I have been trying to figure out where I want this blog to go after this epic failure. Pardon my slang usage, but that’s the best phrase to describe what happened down at Scottrade. It’s hard to go from a boisterous blog talking about a (potential) 3-1 win at home to a 5-3 collapse in the third. The Oilers stole two points and my material.
For all the “details” done right in the first (and second) period, the third was the exact opposite. A total 180.
Dedication to the North/South Game? Gone.
Work ethic to exit the zone? Gone.
Winning 1-on-1 battles and layers of support? Gone.
Smart puck management decisions? Gone.
Defensive zone lane control? Gone.
The lead, win, 2 points? Gone.
What is truly bothersome is the fact that some of these goals came against the Blues shutdown squad. The Jackman-Polak pair combined to be a Minus-4 and the McSteenbeen line was a combined Minus-6. All 5 players were a Minus-2. The core players that shut down San Jose, LA and Detroit went brain dead when the horn blew to start the third. It’s like they were hypnotized in the locker room and the horn made them act like they forgot how to play. With the Blues not really scoring at all this year, that core of 5 is counted on game after game to drive the team to two points. I guess at some point the y just can’t do it. It would be unfair to expect them to always shut the best players in the world down.
Remember what I said in the Gameday? Blues get 3 and its a winner based on each teams records. Proof that stats show you trends, but can’t always accurately predict an out come. I probably just missed some variables like how Dustin Penner scores many goals in odd numbered years in December when the wind is bowing from the West on the road.
One bright side is that the Blues were able to score more than two goals at home, including a TJ Oshie ripper on the power play. Does Brad Boyes come out that high to get a one timer? Not that I’ve seen recently. Kudos to TJ for getting a quick, hard, accurate shot off.
Let’s break this down in to two blocks. One for the first two periods and one for the third.
The first 40
The Blues had a very strong commitment to the vertical game. Pucks were getting in deep as the Blues overloaded one side of the ice with 2-3 players to retrieve the puck. All four lines were rolling out, working hard, and being responsible. The Blues dictated play. For the first time in a long while, Murray wasn’t matching lines as much as he usually did. He put his faith in the players and the players responded. You could see 4-5 Blues players on the TV screen at a time, they were working like a 5 man group, not 5 individuals. It was a fun game to watch for a Blues fan.
The Blues made it seem like the same old lines from the last 7-10 days were going to be together again. Then Murray pulls a fast one and rolls out four new lines for the first half of the first period.
Kariya-McDonald-Boyes
Kid Line
Winchester-Tkachuk-Backes
McSteenbeen
All 4 of those lines worked hard and as when Murray reverted back to the expected lines the team continued to play well. There was confidence and momentum on their side.
The Blues seemed to be make good mental decisions quicker than they had before. Whether that be in clearing the puck, passing to exit the zone, or taking shots on net. They looked so good because they made the simple play over and over again. Edmonton was chasing and was out of the game. Then…
The Last 20 (and some…)
Then there is a play where David Perron tries to make an extra move on the offensive blue line at the end of a shift. He doesn’t get it deep. The Oilers come back down ice and scored a goal in the final minute of the second period to cut the lead 3-1. It was mainly due to great hustle by Gilbert Brule (who has finally found his NHL game), but the Blues were also ineffective at clearing the zone and protecting the net.
As Coach Murray stated in the post game, the Blues had a talk and discussed how to win the third. Make smart decisions, get the puck deep, and work hard. All three things the Blues couldn’t do for the last 20 minutes. The Blues were back and cautious, waiting to see what the Oilers would do. They allowed the game to be dictated upon them for the first time all night. Where did the commitment level go? Where was the effort. Where was the (as Murray said) the will to win? All three zapped out of the players like they were hypnotized in the locker room between periods.
The Oilers owned the Blues offensive zone. They were able to work the boards with very little pressure from the defensemen and forwards. They retrieved the puck and got open by moving around more than the Blues did. The Blues were caught flat footed on almost every goal and scoring chance in the third. The team did very little to support Ty Conklin in net. Conklin was hung out to dry on just about all the goals. The only one I really have a beef with is the first Brule goal. Conklin should have had that. Then again, he gave up multiple 5-hole goals last night. The Brule one was just the first.
The Aftershock
Now what? The Blues have 3 days off till they face Calgary on Versus for the Brett Hull Hall of Fame game. That is three days to bag skate the hell out of that team. No nets required for practice Saturday. I hope it was started bright and early.
There seems to be a lot of fan debate about Murray’s comments leading up to the Brule goal. Some fans feel he was throwing David Perron under the bus. Others feel that Murray is mentioning one play that lead to others. Momentum…Murray admitting it exists? Kind of, but not really. I see his point, but Jay McClement has the same thing happen to him. Got the puck up ice in the penalty kill and tried to make a move and coughed the puck up. That play came right back down the ice for a shot off the post. Where was the mention of that play? I guess since it didn’t end up a goal and it was in the first its excused.
I personally believe that Murray doesn’t hate Perron, he just holds him to a very high standard. My qualm there is that there are other plays who lack effort, played invisible, and were ineffective and they were not mentioned. I’ll jump up to take a swing at my favorite whipping boy Brad Boyes. Another nearly invisible game where he ended up a Minus-2 with only one shot on goal. What are we counting on him for? Leeching points? The Brad Boyes the Blues saw from 07-09 is not present. Who they have now, I don’t know. He is just not the same player. Patrick Berglund was also fairly invisible with 15 minutes of play, 2 shots (2 missed) and one hit. His most noticeable moment? A 4 minute double minor for high sticking Shawn Horcoff.
The Goals
David Backes x2 - Nice stuff play after he and TJ worked down low very well. Another instance in the first period of working hard on teh North/South game to lead to chances. The second goal was an interesting play. The puck finds Backes in the slot and he gets a shot off. The save is made by Jeff Deslauriers but it comes up in the air over his head. As the puck comes down Ladislav Smid and Brad Winchester both try to get the puck. The goal is allowed, but only because Winchester didn’t touch it. The replay cleared showed that as Brad’s stick passed the puck, it didn’t change direction.
TJ Oshie x1 – The Blues power play finally capitalized at home. The team moved the puck around the zone very well, they also move bodies around very well. It looked more like the 08-09 season power play than this season’s version. Erik Johnson found Paul Kariya high as they formed a triangle at the point with Oshie. Kariya moved it to a wide open Oshie at the top of the near faceoff circle. Tj ripped how a fantastic short side shot to beat Deslauriers.
Points on teh night – Backes 2, Oshie 2, Johnson 2, Tkachuk 1, Kariya 1
The Oilers
Give credit to the team not giving up. They are minus their #1 player in Ales Hemsky and Sheldon Sourey left the game in the second period after mouthing off to the ref’s one too many times. The team responded by sticking to a physical game. It doesn’t hurt that Jeff Deslauriers was not legitimately challenged for a 4th goal after the Blues got their 3rd.
The top line of Ganger-Brule-Penner had chances throughout the game, but really kicked it in to high gear in the third. They wanted the puck in the offensive zone much more than the Blues defenders. That lack of effort left many skating, passing and shooting lanes open. There were five or six chances in the scoring burt that were all from the high slot. The Oilers got it low and worked it to the open more before the Blues got a body on anyone.
Where was our shutdown squad on Penner? I said in the Gameday that keeping tabs on him would be important. The Blues got their match up and it didn’t work. Instead of shutting him down, he racks up 1 goal and 4 points.
Anyone else besides Andy McDonald notice Smid taking a lot of liberties on players after the whistle in front of Deslauriers? Apparently not since he was the only one to say anything and no one else did anything (or so it seemed to me).
Jeff Deslauriers stopped 27 of 30 shots including all 10 in the third. I was surprised at how he maintained himself under pressure. He didn’t back down and give up a fourth goal. Even after the apparent injury that wasn’t one, he stayed strong.
This will be an interesting weekend as there is no new material for Blues fans to talk about while the team is off for 3 days. I still can’t see a change coming soon. As much as fans would like one (myself included) and it might make sense, I think the front office is going to hold on anything till after Christmas. I personally hope for few tweaks, but I don’t see that either. The Blues have three days to figure out how to win a game at home. Can it be done in three days when they haven’t figured it it out in two months? I am not optimistic.
