Nobody
said it would ever come easy, even though the St. Louis Blues looked
like they were in firm control of their game against the New York
Islanders on Saturday afternoon.
They
were until the final four minutes when things really got nervy.
But
in the end, the Blues got a much-needed win, their first in five
games, by closing out the Islanders 2-1 at UBS Arena in Elmont, N.Y.
The
Blues (7-9-6) picked up their first win on a season-long five-game
road trip but they have points in all three after ending a four-game
skid (0-1-3).
Brayden
Schenn and Pius Suter supplied the goals, and Jordan Binnington came
up large with 30 saves, including 13 in the third period, to earn a
much-needed win.
A
look at Saturday’s observations:
* Binnington was
tested when game mattered most and prevailed – Binnington was sharp
through the first 50 minutes of the game making the necessary saves
needed to churn out a road win, but his best came late when he
outstretched the left toe and robbed Max Shabanov of a one-timer from
the right circle with 5:21 remaining in the game to keep it a 2-0
game:
And
it was important because not long after, with 3:20 left, Anders Lee
won a net front battle with Cam Fowler to cut the Blues’ lead to
2-1.
But
throughout the game when Binnington was making saves, he was
confidently at the tops of the crease and killing pucks, not allowing
rebounds and loose pucks to remain in play against a team that’s
the best at scoring in and around the net. That was key.
And
the goalie gloved Bo Horvat’s one-timer
with 29 seconds left in regulation:
*
It
got dicey late – When Lee scored and made it a one-goal, the
collective breath of Blues fans quietly had to be, ‘Here we go
again.’
They’ve
lost two-goal leads five different times this season and had another
one here, and when the Islanders put the puck in the net with 2:06
left, it created some anxious moments, but referee TJ Luxmore
immediately waved the goal off for goalie interference from Kyle
Palmieri on Binnington.
However,
Justin Faulk was called for a double-minor for high sticking while
falling to the ice on Jonathan Drouin, so the Blues had to kill that
game off playing 6-on-4. And let's give the penalty kill some credit here killing that off. It has now killed off 13 straight opponents' power plays going back to Nov. 5 against the Washington Capitals.
The
Islanders got off four shots on the power play, and Pavel Buchnevich
had two shot blocks in there that were key.
*
Schenn, Buchnevich get going early – A
line that was arguably the best on Thursday against the Philadelphia
Flyers that just didn’t put the puck in the back of the net, two
veterans that need to supply offense did just that early in this
game.
Schenn’s
goal 42 seconds into the first gave the Blues a 1-0 lead and was
orchestrated beautifully.
It
started with Philip Broberg’s outlet
to Dalibor Dvorsky, who finds Buchnevich for a quick 2-on-1, he finds
Schenn just inside the top of the right circle and his snap shot was
labeled far side to Ilya Sorokin’s blocker:
The
line’s Corsi-For/Against wasn’t as good as it was in Philadelphia
(7-10) but
continues to gain confidence playing with Dalibor Dvorsky, who picked
up his first NHL assist on the Schenn goal.
*
Broberg continues to excel – Broberg
didn’t get an assist on the first goal, but he continues to grab
huge minutes and turning into an effective shutdown defenseman
playing alongside Colton Parayko.
For
the fourth time in five games, Broberg saw over 26 minutes in
a game, and set his own personal career-high 16 days after setting it
against the Buffalo Sabres (27:09) when the defenseman played 27:58
in this game, including 25:04 at even strength.
Broberg,
who was a plus-1 and had three hits and two blocked shots, was
killing plays all afternoon.
The
Islanders started flipping pucks trying to use speed into the Blues’
zone in the third period because Broberg and the others on the blue
line did a nice job taking away the middle of the ice, so they
thought they’d flip pucks in and use speed to try and gain an edge
on the forecheck, but Broberg especially would have none of it.; he
had no giveaways in this game, and for that amount of ice time, that
is exceptional.
*
Key late goal in a period which has been subpar, the second – For
a change, the Blues won a second period and in essence, won them a
hockey game.
They
allowed a late second-period goal against the Flyers on Thursday to
cut a 2-0 lead into 2-1, one in which they essentially lost 3-2 in
overtime, but this time, it was Suter getting a big goal at 17:51 to
extend it to a 2-0 lead.
Jordan
Kyrou pulled a puck off the wall of a Faulk shot, found Dylan
Holloway in the slot, who somehow got a shot to the net amid tight
coverage, and there was Suter, as he often is, at the doorstep
waiting for the rebound to scoop it over Sorokin:
The
Holloway-Suter-Kyrou line did not have a good Corsi rating on
Thursday, but that line was especially effective in this game with a
Corsi-for of 15-3, a 13-2 Fenwick-for advantage and 9-1 shots for
advantage that generated 13 scoring chances for and two against.
*
Blues took away Islanders good ice –
Despite
the late push by the Islanders, I thought the Blues defensively as a
whole did
a solid job of not giving up the middle of the ice as a whole.
The
Islanders have some fast options that can gain an edge if you give up
the wrong part of the ice, but the Blues for the most part limited
their high danger chances until late and did what they had to do to
keep Binnington from being under duress.
They
even got some good fortune when Tyler Tucker was at the net to keep a
puck away from the goal after Binnington had lost sight of it in the
first period:
All
in all, it was a good effort by everyone. And I thought Fowler had a sneaky, good game with 19:45 ice time and a two blocks to go with a plus-1. He nearly scored on the Blues' lone power play when he was set up by Jimmy Snuggerud, who oh by the way, can we acknowledge this kid's passing ability as much as his shot? I think so.
