Blues Win in McDonald’s Return

Game #55 St. Louis Blues vs. San Jose Sharks | February 12, 2012

The long awaited return of Andy McDonald came in dominating fashion as the St. Louis Blues handled the San Jose Sharks with ease. The 3-0 victory came with the help of the one of the Blues best forwards who missed 51 games with a concussion. If McDonald was the best forward in the game, without a doubt Alex Pietrangelo was the best defenseman.

The Blues power play has been hot of late and it reaped the benefits of poor play of the Sharks.

With a two man advantage, McDonald was flying in open space just missing a back door goal. The play continued to TJ Oshie who passed the puck on to Pietrangelo. Dancing on the blue line, the young Blues defenseman let a shot rip and beat Antti Niemi for the first goal of the game.

The Blues continued to pressure and in the second their hard work resulted in another 5 on 3 power play. Pietrangelo’s shot from the circle was blocked in front and tipped by David Backes who owned the front of the net. Keeping his hot streak alive, David Perron picked up the loose puck and bounced it off the back of Niemi for his tenth goal of the season.

Pietrangelo added and empty netter from about 170 feet out to seal the game with his second goal of the night. His dominating defensive play was topped off with a three point night.

But the story of the game was McDonald. The Sharks defense could not contain the speedster as he created multiple opportunities while picking up an assist in his first game back.

Jaroslav Halak’s shutout may be a side story to the night but the Blues net minder was on his game. Turning away all 25 San Jose shots, Halak posted his sixth shut out of the season and fifth in his last ten games.

Up Next: Tuesday the Blues take a quick trip to Columbus.