GameBlog 3-30-10: Blues vs. Blackhawks
Yes, its been a while…and still stuck with time constraints. Here is a quick and dirty set of game thoughts.
- How good is Alex Steen? I mean that in the sense that what is his real level of performance, but also rhetorically as to his play right now. Strong on his stick and skates, second to none hounding a puck carrier, has a deceptive shot, and is willing to do everything else to win games. He ended the game with 2 Goals, 1 Assist and countless plays with a positive impact. In the first period, he was one of few who were ready to play. Alex was the #1 Star of the game, which he completely deserved.
- Speaking of the first period…W-T-H Defensemen? The six guys on the blue line were not in the game mentally. There had to be close to 10 odd man rushes for the Hawks in the first period alone. The Sharp goal was great skill and the Hossa goal was a brain fart on Mason, Brewer, and Johnson to not recover the rebound. Their play was much better in the second and third periods, but the first nearly cost them the game. This Blues team can’t count on putting up four goals to beat teams like the Hawks. They just aren’t that good.
- Kariya left the game with a “lower body injury”. I was wondering why Steen was with Backes and Oshie. Tweetdeck is good for so many things…thanks iPhone. Steen certainly didn’t look out of place on “Line 1″.
- Mason was as good as he needed to be. However, it looked like he struggled at times to feel the rebounds. The Hossa goal is the prime example, but it happened more than once. Mason earned the #2 Star with a 32 Save on 34 Shots performance.
- I would love to have Toews on this team. The guy can just play and do everything. He and Sharp were the only Hawks players above EVEN (they were a Plus-1).
- Cam Janssen ejected again. Bye Cam, enjoy finding work with another team next season. Playing Cam already shortens the bench to 11 forwards. With Kariya out and Cam’s inability to play a regular shift (and ejection last night) puts the team at 10 forwards. It worked out ok last night, but that is an exception and not a rule.
- Multiple times, Boyes and Oshie, were caught in the slot delaying on taking a shot. I will give Boyes a little more credit than TJ, because Hendry broke up Boyes chance pretty well and it was off a turnover in close. Oshie just held the puck for took long trying to pick his spot. Just get it on net TJ.
- Johnson and Brewer scored a goal a piece last night. Brewer on a seeing eye shot from the point and EJ jumping down in to the slot on a play I see on NHL 10 more than in the actual NHL. That’s 7 goals for Brewer and 9 for Johnson. Who would have thought those two would combine for 15? It’s kind of strange that the Blues needed more scoring from their blue line to improve the teams ability to win games. They get more goals from their blue line than the last few seasons…and their out of it. If it’s not one thing its another.
Next up for the Blues are the Predators down in Nashville Thursday. Still a big game even if the playoff hopes are slim to none.
