Pens Over Blues in Another SO Loss

By David Trigg on January 24, 2012

Game #49 St. Louis Blues vs. Pittsburgh Penguins | January 24, 2012

Playing their second game in as many days, the St. Louis Blues returned home to oppose the Pittsburgh Penguins. The last game before the All Star break was fought over every inch of the ice and ended in one of the few ways the Blues cannot win. The Penguins pulled out a shoot out victory over the Blues with a final score of 3-2.

The scoreless first set a fierce pace to the game. Hard hits and scoring chances were frequent but both teams stood their ground.

Early in the second that would change with a generous call from the officials. With David Backes hot on his tail, Evgeni Malkin decided to drop to the ice. Assuming the worst, the referee assessed Backes with two minutes for being close to a Penguin when he fell down.

On resulting power play, Paul Martin won a battle in the corner and fed James Neal in front. The quick shot from the slot beat Brian Elliott through the legs for the 1-0 lead.

The Penguins took a two goal lead by the crafty hands of Steve Sullivan. A shot from the point was kicked into the air by Elliott and Sullivan batted the puck off the post to the back of the net.

Patrik Berglund cut the lead in half with a great play Blues fans have not seen from the big Swede in awhile. A turnover at center ice broke Chris Stewart into the offensive zone with Berglund by his side. A smooth pass from Stewart set up a nice deke from Berglund who shook Marc-Andre Fleury off to score his eleventh goal.

Early in the third Berglund would get the Blues back in the game. After being hooked on a short handed break away, the referee pointed to center ice. With the most exciting play in hockey, Berglund burned a shot by Fleury to tie the game.

A late boarding penalty by Matt Cooke on Barrett Jackman gave the Blues a power play that they could not capitalize on. Almost half of the minor was served into overtime and after a few great scoring opportunities were saved the Blues faced their nemesis.

The lone shoot out goal by TJ Oshie was not enough to get St. Louis the extra point. A second round goal by Malkin and a fourth round goal by Chris Kunitz sealed the game for Pittsburgh.

Up Next: All Star weekend with the fantasy draft Thursday, skills competition Saturday, and game on Sunday.

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Elliott MASKS

Brian Elliott All Star Game Mask Photos Released

By Kelly Quirin on January 24, 2012

Images have been released today of Brian Elliott’s All Star Game mask.

The mask features Casey Jones from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on one side (as does his “everyday” mask) and the Blues logo and Arch on the other.  According to In Goal Magazine, the back plate features a faded All Star Game Logo that Elliott plans on having teammates autpgraph as a momento.

The creators of this mask, Head Strong Grafx, are located in Belleville, IL.  For those of you not too St. Louis Metro savvy, Belleville lies about 20 minutes east of St. Louis, and is where beat reporter Norm Sanders does his coverage for the News Democrat.  The are also the creators of Jaroslav Halak’s Tribute to Pavol Demitra on his mask.

Have to show some love for our St. Louis players using a local business to make their masks.  In a time when the economy isn’t so great, using local businesses can be important, especially if you are a “celebrity” of sorts.  In Goal Mag says that Head Strong Grafx has “burst onto the NHL scene” since Halak used them for his mask this summer.  Elliot’s current mask is also from Head Strong.  In fact, their gallery only lists Halak and Elliott as NHL clients, while they have numerous Junior League masks and a couple of AHL masks listed.

Big shout outs to Head Strong Grafx, In Goal Magazine, Greg Wyshynski of Puck Daddy, and Norm Sanders for all of the info on this mask.

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Pick the Goal Scorer: Jan. 25th vs. Pittsburgh

By Jeff Quirin on January 24, 2012

The first Pick a Goal Scorer post did not go so well. For the posters, none of which guessed Scott Nichol, or the Blues were wiped by the Red Wings.

Tonight an equally tough opponents is on the docket. The Pittsburgh Penguins. Who is the first to bury one behind the 2009 Stanley Cup Champions?

Game Info

Location: St. Louis
Opposing Netminder: Marc-Andre Fluery

Expected Blues Lines & Pairings:
Perron – Backes – Oshie
Sobotka – Berglund – D’Agostini
Langenbrunner – Arnott – Stewart
Reaves – Nichol – Crombeen

Colaiacovo – Pietrangelo
Jackman – Shattenkirk
Russell – Polak

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Throwdown Lowdown – Penguins @ Blues 01-24-12

By Tyler Atwood on January 24, 2012

Deryk Engelland

Deryk Engelland has my utmost respect. If you like hockey fights, he should have your utmost respect as well. Image via Dan4th/Flickr

A good effort is not good enough in Detroit, but it shows you’re ready to battle. The St. Louis Blues played well enough to beat just about every team in the league last night, but they did not play well enough to beat the Detroit Red Wings at home. The 3-1 win, while it derails a hot stretch by the team, does not kill too much of the momentum the team held up to this point. Also, quite unexpectedly, there was a fight in this contest. Brad Stuart, after planting Alex Pietrangelo on a hit I felt was legal but some have thought to be dirty, answered the bell against Chris Stewart and got his ass handed to him. Serious demerits went to Stuart for punching Stewart (confused yet?) after both had fallen to the ice. That’s crap, Brad. (The video of the whole skirmish can be found here.) So the Blues now have collected 24 fighting majors on the National Hockey League season, which remains good for 10th alone in that category. With yet ANOTHER fight victory, the Blues’ fight record stays impressive, now at 12-2-10. Full Story

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Wings Extend Home Streak, Top Blues

By David Trigg on January 23, 2012

Game #48 St. Louis Blues at Detroit Redwings | January 23, 2012 If there is a team that has been as dominant as the St. Louis Blues on home ice, it is the Detroit Redwings. The Central Division match up was a battle for first place in the division, conference and the league. Having split [...]

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Game Day Preview- St. Louis Blues vs Detroit Red Wings 1-23-12

By Tony Timpe on January 23, 2012

  St. Louis Blues (29-12-6) at Detroit Red Wings (32-15-1) at Joe Louis Arena Game Time- 6:30 pm CDT TV- NBCSN(VS) Radio- KMOX Blues Team Recap- The St. Louis Blues don’t seem to be slowing down in their quest for the top of the mountain. The Blues, led by Captain David Backes, trounced Buffalo on Saturday night 4-2. In [...]

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Throwdown Lowdown – Blues @ Red Wings 01-23-12

By Tyler Atwood on January 23, 2012

In a game I felt the St. Louis Blues HAD to win to keep their reputation as a league-wide menace, the team held their end of the deal by downing the Buffalo Sabres 4-2, despite an extremely sluggish first period and a few late calls that left a lot to the imagination. While the two [...]

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Backes Leads Blues by Sabres

By David Trigg on January 22, 2012

Game #47 St. Louis Blues vs. Buffalo Sabres | January 21, 2012 The St. Louis Blues are dominating on home ice and the Buffalo Sabres are having trouble winning on the road. The match up resulted with the continuing of both teams’ trends as St. Louis took care of Buffalo 4-2 thanks to a four [...]

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Random Thoughts for a Game vs. Buffalo

By Jeff Quirin on January 21, 2012

It’s been a while since the Blues and Sabres squared off in St. Louis. The last time was on Sunday, December 27th, 2009 the Blues fell 5-3 to the Buffalo based hockey club. It was the first game of what would become Andy Murray‘s final home stand. Just a few days and two more losses [...]

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Must See Video: Tarasenko’s Got the Puck on a String…

By Jeff Quirin on January 21, 2012

The Russian Mafia has to be going gaga over this shootout attempt by Blues’ prospect Vladimir Tarasenko at the KHL All-Star Skills Competition. I must say, it’s pretty slick. Better than Ovechkin’s acid trip head gear with two sticks. Sticktap to Sean Leahy of Yahoo’s Puck Daddy blog.

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Throwdown Lowdown – Sabres @ Blues 01-21-12

By Tyler Atwood on January 21, 2012

When you find ways to win, you give fans hope. The St. Louis Blues keep finding ways to win. This time, it was a barrage of shots, none of which passed the goal line until late in the third period of a 1-0 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday night. And we saw a [...]

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Tom Stillman Signs Purchase Agreement

By Tony Timpe on January 20, 2012

Last night Blues fans were on the edges of their seats as the boys in blue slid by the Edmonton Oilers in a 1-0 shutout victory. This morning Blues fans have yet another reason to be on the edge of their seats as reports are flying that Tom Stillman has signed a purchase agreement to [...]

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Blues “D” Step Up Blanking Oilers

By David Trigg on January 20, 2012

Game #46 St. Louis Blues vs. Edmonton Oilers | January 19, 2012 The St. Louis Blues have been almost unstoppable on home ice. They looked to improve that record taking on the Edmonton Oilers. After a 1-0 win against Dallas in the last game, the Blues put up another 1-0 victory shutting down the Oilers [...]

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Game Day Preview- Edmonton Oilers vs St. Louis Blues 1-19-12

By Tony Timpe on January 19, 2012

Edmonton Oilers (17-24-4) vs St. Louis Blues (27-12-6) at Scottrade Center Game Time 7:00 pm TV- FS-MW(HD) Radio- KMOX Blues Team Recap- The Blues are coming of a tough, hard fought game against the Dallas Stars in which forward TJ Oshie scored the games only goal on a pretty pass from David Perron. The win catapulted [...]

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