GameBlog 3-11-10: Blues vs Islanders
New York Islanders
vs.
St. Louis Blues
Pregame
After last night’s action the Blues come to Long Island just 6 points back of 8th place Calgary and 8 points back of 7th place Nashville. The playoff push continues with the second half of their 6 game road swing following the Olympics tonight.
The Islanders are not a team to be taken lightly., even if David Perron has a big bag of tricks to pull on Mark Streit. The Islanders were contending for the 8th spot in the East for most of the season and only recently have fallen down due to three straight losses (after one win) exiting the Olympic break. The Islanders are not out of it yet and look to start a new winning steak. The Islanders are kicking off a three game home stand with the Blues. We heard the same thing Saturday as well. Let’s hope the Blues have learned from that poor effort.
For those who don’t follow the East, you may have missed the Islanders and their young players. They are lead by rookie standout and first overall selection in the 2009 NHL draft, John Tavares. An amazingly gifted goal scorer at every level of play. Blues fans see a lot of Patrick Kane, another first overall forward. Think of the same level of impact with less point production. Tavares is the face of a growing core of young players. Tavares is in the middle around players like Kyle Okposo (who is leading the team in scoring), Josh Bailey, and Matt Moulson. Okposo, Bailey, and Tavares are three of the top five team scorers and are all between the ages of 19 and 21. This young core is lead by wily veterans like Trent Hunter, Streit, and Captain Doug Weight (we all know Dougie). Players who have been around the block and know what it takes to win. Just because you may not know the names, it doesn’t mean you should discount this team.
The Blues Net Nemesis Dayne Roloson stands between the pipes most nights. This guy just eats up the Blues.
I say this a lot. I’ve said it all season in fact. The power play needs to be a vital part of the Blues victory. The Blues transition game is not athletic enough to be counted on to produce even strength results. Effort makes up for a lot of deficiencies, but in this case it’s not enough over the course of 82 games. The power play needs to be on point and capitalizing to give the Blues some offensive edge. The Islanders are one of the worst home penalty killing teams. They rank 26th in the NHL with a 77% kill rate. Yes, I know the Islanders are not that great at 5 on 5. They have given up the 5th highest total of even strength goals in the NHL. That said, the power play has been largely inconsistent all season. The Blues need to get it rolling if they want to hang with the toughest teams down the stretch. Sometimes the best way to overcome a shortcoming is to make it a priority even when it may not be one. Basically every game is an opportunity to make power play conversions happen and to build momentum and confidence to carry the conversions forward.
The Blues are not so hot while taking the opening lead of a game. They have a 52.6% winning percentage when leading first. The Islanders have won only 7 games out of 36 games when trailing first, a 19.4% winning percentage. Get on them early, often, and hold them back. If you let them out in front first, they win 63.3% of those games.
Is this game a total must win? Not yet, but its as close as were going to get before it becomes a must win. With tonight’s schedule Nashville, Detroit, and Calgary could all win and not take anyone else the Blues are competing against down. A loss puts the Blues down 10 points from 7th and 8 points from 8th.
According to Jeremy Rutherford of the St. Louis Post Dispatch (via Twitter) Keith Tkachuk is still out injured. DJ King and Daryl Sydor will be the healthy scratches. Cam Janssen is still suspended. No news on the goaltending situation. Though I fully expect Chris Mason to get the start.
Reminder – Game is at 6:00pm Central due to the East Coast start time. No HD.
Recap
Truly an interesting game. I can’t say that I’ve seen a game so dominated by offensive zone play by the attacking team that produced only two goals. It’s like the neutral zone was the wrong place to be, everyone wanted in and out of it quickly.
The Islanders really matched the Blues at even strength. Isn’t it amazing what a lot of “will” can do when added to “skill”. The Islanders are a rag tag bunch of young guys and veterans, but they hung with the Blues like it was no big deal. The Blues aren’t a great team (compared to others), but they are 11 points ahead of where the Islanders are in a much tougher conference.
The goaltending looked “uneasy” last night. Neither Biron or Mason looked spectacular. The edge does go to Mason who did look better than Biron.
How good has Patrik Berglund been under Payne? Wow. Mammoth game for Berglund. Using his body, making moves to the net, taking care of defensive responsibilities. This is the player Blues fans (and front office) expected to see this season. Backes? Great physical presence game as well. I was really surprised that The Islanders let the Tavares line take on the Backes line. The Backes line got chances and just couldn’t produce.
The power play has to be better. While the Backes unit had a few good chances (mainly due to Johnson doing the hockey equivalent to keyboard mashing), they were stagnant and not moving enough. Conversely, the all left handed point unit with Colaiacovo and Steen were very good paired up with the Berglund line. That line produced the Blues only goal. Berglund from McDonald and Steen. It was nice to see Perron back to himself. Good second effort and getting under the skin. Too many times he made moves with no speed and he was take out. The Islanders did a good job collapsing on him. They can’t always stop him (and they didn’t a few times), but they limited his chances on the fancy moves.
The officiating was a little touchy last night. For the most part, I thought it was consistent. Barret Jackman needs to not take that late boarding call in OT. The refs made the call earlier in the game, why take the risk? When will players learn that hockey is changing and you just can’t do things you did 10-15 years ago. Hitting a player from behind while on teh boards is bad now. Adapt.
Shootout? Great job by Oshie, Mason and Boyes. Boyes may be struggling, but he has been a solid contributor in the shootout. That’s what his 3rd or 4th game winner in the shootout? Sure feels like it.
Overall, a fun game to watch and a great team victory to nab the two points. Players who started poorly came back to improve their games and everyone got in on the action. Sorry for the shortened recap, daughter’s birthday was yesterday and I had other stuff to focus on. Hockey came second…and on the DVR.
