Recap 11-21-09: Blues vs. Islanders
Pride? Enthusiasm?
These are the two words I’ve used to describe what the Blues need to win at home lately. Pride in the form of winning in front of your home fans and for defending their reputation. Enthusiasm in terms of work ethic and a simple desire to win. Those two words came out Thursday and they were present again tonight. The Blues finally notched back to back wins for the first time in about six weeks.
Tonight’s game was an experience in “the return to normalcy” realm. The Islanders looked the part of a rebuilding team. Flashes of progression and consistency followed by moments of regression and inconsistency. The Blues covered their mistakes and atoned for them. They are starting to look more like the Spring 2009 Blues and not the Winter 2008 Blues. When it looked like the Islanders would start to hem the Blues to their half, the Blues would break out. I am not saying the Islanders didn’t get sustained pressure at all. I am saying that when they did, the Blues were able to minimize scoring chances and break the pressure. I thought the Blues forwards were very good in transitioning the puck up ice, which greatly helped in break the Islanders pressure.
Once the Blues were able to work up ice, two things occurred.
1. Poor puck management lead to a soft turn over while crossing the puck back across the middle or the puck and players getting in too right on the goal with no space to make a play.
2. The puck carrier found open ice and made a move to get in to it to make the play.
There was a fairly even volume of #1 and #2. Teams are still collapsing hard to the crease, removing the narrow lanes to get the puck through. When the puck is 2 feet from the net and its thrown in to the deep slot, there isn’t going to be a positive outcome most of the time. The puck bounces back or clears the slot and no play is made. David Perron and Andy McDonald are two players that should know better and adjust and just are not adjusting. Both have the ability to make the defender miss and get to open space. That open space is from the face off dot and higher. That way the defender comes out and there is more space for a play to be made. It worked well a few times (a nice shot by David Backes comes to mind), but the Blues just didn’t make that play enough.
Where the team has improved is in transition. The forwards have done a good job if recognizing the coverage at the line. Recognizing when to chip and when to carry. There are still issues with the transition turnover between the blue line and top of the slot on weak passes in the middle. However, those errors seemed to be in a lower quantity tonight. My favorite whipping boy, Brad Boyes, was guilty of this tonight. David Perron’s Sportscenter worthy goal and Berglund’s NHL 08 goal were excellent examples of scoring in transition. An area greatly improved upon over last season. This team can actually finish off transition chances. Berglund’s goal really was an NHL 08 special. Carry over the blue line, back the defense off to the faceoff circles, cut to slot and use them as a screen to score. I can’t count how many 50 goal seasons Malkin had as I played the Penguins in a Dynasty using that move. Berglund has had two decent games in a row. Kudos go out to Jay McClement and BJ Crombeen once again for kicking in to gear a slumping producer.
Speaking of Perron’s second goal (the highlight reel one), how amazingly fun was that to see? Breaking up the ice and throws a shifty move on Mark Streit leads to a snoozing Dwayne Roloson goal against. Roloson really just looked like he wasn’t ready and Perron took him to the cleaners. Once again Perron was very good on the boards, but coming off the boards to make a play was a different story. He just needs to hone in that part of his offensive game.
I asked for Mason to have a fairly easy game and it seemed like he did. No game is ever “easy”, but he wasn’t challenged to a level close to what Phoenix threw at him. I really only noticed John Tavares once. He got in to some open space at the top of the slot and got a quick shot off that Mason made a save on. He had a pretty good sized shooting lane open up too. Just can’t give a guy like Tavares that much space. Give him two years and he will bury that shot more times than not.
Mike Weaver filled in well tonight. It’s hard not to root for the guy. Journeyman who works hard and does all the little things right. Its shame he could end up losing his job over the numbers game, but that’s the way it works to get Alex Pietrangelo the ice time needed to develop. In that same line of thinking, it’s a shame Daryl Sydor isn’t playing. He really hasn’t done anything wrong to deserve the nights off in the pressbox. I have whipped on Carlo Colaiacovo often this season. It was nice to see him have a solid game. He activated and moved deep in the zone multiple times and held the puck in well multiple times. Erik Johnson was Erik Johnson, which is a good thing.
The Paul Kariya-David Backes-TJ Oshie line was solid once again. Brad Boyes was barely noticeable in this game. His compete level just isnt the same as McDonald and Perron. With as much pressure as those two create, Boyes should be scoring goals on that line. Boyes did bump in to his own teammate more than once. Just didn’t seem like he was in to the game. Alex Steen and Cam Janssen each saw les than 10 minutes of ice time, which lead to much line mixing to get Keith Tkachuk in to the game.
Have the Blues finally figured out how to beat Roloson? I think the cure was the uniform. Have the figured out the power play? Not even close. Just a plain terrible power play performance. The blues were 0-for-4, even after having a 5 on 3 for almost a minute. I keep meaning to dig in to this more, but there really isn’t a need. There are two problems. Lack of player movement and over passing. Word to the wise, when you can shoot, you should shoot. The Blues passed up too many shooting chances to make an extra pass that wasn’t needed. Lead to many turnovers and blown scoring chances.
The Blues have Sunday off and will face the Boston Bruins next on Monday night. Boston will be well rested after having the weekend off. They last played Friday night. I will be at the game on a work night, look for a recap Tuesday at some point.
Player of the Game
David Perron
Perron: 2 Goals, 2 Shots, and a plus-1 rating.
Let’s Go Blues
