Recap 11-27-09: Blues vs Predators
Thankfully the Blues didn’t take over a month to win back to back games after doing so late last week. The Blues went in to a hot teams house and beat them. There was no shortage of attempts to even up the game by Nashville, however Chris Mason was up to the task stopping 37 out of 38 shots with several game changing saves.Blues fans should be encourage, for the second straight night the Blues won a pretty open, run and gun game.
- The Blues were out matched and out worked over multiple stretches in the first period and a half of the game. Nashville reminds me a lot of the Carolina Hurricanes from last year. They use their blue line and teams speed to get the puck up ice and out work you. With a little more talent up front they would be a very dangerous team. The Blues seemed to get control back around the halfway mark of the second period. Not saying the Blues didn’t have pressure before then, but the game was moving at a pace that favored Nashville. Once the Blues were able to get up to the same speed, they were moving the puck well.
- The special teams play of both teams decided the game. The Blues were able to get some early penalties on the Predators, which is a good thing versus a team that doesn’t take many. Coming in to last night Nashville was in the top 10 for fewest penalty minutes a game, averaging 6 minutes. When you are able to get two power plays early on the road, you have to convert. The power play once again looked lethargic and out of sync. The Blues power play can make the weakest penalty kill group look outstanding. Conversely, Nashville had an extremely effective power play coming in to last night’s game. The Blues yielded five power play opportunities for the Predators and the Blues shut them out.
- Backes the Beast is back. Blues fan know he is a slow starter, so it was somewhat expected that a slow start could come about. Backes was a physical presence once again and drove to the net. He was rewarded by a nice rebound bang in from about ten feet out. Watch Backes roll off four or five more goals in the next week. He scores in bunches and the Blues offense is starting to ramp up.
- Kudos for Brad Boyes for getting the puck to the net, god things happen when you do that. Brad had the puck on the left hand side of Pekka Rinne and back handed it about waist level. Rinne wasn’t square to the play and the puck trickled in behind him. I have to say that other than that one lucky goal, he was fairly ineffective again. Losing multiple battles along the boards by being out worked on his stick or out muscled off the puck. If Brad is going to go play that game, he needs to get stronger on the puck. I don’t think its from a lack of desire to play better, I just don’t think he can effectively play that board battle game. He really isn’t as great of a dangler compared to Perron and McDonald, his line mates. The Blues need someone to open space for Boyes. McDonald and Perron both struggled at getting the puck (and body) to the net to create lanes to get Brad the puck or to cause rebounds Brad can get to. Maybe give Winchester some reps on left wing with Boyes on right?
- I called out Boyes and Kariya in the Gameday preview and they delivered…and the Blues won. Not a coincidence that when the two biggest expected producers produce, the team wins games. I also said the JP Dumont would be as important to the Preds as Boyes would be to the Blues. Dumont’s score shoot looks like “000000000000″, because that’s all he got. The Blues also did a good job of keeping the hot David Legwand off the score board as well. He did register six shots and an assist, but didn’t convert as well as he has been.
- Erik Johnson has a decent game, but not as high of an impact as the game before. He fell in to the same turn over issues early on that everyone else did in the first period, which was a little frustrating. Look liked he tried to force a few passes he should have held on to. Johnson did register an assist and was a plus-2 for the night. IF you can’t be great, be solid, and EJ was that.
- Anyone else really enjoy watching Roman Polak play? He made a couple of skill moves last night to get free of pressure and get pucks deep. I absolutely LOVED watching him use that great acceleration he has to break up ice and join the rush. He got a good shot off that did go for a rebound. To me watching Polak is like watching Perron. You can see little rid bits of their game fall in to place as they go along. Polak seems to be thought of as a defensive specialist, but he really does have the athletic ability and solid first pass to help the offensive game. No points for Roman last night, but then again his pay doesn’t always show up on the score sheet. He was Even with three blocks, two hits, and one shot on goal.
- It was nice to see Daryl Sydor in the game last night. Too bad it was due to the loss of Captain Eric Brewer. As we reported in the Gameday thread, Andy Strickland had mentioned that Brewer was likely to miss last night’s game. Brewer id in fact sit out with an “upper body injury”. Fan speculation seems to point to a aggravation of his previous back injuries due to his fight with Dallas bad boy Steve Ott Wednesday night. Sydor was steady, which can be expected. Have to say I’d prefer to see Sydor playing over Weaver when everyone is healthy. Weaver coughed up two large and obvious turnovers that lead to big Nashville chances. When pressured Weaver turns it over too easily and that happened multiple times last night.
- What a performance by Chris Mason. You just cannot undercut what he has done for this team. He has looked every bit of a true #1 net minder. You can argue (as I would) that Mason deserved a shutout. The Scatchard goal was a botched call in my opinion. The puck was in Mason’s glove and Scatchard’s stick looked to be a little high while he whacked the puck out of Mason’s glove. That play had little bearing overall as the Blues came right back and Kariya scored his first goal since Clinton was President last night to reestablish the two goal lead. You can point to previous history all you want with Mason in Nashville, but Mason in St. Louis has been one of the best goalies in the NHL. Last night was case in point.
- Cannot count out Pekka Rinne who was gunning for his 8th straight win. He was left out to dry on the Kariya goal and the Backes goal wasn’t really on him. Rinne allowed one goal of his own doing and gave his team a chance to win. He was just outdone by Mason. Rinne is only 27 folks, we’ll be seeing a lot of him for the next 10 years.
- The refs “missed” two very obvious calls on Nashville last night. One was a cross check to David Backes in his defensive zone slot. If Backes had given that check, it would have been called. The second was the play before the Scatachard goal. Kariya (who had multiple explosive breaks) broke up ice on a partial break away. Francis Bouillon then clearly pushes him down from behind and knocks him in to Rinne. I was surprised that there was no call. I am assuming the refs saw it as Kariya lost an edge, it just didn’t look that way on TV. As a former ref myself, I know you cannot call everything, but the obvious ones need to be called.
- I saved this for last because I didn’t want to start in a negative tone, however it is completely inexcusable that last nights game was not in FSMW in HD. There is no reason for High School Football to be on TV over professional sports. This was a game against a divisional rival on the road. I have to think many fans are questioning the Blues ability to get their games on TV. Between the Versus vs. DriecTV war and the FSMW vs DishNet battle Blues fans are finding themselves missing games. Having to hunt down the channel listings online yesterday was just a bit too much compared to everything else hockey fans are dealing with. Get rid of Versus and go back to ESPN. If Versus will continue to not make the NHL it’s flagship programming (no extended coverage past the game that is on TV), then go to the channel that is on every single provider’s basic offerings. Locally what can be done with FSMW? I don’t know there.
The Blues faceoff against Detroit tonight back in St. Louis. I will be back this afternoon with a Gameday preview.
