ST.
LOUIS – You
kind of had a sense this was in store for the St. Louis Blues on
Saturday.
After
an emotional 4-3 overtime win against the Vancouver Canucks on
Thursday to move into the second wild card into the Western
Conference, recovering and playing another game less than 48 hours
later, against the Chicago Blackhawks no less, was going to be a
tough motivational game to get up for. Even though these points mean
just as much as any.
The
Blues had been playing so much clean hockey since the 4 Nations
Face-Off, but it was predictable that they would have a bit of a
clunker, and it was in danger there for a bit, as the young
Blackhawks, playing for jobs for next year, were pushing them to the
brink.
But
the energy guys of Alexey Toropchenko and Nathan Walker led the
charge each with a goal and assist, Robert Thomas and Zack Bolduc
each scored, combined with another stellar outing by Joel Hofer (26
saves), and the Blues won their season-high fifth straight, 4-1
against the Blackhawks at Enterprise Center on Saturday.
“There’s
probably a couple factors. The emotion of Thursday night. It was a
roller-coaster game and obviously it meant a lot, and I just think
you’re going to have … when you watch the league, there’s some
nights, for whatever reason, a team has no legs,” Blues coach Jim
Montgomery said. ‘The great thing for us was, I don’t think we
were even close to our ‘A’ game and yet we managed the game. We
weren’t perfect, but we grinded it out. We were incredibly selfless
and we ended up pulling out a win. Chicago was playing well. They
were checking well.”
The
Blues (36-28-7), who lead the wild card by two points on the Calgary
Flames, who have two games in hand, and the Vancouver Canucks by
three points and Utah Hockey Club by four, who host the Nashville
Predators on Sunday, played without forward Pavel Buchnevich, ruled
out due to what the team called illness, was not in sync and it
showed but found a way in the end to persevere.
“They
played hard, they defended hard, they forechecked hard, they came at
us,” Blues captain Brayden Schenn said of the Blackhawks. “I
don’t think we were at our best today, but give them credit, they
checked well.”
The
Blues swept the three-game season series, the second time in their
history doing so (4-0-0 in 2019-20).
Let’s
get into Saturday’s Three Takeaways:
*
Fourth line willed Blues – Montgomery preaches habits and details.
Toropchenko, Walker and Radek Faksa are usually at the front of the
line when it comes to them.
For
large swaths of the game, the Blues were sloppy with the puck, there
wasn’t the typical forecheck, but when those practice habits were
on par, enter the fourth line.
“They
lead us with our habits,” Montgomery said. ‘We’ve been
preaching habits for a long time now. We’re seeing that.
“We
weren’t very clean the first two periods, but that line was. Every
time they got on the ice, we either got a face-off in their end or
they changed in the offensive end. It’s nice to see them get
rewarded, and they really made some high-end plays.”
It
took a Thomas midair tip goal to get the scoring started at 15:13 of
the second period, but Toropchenko made it 2-0 at 17:20 when all
three forwards touched the puck after a quick up by Cam Fowler.
“We
were just on top of them and grinding, grinding, grinding. They made
that play, Fowler got the puck, he passed it to ‘Walks,’ ‘Walks’
chip it to Faksa and Faksa found me with a great pass.
“Main
focus on our line is have good habits every game. It doesn’t matter
when. Even on the practice day, make yourself better and just push
through and play hard.
“I
think we just all play the same way, all play like hard hockey, just
grind, be physical, be good on the forecheck and first of all, be
great in the ‘D’ zone and wear the other team down and make some
good stuff for our teammates.”
It
happened again on Walker’s goal at 1:12 of the third period that
made it 3-1 after Chicago scored shorthanded with 54 seconds left in
the second period.
It
was a momentum-swinging goal that made it 2-1, but the fourth line
drew it back for the home side by making a good, smart play off the
edge and to the net with Toropchenko finding Walker.
“The
game on Thursday and it’s sometimes hard to come back and back that
up,” Walker said. “The first period really wasn’t up to our
standards. I think if we can kind of do the little things and chip in
here and there, I think we can go a long way with it.”
“Yeah,
it led us,” Montgomery said. “They scored two key goals that
separated us. That was good.”
Bolduc, who got rewarded by being promoted to the top line in Buchnevich's absense, got in on the fun to close out the scoring at 7:43 of the third on a net front rebound to make it 4-1.
*
Hofer kept Blues in it – When the play looks sketchy in front of
the goalie, sometimes the goalie’s play needs to be strong.
Hofer
made a number of bail-out saves in this game when it was 0-0.
The
Blues weren’t doing him any favors with turnovers and getting
checked off pucks, but Hofer, who is 4-0-1 his past five starts, was
clean with most of his handles, he was seeing pucks through traffic
and most importantly, didn’t allow Chicago to gain momentum and
confidence by scoring first, which the Blackhawks had a number of
opportunities to do so.
*
The ‘Hometown Hero’ goes out in style in last game in St. Louis –In an interview with former Blues color commentator and current
Blackhawks color analyst Darren Pang pregame, Oakville native Pat
Maroon announced this season, his 14th
season, will be his last in the NHL.
Maroon,
who played 10:41 and got into his 96th
career fight in the third period with Blues defenseman Tyler Tucker,
received accolades from Blues fans thanks to the team’s Bluenote
Productions staff with a video tribute and the game’s First Star
and ensuing interview on FDSNMW with Jamie Rivers.
Needless
to say, Maroon, who was a key component on the Blues’ first-ever
Stanley Cup championship squad in 2018-19, scoring one of the most
important goals in franchise history in the second round of Game 7 in
double overtime, winning the game 2-1 and sending the Blues into the
Western Conference Final against the San Jose Sharks, was emotional
during and after the game.
“I
was shocked what the Blues did for me tonight,” Maroon
said.
“They didn’t have to do that. Obviously, I’ve been talking
about it with my wife and my family. I’ve done everything I could
in this league. I have no regrets. Just having a conversation with
‘Panger,’ it kind of blew up. First, I wanted to thank the St.
Louis Blues organization for really making this night really special
for me and my family.
“Thank
God they told me before the period started, so I was ready for (the
tribute).
The Blues didn’t have to do anything tonight. I was just playing a
hockey game. Obviously, people got wind of it right away after I
talked to ‘Panger’, and they really made it a special night for
me. I can’t thank the Blues organization for doing that for me and
my family tonight. Everyone was here tonight, so that made it really
special.”
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