe Thornton and had Elliott scrambling to slide over. Boyle had plenty of open net to shoot at but was denied by Elliott’s glove.
Personally I thought Boyle took too much time in getting his shot off but after the game he felt he shot the puck too quickly. Regardless it was the save the Blues needed to rebound from a 3-2 loss two nights earlier in Dallas.
Elliott has earned the right to start again tonight in Anaheim. The Blues like to call Jaroslav Halak their number one goaltender but that title only goes so far when you struggle winning hockey games. Regardless, Davis Payne needs to go with the hot hand and it’s obvious Halak’s confidence isn’t where it needs to be.
Goaltending is no different than any other position, you have to earn your ice time and Elliott performed when given the opportunity.
The Blues need to get their special teams corrected. The team practiced with three separate PP units prior to Saturday’s game. A lot of this has to do with injuries to Andy McDonald and Carlo Colaiacovo, two guys who regularly play the PP. I know it’s only four games in but the Blues rank near the bottom of the league in PP% at just over 6% and last in the league in PK% at 64%.
This has to improve.
St. Louis played the grind it out game you have to play if you want to have success on the road. They allowed 36 shots but they also blocked 26. Barett Jackman led the way in this department with seven blocks.
Injuries have certainly opened the door for Vladimir Sobotka to see more ice time. He played 18 minutes Saturday night, his most so far this season. Drawing a fourth line assignment didn’t necessarily sit too well with him in camp and it was only a matter of time before he found a way to earn more responsibility. He brings too much to the table to sit at the end of the bench.
The Blues struggled in the face-off department winning only 39% of their draws and only 43% of face-offs on the PP.
Davis Payne and his club should feel good about getting this win. Finding ways to win in third period is what good hockey teams do.
The Blues could easily be 4-0 right now.
Congrats to Pat Maroon!
St. Louis native Pat Maroon has been called up and will likely play his first career NHL game tonight when the Blues face the Anaheim Ducks. Maroon is a product of the AAA Amateur Blues as well as the Tier II St. Louis Bandits. He played in the OHL with the London Knights before being selected by the Philadelphia Flyers in the sixth round. He was traded to Anaheim last season.
McDonald Update….
The Blues have yet to say anything official but I’m told it looks like McDonald will miss some time which means a trip to the IR is a decent possibility.
Carlo Colaiacovo is eligible to come off IR today but that seems very unlikely.
Forward B.J. Crombeen will not need surgery to repair a fractured shouler. Still has a ways to go before he returns.
Davidson meets with Hulsizer….
Blues President John Davidson met with potential Owner Matt Hulsizer last Thursday in Chicago.
Word is Hulsizer is bringing at least one person on board who’s expected to be involved on the hockey side.
More to come,
Andy Strickland
Strickland.andy@gmail.com
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36 Comments | Share: Share Tweet
Agree I'll go with Elliot but if this is our hot hand lol...the second goal was a terrible play on his part. This all is coming from our super poor defensive coverage down low especially on the pk. But he decided to dive out for a lose puck against two SHarks players when maybe he should have stayed back a bit there. But otherwise good game.
I think Grachev is playing better than Sobotka who is playing better than a number of other forwards.
At this point, the Blues have to seriously consider bringing up Allen or Bishop and carry three goaltenders. Yes. They might need to start contacting some European clubs to loan him out for a short while. He needs to figure it out and regain his confidence. He fights nearly every save. He is NOT seeing the puck. The first two goals yeah not his fault really. But he looks shaky and unsure. He started the game a bit better and I think that's the competition element Elliot's game brought. But without goaltending in the West it will be a long year. You cannot expect Elliot to your starter period.
We have the players but the mixture isn't right. There is not enough gelling. There isn't enough hunger. The coaching is looking more and more questionable because it makes you wonder about game preparation, a terrible penalty kill and even worse power play. There does not appear to be any set plays and if there the execution is terrible.
There's so much right and wrong about this team at the moment and the biggest place it emanates from is the goaltending position. Since the first game you could see there wasn't trust there.
If our goal is to win a Cup we are heading in the right direction but we'll probably have to wait another year unless this team works out the bugs or finds a good trade.
Does make you wonder though, if they don't start collecting wins and improve the special teams, if Hulsizer wont make some coaching changes. flag this comment
I'm not saying the season is over I'm saying their is a lot to be concerned about. Our bets should be covered. Escape plans made. 97 points buddy, that don't come easily. Losing points we should have, well that's hard.
The Ducks weren't that great. Our special teams suck as our goaltending does. Period. Which probably has alot to do with the coaching. I am NOT saying to blow it all up after five games but I am saying that crap is serious wrong and warning signs should be going off.
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Anyone who thinks that was terrible goaltending in the Ducks game needs their heads examined. I am not sure if I said it here or on stltoday but I think around 95% of hockey fans have no clue when it comes down to goaltending. Sorry blueman, but send him to Europe??? Halak played a very good game. Look at the highlights on the Blues website if you don't remember all of the great saves he had. He was tested and there was not a single soft goal by Halak. (but there was with Hiller, imagine that. It is not only Blues goalies that give up soft ones)
Ducks deserved the win for sure. flag this comment
I'm not joking. He looks shaky as hell on most of his saves. READ. I said he played better but still is lacking. That third goal LIKE I SAID EARLIER, required a big save from him and YET he let it in. That's the difference in the game. I also think one of the forwards should have went to get a stick or be replaced but hey. You need your goaltender to come up with one BIG save at a critical moment. You're down 2-1 in the third. It would not have been that difficult of a save to make.
You guys get upset with Nikithin, which is deserved but it's a symptom of trying to do the goaltenders job b/c you don't trust your goaltender to make the save.
The FLorida Blue guy said something that was correct--our defense looked young. This was a fear I had about this season but I don't feel their sophomore slumping, they just try to do too much sometimes. Shattenkirk played well but he tried to force a number of passes he probably shouldn't have.
But Carcus remember before the season we said the most important number will be Halak's save pct???? I guess you can start agreeing.
I am still positive about this team but jesus eh f*(() christ man! Haven't you learned yet in life you CANNOT polish a turd???? It just gets poop everywhere.
This team like I said doesn't look gelled together or well coached. I've already watched well over 20 hockey games this season and the differences are HUGE.
But finally Grachev saw some time on a top line. That kid is a BIG bright spot in this mess. He looks like a dynamic top six player. There's something special there. I hope he finds it sooner than later and stays hungry b/c he looks very special. flag this comment
ANd Carcus I know how goaltending works. I know how easy it is to score off of most of them and I know how a good goaltender causes you think, seems to deek you or look bigger than they are.
Bottom line something is missing from this team. flag this comment
He needs to go on the IR for a month??? Comments like that tell me that you really don't know what you are talking about regarding goaltending. You want to ship him to Europe or put him on IR. He just played a very good game yesterday and the Blues were outplayed. He had little to no chance on the goals scored against him. The special teams play has been terrible.
Save Percentage is a stat that many like to judge a goaltender, but it really isn't as great as most think. The link below probably does a better job but is most likely still flawed. Screened shots, deflections, etc are always going to be hard to put into stats.
Take a deep breath. The Blues are 2-3. flag this comment
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204479504576635272501531268.html?mod=wsj_share_tweet_bot#articleTabs=article
What this stat tells me more than anything is that the Blues D needs to get a lot better at controlling the front of their net. Guys that are now dependent on being regular penalty killers, namely Pietrangelo and Nikitin, need to use their size and strength to start cross checking and making it hard for guys to occupy the crease. That's one area where the Blues miss Brewer. He would cross check the hell out of anybody that came in front of the net.
Again, the problem I've noticed with Halak, and I think Guru has too, is not his raw ability to stop close in shots, but his ability to stay focused and control the shots better. How many extra shots in close did Halak give up because he bobbled the original shot, or it bounced out of his glove? flag this comment
Mcy D is always on but alas... Arnott has worked well. The others have been inconsistent. Bad positioning and sloppy play and some flat efforts.
Halak might have not been the problem per se last night but HE HAS GOT TO STEP UP AT THE CRITICAL MOMENTS IN A GAME AND GIVE HIS TEAM A CHANCE. That third goal, he's made that stop many times. flag this comment
I thought he was better but still shaky. I said he NEEDS to make that save. I also said it wouldn't be an easy save. I said the Blues don't have any good defensive coverage down low.
Hey he looked a bit more confident in the period in a half I saw last night. But he didn't make the saves. Were they easy saves no. The Blues have now coverage when for instance Jackman drops down to the man after he's already scored. And my hope was flying high after he took that shot off of his foot.
Why do all the players gravitate to same places on the ice? Coaching.
But hey happy trails when the team embarrasses the city and its fans. Something isn't right there. Langenbrunner on the first line? Can't even chip a backhander in the air a bit with a straight blade? I don't know if it's all the coach, or one specific coach or some players, if it means we need a big trade or it's the whole ownership thing which doesn't seem to bother Phoenix and they should suck.
Colorado should be a bottom feeder but they bring in a good back up and trade for a great goaltender that's had a history of not playing many games without injuries. But great when he's healthy. A crap defense, a good offense and great goaltending. flag this comment
Jammer, Stewart and Backes know how to make that tip in. The issue was that the Blues D left it way too easy for him to just stand there and get a stick on it. Most of the time when you see Backes go to the front of the other teams net, he's got at least one guy harassing the f__ out of him.
Except for those Gretzky era uni's, I love those.
We were hosed by the officiating there a bit. When Stewart took a penalty, Brown should have been called twice against Shattenkirk and he throws the first punch against Stewart and right before then slashes Oshie. But again we have to battle through that. We are making poor decisions.
They showed them practicing the power play and getting a player in the high slot like I talked about. But didn't execute. The first pp was good. I still have to finish watching the game.
I am disappointed in this team. We are lacking something.
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This team is better than this.
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Can you? flag this comment
I'm still not convinced this is a playoff team. flag this comment