No,
the St. Louis Blues didn’t break the dam and full the net with
goals. No, they didn’t run their opposition out of the building.
But
they did get a win, and at this point, that’s all that matters,
bagging the two points.
Thanks
to the heroics of Joel Hofer with a
career-high 41
saves, two goals from Jake Neighbours and a penalty kill that was
bend-but-don’t-break and rock solid, the Blues survived against the
Ottawa Senators, winning 2-1 at Canadian Tire Centre in Kanata,
Ontario on Saturday.
And
with their win, the Blues (10-12-7) swept the season series from the
Senators (13-11-4) after beating them in St. Louis, 4-3, on Nov. 28,
and became the last team to reach double figures in wins on the
season.
Even
in the win, it’s the 10th time in the past 11 games the Blues have
failed to score more than two goals in a game, but it was enough
thanks to Hofer’s outstanding game.
Let’s
go right into the game observations:
*
Hofer was outstanding – He didn’t have to sprawl all over the ice
with the Senators pumping 42
shots at him throughout the game, but it was a Velcro-kind of a game
for the Blues’ goalie.
Everything
that came his way stuck to him, there were few to no rebounds. The
one save Hofer made that really stuck out was the
stop he made in a 1-0 game off a 2-on-1 on Claude Giroux at 12:07 of
the second period.
If
that goes in, who knows how the offensively-challenged Blues react.
But he just kept turning the Senators away and making them feel like
they would not be able to get one past him tonight.
It
almost worked until the whistle-happy officials put the Senators on
the power play seven times (more on that below).
Hofer
also stopped Tim Stutzle in the waning seconds in close.
And
heck, to top things off, Hofer nearly had himself a goalie goal, the
second time he’s come close to it (one is coming). And he even
earned himself a roughing minor with seven seconds left in the game
when a brouhaha broke out in the Blues’ zone that for all intents
and purposes, cost the Senators one last-ditched effort to try and
tie the game:
Hofer
was only beaten by a Fabian Zetterlund power-play goal at 15:39 on a
scramble in front on the Senators’ seventh man advantage.
Since
his last what you would consider a bad outing against the Pittsburgh
Penguins on Oct. 27, Hofer is 3-3-2 in 10 appearances with a 2.26
goals-against average and .923 save percentage.
*
PK won the game early – Let’s
face it, the penalty kill as a whole hasn’t been good for the Blues
this season. Largely due to their ineptness on home ice.
On
the road, a different story, and this game could have been won or
lost in the first period.
It
started when Robert Thomas got a double-minor for high-sticking close
pal Brady Tkachuk at 4:32. The Blues killed it off despite the
Senators getting four shots.
Then
Jake Neighbours was guilty of a pair of minors. One for interference
at 11:05 and another for tripping at 14:03. And the Blues came out of
unscathed.
They
had to spend so much time killing penalties in the first period that
when Neighbours put the Blues’ first shot on goal 25 seconds in,
they went 19:33(!) before getting their second of the period and were
outshot 15-2.
On
one hand, the that’s good to see the penalty kill working so hard
and well, but on the other hand, could some of the penalties been
avoided: sure. The Thomas one was unfortunate. Brayden Schenn’s
high-sticking was a bad call, lifting the opponents’ stick into his
own face but wasn’t overturned in the second and the there’s a
Dylan Holloway delay of game and Justin Faulk slash (that finally
yielded a goal) in the third period.
The
Blues were 6-for-7 on the penalty kill and started 6-for-6.
*
Blues got battered, lost Kyrou to lower-body injury – Part of the
success, especially of the PK mentioned above is the blocked shots
that were certainly felt by Philip Broberg, who took one off the
inside of the knee and needed help off the ice before returning, and
Oskar Sundqvist also slumped over on the bench after feeling one
also.
But
the Blues lost Jordan Kyrou to a lower-body injury when he took a hit
from Stephen Halliday inside of three minutes into the game, what
looked like a knock on or around his left knee and being sidelined
for the remainder of the game.
Blues
coach Jim Montgomery told reporters after the game that Kyrou is
considered day to day and they’re hopeful it’s no more than a
week to 10 days so he will join Jimmy Snuggerud (wrist), Alexey
Toropchenko (leg burns) and Nathan Walker (upper body) on the
sidelines with various injuries.
*
Like a good Neighbour(s), Jake was on the doorstep twice – Coaches
continuously harp on it. Whether players heed those words or not
sometimes can be a different story.
On
Saturday, Neighbours scored each of his goals within a couple feet of
the goal line.
His
first that put the Blues up 1-0 won’t make the highlight reels, but
being where he’s supposed to be for loose pucks (in and around the
crease) was enough for him to find one and tap it home at 17:36 of
the second period:
It
came after the Blues’ first power play had ended (the Senators
already had five by that point).
And
the second one, which turned out to be the game-winner, came after a
face-off win, getting a puck into the Ottawa zone and Jake Sanderson
trying to rim it around and out, but it was a clever play that Pavel
Buchnevich picked it off the boards, spun and found Neighbours cross
ice at the back post for the tap-in just 12 seconds into the third to
make it an all-important 2-0:
*
The Blues now head off to face the Montreal Canadiens on Sunday in
the anticipated matchup since the 1-for-1 trade of acquiring Logan
Mailloux for Zack Bolduc on July 1.
https://x.com/i/status/1997511286519632274
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