Stop
us if we’ve called this Groundhog Day before.
Once
again, as repetitive as it sounds, the St. Louis Blues do lots of
good things in a hockey game, only to have it decided in extra time,
only to come away with half of the objective goal.
Simon
Nemec scored at 2:58 of overtime for the New Jersey Devils, who never
led in this game until then and they come away with a 3-2 win against
the Blues at Prudential Center in Newark, N.J. on Wednesday.
The
Blues (7-10-7) closed out a five-game road trip 1-1-3 – one win
(not good) but yet somehow take half of the points at stake (five).
That’s because they lost three games on this trip by identical 3-2
scores in OT.
Kind
of hard to do, but it has to somewhat feel like a waste (again)
getting good goaltending by Jordan Binnington (26 saves). Cam Fowler
scored his first goal this season and had an assist, and Robert
Thomas had a power-play goal.
Let’s
get to the game observations:
*
You
want to know why you’re always on the wrong end in OT? – When you
win the opening face-off, like Pius Suter did, to gain possession,
it’s a huge advantage.
But
the problem, like tonight, for the Blues in these 3-on-3 competitions
is they don’t regularly go north-south with the puck and try and
attack.
For
the fourth time in seven games that have gone beyond regulation, the
Blues failed to get a shot on goal. Now granted, they didn’t have
the puck too long after Philip Broberg put Thomas in a tough spot
with a pass along the left side wall and he got checked off it by
Devils captain Nico Hischier, but it’s too many possessions and too
many back outs of the zone.
And
it seems once the opposition gains control and can look to win the
game, the Blues don’t seem to get the puck back. That was the case
on Wednesday when the Devils gained the zone, defenseman Dougie
Hamilton twice shot pucks, and the Devils were able to get the puck
retrievals.
Once
the second one happened, Hischier makes a play with it behind the
net, curls around left to right and finds Nemec alone at the left
post and the defenseman slammed it past Binnington.
Now,
who’s responsibility was Nemec?
Fowler and Jordan Kyrou were both on the ice. Seemed like Fowler was
caught in no man’s land, and it was too late to realize there was a
man behind him after Kyrou was there with Nemec but decided to move
up to the higher slot to try and pick up Dawson Mercer. It almost
seems like communication – if there was none – needed to happen
there on who had who. But regardless, it would up as a familiar
result:
*
Second period was actually really good – Yes, second periods
haven’t been kind for the Blues this season, being a period-worst
minus-14,
and yes, they lost the second period Wednesday 1-0 thanks to a
Hischier power-play goal at 8:49, but I liked the Blues’ second
much better than I actually did in the first when they scored twice.
They
sustained more O-zone time and weren’t under the kind of siege they
were in the opening period when Binnington had to make 13 saves, and
a number of them between the dots because
the Blues didn’t look like they were skating toe to toe with the
Devils, who took advantage of some sloppy puck play by the Blues
early.
The
Devils were able to gain the zone easier in the first, and the Blues
took that away in the second period.
They
had an extended shift with roughly five minutes left in the period
that unfortunately for them yielded a number of blocked shots by the
Devils.
But
the Hischier goal, that ended a Blues penalty kill streak on the road
at 14, came off a tripping call on Justin Faulk, one in which he was
indecisive on making a line change and that hesitancy cost him the
minor, came when Tyler Tucker was caught out of position trying to
get to Timo Meier’s one-time shot that once it got through without
it being blocked, Hischier was open for the rebound and he slammed it
through Binnington at 8:49 to tie the game 2-2:
*
Offense continues to be dry – For the fifth straight game on this
trip and sixth straight game overall, the Blues can’t get past two
goals in a game.
They
started well again when Fowler’s one-time rip on a puck off the
boards beat Jacob Markstrom at 2:16 of the first period to make it
1-0:
And
after allowing Meier’s tying goal at 11:02, Thomas gave them the
lead again at 2-1 when he found some room at the top of the left
circle, changed his angle and wired a shot top corner on the short
side of Markstrom at 14:37 to make it 2-1:
But
there it is again: the Blues score first and don’t won. They are
now 5-4-6 when scoring first. The Devils (15-7-1), meanwhile, came in
10-1-1 when scoring first. Good teams get the lead and build on it,
then hold it. This is why the Blues are where they are and New Jersey
is where it is.
There
was Oskar Sundqvist on a rare breakaway with a chance to give the
Blues a two-goal lead in the second but couldn’t beat Markstrom
6:11 in. Could have made it 3-1 there.
And
in the third, Mathieu Joseph, who I thought had a nice game playing
13:29 with three hits and a shot on goal with a plus-1 rating, took a
pass from Broberg and used his speed to get to Markstrom but couldn’t
put the Blues up 3-2 with 6:46 remaining.
There
were a couple others, but those are the chances that are the
difference between a point and two points in a lot of these games.
Probably
the biggest difference, and coach Jim Montgomery has harped on it
often, is the lack of net front presence and playing between the
dots, and when they do get there, it just doesn’t seem like it’s
enough of a battle to win those loose pucks or fly by's.
*
Four-minute power play wasted – For the second straight game, the
Blues wasted a four-minute man advantage.
In
a 2-2 game after Logan Mailloux, who got the second assist on the
Fowler goal for his first point in 11 games with the Blues, was
high-sticked by Ondrej Palat with 18:00 left in the game, it was a
chance to grab the game and perhaps pull away. But despite five shots
on goal and three Devils blocks, there just never really seemed like
a threat of putting New Jersey’s PK under duress there.
Kyrou
had the best chance on the second half of the PP when he took a
Thomas pass in the slot and changed the angle of his shot but
couldn’t beat Markstrom. There’s
another chance for one of the Blues’ top players to be a difference
maker in a game.
*
Blues playing much better defensively, getting the goaltending –
Remember earlier in the year when the Blues were scoring five or more
but still on the losing end of things?
They
only allowed more than two goals once (three to the New York Rangers
on Monday) in regulation and despite allowing 14 first-period shots
in which Binnington was razor sharp in, the forecheck became much
better and didn’t allow the Devils to play their rush game,
limiting New Jersey to 15 shots the rest of the way after the first
period.
If
the Blues can start potting some goals and playing defense/getting
this kind of goaltending, maybe wins will follow.
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