BJ Crombeen didn’t let the flu get to him. His 5th goal of the season at the 5:23 mark opened the scoring. Coming down on left wing his high wrist shot surprised Antti Niemi. Unable to control the puck it popped over his head and rolled over the line.

The Sharks power play answered before the end of the first period. With key penalty killer Roman Polak in the box for Holding, Dany Heatley netted his 16th as the equalizer with 5:42 left. The PPG against was the 5th in six January games. The culprit? Lack of sticks covering passing lanes as the “Joes”, Pavelski and Thonrton, created a cross ice tick tack toe passing play to carve up PK unit.

As status quo of late, the Blues were outworked in the second period. The early period Boarding call on Ian Cole snowballed in to a persistent Shark attack lasting the duration of the middle set. Telling is the 18 to 10 San Jose favored shot total. The ice was tilted. The period got worse before it was better for Cole. His Holding call lead to Thornton’s 12th of the season at 11:57.  Yet another goal coming with big bodies collapsed on top of Jaroslav Halak.

The Blues would equalize thanks to Erik Johnson. Patrik Berglund won the offensive zone draw back to EJ. He put the puck between Niemi’s wickets for his 4th goal at the 17:53 mark. The second “soft” goal of the game for the former Blackhawk netminder who didn’t look comfortable in net all night.

Even as the hockey gods smiled on the Blues, with a late period goal, many missed scoring chances by the Shakrs and some big saves by Halak, they couldn’t must the energy to force back the energized teal sweaters. There was a tangible hunger to win coming from the Sharks. A hunger well known to the Note. Just like anyone else with a flu bug, they weren’t hungry.

A deflection by Healtey for his 17th early in the third put the Blues down 3-2. A gap they wouldn’t erase. Jamie McGinn buried a juicy rebound no one in white recovered for his first tally of the season.

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Quick Hits

Kudos to Cole for not giving up on the game despite his lackluster performance. He laid out Benn Ferriero late in the second. The Shark forward was coming up neutral ice with his head down. Cole makes the right call and steps up and puts a solid shoulder check in to Ferriero. The two settle the score the right way. Flip off the lids (due to visors) and duke it out. Not directly due to his play, but Cole was returned to the Blues AHL affiliate, the Peoria Rivermen, Sunday.

Fellow Riverman on call up Ryan Reaves danced with fellow NHL newbie Brandon Mashinter. Kudos to Ryan for knowing his role and not letting his pair of goals in his last two games get to his head. He also delivered 6 hits in 9 shifts to lead the Blues.

Niemi stopped 27 of 29 shots and Halak stopped 25 of 29.

The scoring chances against, coming from crashing the crease, was at it’s highest volume of the season since the five game slide in November. Specifically the games against Colorado and Detroit. The set up in the defensive zone was reminiscent of Swiss cheese. There was little gap control and lane coverage by the Blues.

The Johnson goal was the third scored in the last two games where Davis Payne has switched up the pairings and put EJ with Alex Pietrangelo on the ice for a draw. An understated move made by Payne.

The top line of Vladimir Sobotka, David Backes and Matt D’Agostini was practically invisible. Perhaps their least effective performance since the line has been put together. Just 6 shots on goal and two hits. Backes’ off night was highlighted by a glaring set of three giveaways. Brad Boyes relapsed and Alex Steen went the way of Backes. Just not a good game for the Blues best forwards.

Eric Brewer was not all there. He reprised his role as “unhealthy Brewer” last night. Either the presumed injury from the fight against Luca Sbisa caught up with him or there’s flu in his system as well. Kudos for grinding it out and leading the Blues with 7 blocked shots though.

There are understandable reasons why Devin Setoguchi is coming up in trade talks. His play just isn’t that good. Far has he fallen from a 31 goal, 65 point first full campaign in 2008-09. The Thornton effect? Ask Jonathan Cheechoo.

Amazing the difference in play (and confidence) between even strength and the man advantage for the Sharks. As discussed in the preview, bad penalties were an issue for the Blues and it burned them. The Sharks power play was running full throttle.

Equally amazing is how quiet Patrick Marleau was.

Check out the highlights on NHL.com

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They felt like polar opposites to me. The San Jose game was full of end to end action, lots of chances, and lots of big saves. The Anaheim game was 35 minutes of Anaheim domination followed by 10-15 minutes of Blues domination, then collapse. One common theme, Chris Mason was pretty darn good.

San Jose

This was the opening statement that the team wanted to give new Head Coach Davis Payne. The Blues were shot out of a cannon working hard from whistle to whistle. They skated up and down the ice with a much better Sharks team. The Blues matched the physical level the Sharks brought and pushed their own agenda as well. Working hard to go quickly north and get the puck behind the red line to turn the defensemen around.

The newly reformed Kid Line was the best at this all game. Consistently making the quick decision to get the puck up ice and support each other. All three seemed to take Payne’s words to heart, go forth and create…and create they did. They executed the plays in tight quarters and got pucks to the net. Maybe the biggest factor was hemming the puck in the zone for a full shift. High level teams like San Jose thrive off making you play in your own end. When you can find was to flip the tables and do that back to them, you have a real chance at points. The trio combined for 5 Shots 3 Hits, and 7 Takeaways.

What I can’t get over is the team game played. Everyone seemed to be on the same page for the first time in a very long time. They were a cohesive 5-man unit. The support was solid and the quick passes up ice were the best they’ve been all season. The stretch is nice, but when you can move five guys up ice with speed because of a well executed quick medium to short pass….you almost don’t need the stretch. The body movement was excellent as few times players just stopped moving. There was little to no watching and reacting. There was proactive movement and reacting to the play as it developed. While those are very hard ideas to give a real feeling to or provide stats to prove, you can just see in their game play that they knew their job and how to execute with out being told how to do it. The level of freedom and trust ran high and it produced results.

Mason has stopped 67 of his last 72 hots faced, a .930 Save %.

Let’s not forgot the amazing play of Chris Mason AND Evgeni Nabakov. The two combined to stop 70 of 73 total shots on goal. Both goalies made the big and simple save. None may be more comical than Nabakov standing up and stacking the pads together to stop an Andy McDonald scoring chance. Nabakov stacked them more than once as well. Kudos to both goalie. Both were and deserved to be stars of the game.

In the end it was an Alex Pietrangelo type play that ended the Blues chances for two points. McDonald did a nice job dangling the offensive zone and when he circled around the near faceoff circle to shoot, Dany Heatley was right there to block the shot, break it up ice and score an Overtime breakaway winner. While the game ended in disappointment there were some great strides made and some strong building blocks to take a few hours south in Anaheim. Really though, the Sharks are who they are and have the point totals they do for a reason. They are just that good. Oh, and Andy McDonald continued his goal scoring streak. Stretching to three goals in three straight games. It was a very odd goal with Nabakov out of the net falling all over Blues players, but it ended up in the net cleanly. Too bad that was the only Blues goal.

Anaheim

All the hard work and momentum did not carry over. I understand it was the second game of a back to back set and the Blues lost a tough one going all out. However, this team is directly competing for points for playoff spot against Anaheim. This is the type of game where you need to open more than a 1 goal lead. You need better forward movement and pressure. For the first 35 minutes of the game, it simply wasn’t there.

The Blues caught a break to open the scoring. While shorthanded BJ Crombeen works the puck down ice to create pressure and force a rare faceoff at the other end of the ice. McClement wins the draw as Jackman steps up to slap home a hot past Jonas Hiller’s right ear. It was a great shot and a nice goal to try to get off their sluggish start.

Even though he Blues did a better job of keeping Anaheim to the outside, they were never really able to break pressure. Over long stretches teh Blues could barely get the puck 10 feet inside the Ducks blueline trying to get a chance. There were few chances to get the puck deeper and set up a play. In my opinion this was due to Payne’s increased dependence on match-ups. Specifically the attempts made to get the McClement Line and the Jackman-Polak pair out against Getzlaf and Perry. In a game where a team can struggle to get their legs moving, playing the match up card that hard hurts a teams ability to get in to the flow of the game. In my opinion this is the turning point. Getzlaf and Perry worked to create pressure sift after pressure shift, rolling with just one break in between shifts. The Blue shad no answer other than to contain and survive. Which they did, but by that point valuable time to create their own scoring chances had passed away.

I like that the defenders continued to step up on the attacker…when they did i. I know Eric Brewer is afraid to get burned to the outside by Bobby Ryan, but that play cannot happen. That shot can not get off between his legs and go past Mason. I know Brewer is containing, but you ave to play the body when you get a chance. Brewer kept backing up and gave Ryan the daylight needed. Was Brewer horrible all game? No, but that one play is hard to overlook since it tied the game in the third after Jackman’s second goal.

Jackman scored his first two goals of the season last night in peculiar fashion. Image via blues.nhl.com.

What a pinball play that second Jackman goal was. Backes works for the puck and gets it to Jackman. Hiller is square to him with not much if any screening. The puck bounces off one player out high  and then off Ryan Whitney to Hiller’s right. Two bounces later, the Blues took the 2-1 lead. Sadly the Blues failed to capitalize on a weak goal on Hiller to add in another goal to extend the lead. Good teams find ways of doing that. The Blues just can’t lately. Th Ducks answered with the afore mention Ryan goal.

I have to say I am disappointed that the blatant Getzlaf knee to knee on Jackman was not called. I know Getzlaf plays on an edge. I love skill guys who can do that. However, that play has to be called. It’s obvious….at least those of us watching on TV. Bottom line here is the Blues couldn’t put in a 2 goal lead and it cost them the game on a fluky play. The Blue shad only 12 shots on goal through two periods. Just aren’t going to score enough goals to win games that way. Not when you give up as many third period goals as the Blues do.

Hiller…not so good but rarely tested. Mason, was good and on, but was hung out to dry in the James Wisniewski, Matt Beleskey, and Ryan goals. Screens , broken plays, and masterful shots did him in.

The Good After Two Games

- When players are moving, the whole 5-man unit is moving.
- Good support leading to sustained offensive zone pressure when they can get the puck deep.
- Improved goaltending by Mason.
- Defensemen jumping in to the play and being backed up.
- The penalty kill still has the mojo.
- Improved effort to break up and contest plays with the stick.
- Increased physical play by Erik Johnson

The Bad After Two Games

- Failure to convert pressure in to goals.
- One power play conversion in eight opportunities.
- Inconsistent effort from game to game.

This team is still a work in progress. We saw the high end of what we will get in the San Jose game. We saw the low end in the Anaheim game. The Blues will filter out  somewhere between the two under Payne this year. I know this team wants the playoffs, but another miracle run is likely not in the works. Payne needs to maximize the growth of younger players while keeping the veterans producing to keep this team competitive. Which is our most realistic best case scenario.

Next up is LA on Saturday night. If the Blues can salvage a win against LA they can take 50% of the point on the trip. It’s not much, but it’s a start.

Location: HP Pavilion, San Jose, California
Game-time: 9:30 pm Central
TV: FSMW, NHLN-CA, NHLN-US (HD)
Radio: KMOX 1120 AM

Stat Pack

St Louis Blues: 12th in Western Conference & 4th in Central Division – 40 Points

San Jose Sharks: 2nd in Western Conference & 1st in Pacific Division – 61 Points

Power Play:
St. Louis (Road): 20.0%, (10th)
San Jose (Home): 13.4%, (29th)

Penalty Kill
St. Louis (Road): 88.8%, (1st)
San Jose (Home): 88.2%, (4th)

Goals Scored per Game vs. Goals Against per Game
St. Louis (Road): 2.72 GF/G (15th) | 2.33 GA/G (T-4th)
San Jose (Home): 3.29 GF/G (6th) | 2.33 GA/G (9th)

Hot & Cold
San Jose: Joe Thornton (3 Points in last 2 games ) | Dany Heatley (1 Goal and 2 Points in last 5 games)
St. Louis: Andy McDonald (4 Goals (3 in 3 straight games) and 6 Points in last 5 games) | Erik Johnson (1 Assist in last 10 games)

Food For Thought

The Blues are throwing Davis Payne to the wolves. Well, more Sharks in this case. A trial by fire indeed for the fresh meat.

A few short hours after being named coach he took on one of the top two teams in the Conference. A few short days after being named coach, David Payne leads his crew out to face the other of the top two teams in the Conference.

The Blues are 3-2-1 in their last six meetings over the last two seasons. In those 6 games the goal differential is Minus-1 (16 for StL and 17 for SJ). That is 2.67 GF/G for the Blues and 2.83 GF/G for the Sharks. That’s a little more than the Blues have averaged the last two years and a little less than what San Jose averages. What does that mean? The Blues played the Sharks tight under Murray. Hopefully that trend continues with Coach Payne.

How can Payne continue the trend?

1. Keep to a simple game. Don’t get fancy, get deep in the offensive zone and work hard. Make their defensemen turn around as much as possible. It keeps them from moving forward as fast.
2. Match their level of physical play. The 08-09 Murray team had no issues doing this and that needs to continue. They are big upfront and you have to be able to take the body on them.
3. Accept the fact that you cannot stop their big three. Just limit the number of high percentage scoring changes they can get.
4. Quick, smart puck movement decisions. The Sharks are big and fast and like to apply forward pressure. You can get around that with support and quick decision making.

The personnel needed to pull it off are still present on the roster, Payne will just need to stick to some general ideas to keep San Jose in check.

Anyone else surprised that Devin Setoguchi isn’t producing near what he had before with out Thornton?

Blues fans will see future Olympic teammate of David Backes and Erik Johnson, Joe Pavelski. Although don’t expect much out of him against the Blues. Over the last three season he has just two goals in ten games against St. Louis.

Difference Makers:

The Whole Blues Roster.

Payne has had multiple practices now and is starting to deliver his message and institute his own system. This will be the Blues first real application of Payne’s new X’s and O’s. Can the players apply what they have learned from their new coach and make it work against the highest producing trio in the NHL? We shall see. The whole team…from Weaver to Johnson, Crombeen to McDonald,  to Mason in net must be the difference maker in this game. Their will to win for their new coach (without the “goon button”) is what will determine this game. This team has shown over the last two season that they can skate with the Sharks and that trend needs to continue.

Player Notes:

Kariya is still on IR and will not play, but is traveling with the team. Keith Tkachuk did not travel with the team since he took a TJ Oshie slapper to the kisser Saturday night. Ty Conklin will attempt to join the Blues in progress out in California after he attends to a family matter (his son broke his leg). Yan Stastny was recalled and cleared Waivers to replace Tkachuk. Ben Bishop was also recalled to replace Conklin. Expect to see Mason in net, although you never know with a new coach in town. Bishop had a good game last year against San Jose, but I think Mason still gets the start.

I am questioning Brad Winchester’s status with this team now that Murray is gone. I don’t think Payne will cut him out, but it will be interesting to see if he plays against a team he has had success against in the past.

As updates become available on forward line combos and defensive pairings I will update the blog.

Alex Pietrangelo will not be re-joining the team. Per late night news (or early morning depending on your POV) the Blues returned Alex to his OHL team the Niagara Ice Dogs. No news of a possible trade moving him in the OHL to a contending team. Keep an eye out for that. Maybe not a fan favorite move, but the “right move” in my opinion.

Update: 6:52PM
For Jeremy Ruther’s Full Morning Skate Blog, click here.

Here are tonight’s line ups per Rutherford.

Andy McDonald-David Backes-Brad Boyes
David Perron-Patrik Berglund-T.J. Oshie
Alex Steen-Jay McClement-B.J. Crombeen
Brad Winchester-Derek Armstrong-Cam Janssen

Eric Brewer-Erik Johnson
Barret Jackman-Roman Polak
Darryl Sydor-Carlo Colaiacovo

Chris Mason between the pipes.

Scratches: Stastny and Weaver
Out: Kariya

I like the combo, I really do. I just question removing Mike Weaver. I know he was a Minus-3 for the Hawks game, but his play has been heads above Daryl Sydor.

Keys to the Game

1. Special Teams
-  The Blues have the NHL’s best road penalty kill and own a top 10 road power play. Both units need to act accordingly and produce. San Jose will dominate you at even strength, so the special teams must tip the scales to the Blues favor. Scoring on the power play will be no easy task with San Jose sporing the 4th best home penalty kill.

2. Play for Payne
- No one wants to get hurt, but play for your new coach. If playing hard means you get banged up, so be it. Work your tail off for him and his new system. Even if you don’t win you are laying a foundation to build on.

3. Use the Force Luke
- One thing it seems Payne is big on is allowing players room to do their job. I have given you task “a”, go do it. I need you to do it “this way” most of the time, but find ways to do it your way when it works. The players need to let go and use their hockey sense and instincts to take over the play on the ice. Just like how old Ben taught Luke so long ago and far, far away. Allowing players to take initiative is a good thing. They need to make it work because if they can, they are a very unpredictable team to play against…and that makes you harder to defeat.

Who to Watch for?

Roman Polak

Polak's play has been progresing this year and under new Coach Davis Payne Polak should be able to use his athletic ability to join in the offensive play more. Expect more offensive contributions from Polak in the future.

I am going to try to keep it brief on a work night.

- Physical Presence
The Blues matched the level of physical play San Jose brought. They really remind me of the Caps. A big team with skill. The Blues were strong in their own crease, protecting Conklin and generally strong getting to Nabakov. They didn’t always succeed, but the effort was there. The effort to work the boards was ok, but the second man support was not present many times tonight.

I commend David Backes for taking the body to Dany Heatley in the third period, but why drop teh gloves? heatley is not going to man up and go tow to toe with Backes. For one he knows he would get destroyed. Second, it was the wrong time to even try from a Sharks point of view. The momentum could have easily shifted back to the Blues.

- Offensive Pressure
I thought the Blues had good offensive possession, but in general generated no second chances. Partly due to Nabakov’s play, partly due to the defensive positioning of the Sharks, and partly due to the Blues inability to take a quick shot. The Blues were prone to the old “just inside the blue line” turnovers, but for the most part it wasn’t as bad as previously this season.

The Backes and McDonald lines continue to do very well. For all their hard work, all they had to show was a Minus-1 rating with no points. However, the chances were there and pressure was greatest while those 6 were on the ice.

The rust continues to fall off Erik Johnson. He floats around the offensive zone more and more each game. He is really looking like a bigger version of Mike Green. He doesn’t move as well laterally as Green does, but the offensive zone pressure and creativity is there, especially at even strength. I was really impressed with his pinches deep in to the zone. He really wasn’t burnt tonight getting deep. The team is backing him up more and he is picking better times to do it. He had 4 shots, but he crated at least twice as many chances.

I was really disheartened by the volume of one and done chances on Nabakov. He was finding the lanes the Blues were shooting in, but in general the shots were easy to control based on his position. Give credit to the Sharks limiting of the Blues lateral movement. They need that to get Nabakov moving and the Sharks really didn’t allow it. The Blues also can’t get a “quick shot” off. It takes too long to get from pass reception to shot far too often.

Part of that one and done I think was a level of predictability with the Blues even strength offense. Once in the zone the Blues carry down to the red line, cut back up the wall and dis to the point or force to middle. Yes, I was very happy to see fewer in tight chances with little room. At the same time, they need some to keep the defense honest and not break up the lateral play to the middle out high. Which is how Heatley scored the first goal of the game. The Blues didn’t have an ability to break up that lateral pass. The Sharks did.

- The Tenacious Trio
The Blues did a good job of limiting their chances. You cannot prevent them all, so limit what you can and hope for the best. They did that with the McClement line and the Jackman/Polak pairing. Heatley did get the first of the game with an assist for Thornton, but for the rest of the game they were off the score sheet. I was not impressed with Patrick Marleau. The Blues were physical on them and made them pay the price every time to get to the net.

- Bad Penalties
I am calling out Mike Weaver, Brad Boyes, and Keith Tkachuk on this one. Weaver, Tkachuk, and the Blues bench combined to 6 penalty minutes between the 15 minute mark of the first and 11 minute mark of the second. Three straight penalties that really gave San Jose control of the flow of the game till about 5 minutes left in the second. Yes, San Jose’s home power play is bad, but you cannot give talent that many chances to take over a game. More times than not, they will.  Under normal circumstances, 5 penalties to San Jose would mean at least on power play goal. The Blues played with fire and go lucky going 5 for 5 on the kill.

- Players
Jackman – Perhaps his best game of the season. He was working hard, getting a little dirty in front of the net and helped to shut down the top line in the NHL. IN a post game interview, Colaiacovo called Jackman the “heart and soul of this team”. Pretty hefty words passed along over Twitter by Blues Radio Play-by-play guy Chris Kerber.

Johnon – As mentioned before he was all over. Took a shot off his foot in OT and was really hobbling, didn’t miss a shift.

Colaiacovo – Mediocre game, but came through when needed. Though he looked sluggish at times, but made a couple good rushes. Cant complain with him notching the game tying goal with less than a minute left.

Oshie – Working hard and rewarded with the game winning shootout goal. The chemistry with Backes is certainly still there. Nice hesitation to draw out the poke check on Nabakov and slide it it under him for the Shootout winner.

Backes – Was all over the ice and had a very nice power move to the net (with speed) coming off his off hand wall.

Berglund – Was the same Berglund as before. Not working hard enough. It’s time for a drive up to Peoria.

Tkachuk – Starting to really show his age. You want him in, but a few nights of a lessened load might help. I know he time has been cut back from where it was in October, but maybe he needs a few lighter games and put the brunt of the load on the top 2 lines.

Boyes – As good as he had been playing, we was borderline invisible again to night. Losing battles for pucks and offensive zone turnovers. Amazing that his lazy hooking penalty nearly cost us the game, but “won” the game at the same time.

McDonald – Still creating chances, but nothing has been going in for his line. When Pang commented that he wondered if McDonald would go stick side where he has had success lately..I thought “I hope he goes fore hand > back hand and throws off Nabakov”. Sure enough he did and it worked.

Conklin – He deserves his own category for tonight, he was just that good. It is really refreshing to have a capable, experienced back up who can step in and steal a game on the road. He wasn’t given much chance on the Heatley goal and the Pavelski goal was a deflection because no one picked him up coming to the net. What Conklin saw, he stopped. That’s all you can ask on the road. He carried the Blues tonight stopping 32 of 34 shots and 2 of 3 in the shootout.

- Overtime and the Extra Point
Someone mentioned on a Blues forum how much they dislike the “loser point”. I have to say that I love it and am totally for keeping it. That “loser point” kept the Blues in the playoff hunt last year (as it did for several other teams). It also kept fans coming to many more games than they would have normally.

Tonight that “loser point” gave the Blues a reason to really push for the tie. They could have packed it in after the second and gotten ready for LA. They didn’t and they were rewarded with a crazy goal from Colaiacovo and an exciting OT. Tonight’s game is a prime example as to why you keep the “loser point”.

- The Boston Effect
Could this game have a similar effect to this team as the huge comeback win in Boston last season did? It was a come back win against a high powered, tops in conference team in the shootout. I think so. This team is healthy (save Brewer) and starting to gel, taking 11 of their last 16 possible points over their last 8 games. That confidence will be needed facing an improving LA Kings team that has had the Blues number since the lock out.

Next up for the Blues is the LA Kings on Saturday afternoon, its a 3pm Central start on FSMW (HD).

Player of the Game

Ty Conklin

Ty Conklin lead the Blues to a 3-2 SO Victory with several key saves, stopping 32 of 34 total shots by the San Jose Sharks.

Location: HP Pavilion San Jose, CA.
Game-time: 9:30 pm Central
TV: FSMW
Radio: KMOX 1120 AM

Stat Pack

San Jose Sharks: 1st in Western Conference & 1st in Pacific Division – 42 Points
St Louis Blues: 12th in Western Conference & 5th in Central Division – 25 Points

Power Play:
San Jose (Home) 14%, 28th in NHL
St Louis (Road) 18.8%, 16th in NHL

Penalty Kill
San Jose (Home): 92%, 1st in NHL
St Louis (Road): 84%, T-6th in NHL

Goals Scored per Game vs Goals Against per Game
San Jose: 3.38 GF, 2nd in NHL | 2.55 GA, 7th in NHL
St Louis: 2.44 GF, 24th in NHL | 2.56 GA, 8th in NHL

Hot & Cold
San Jose: Patrick Marleau & Joe Thornton | Marc-Edouard Vlasic
St Louis: David Backes, TJ Oshie, & Erik Johnson | Alex Steen

Food For Thought

The Blues have played San Jose well over the last few seasons. They are 2-2-1 against San Jose going back to last season.

The polar opposite power play of San Jose is very interesting. From 28th at home compared to having the top rated road power play in the NHL. Not sure what gives there, but this could be a positive point for the Blues tonight. Any time a good team struggles in a specific area, you want to exploit it as much as possible.

The Tenacious Trio of scorers for San JOse are a thing of wonder to behold. Between Joe Thornton, Dany Heatley, and Patrick Marleau they combine to have 44 goals, 60 assists, and 104 points in 58 combined games played.  They are #1 (Thornton), #3 (Marleau), and #7 (Heatley) in scoring. That is just amazing and deflating at the same time. You just cannot stop them. How do the Blues stop them? The same way you would try to stop Crosby and Malkin. You limit their good chances and don’t take bad penalties.

Difference Makers:

With all he high powered scoring on San Jose and the Blues recently hot “top 6″, the game falls to the goalies.

Can Ty Conklin fills Chris Mason’s skates? Mason is 9th in the NHL with a 2.29 GAA and 6th in Save % (.923). Conklin is no push over, boasting a 2.33 GAA and .926 Save %.

Nabakov is right behind Mason in both GAA and Save %, 2.35 (10th) and .921 (7th) respectively.

Which goalie will stand on their head? Or will one just give up fewer goals?

Tonight’s game will come down to which marquee winger can stick it to the other team.

Player Notes:

Per the St. Louis Post Dispatch and Jeremy Rutherford

Winchester will dress in place of Cam Janssen. Good move here as Winchester has been very, very good versus SJ the last two seasons.
Carlo Colaiacovo will return to the line up to replace Jonas Junland who was sent back to Peoria (AHL).
Alex Pietrangelo will be a healthy scratch as he prepares for the World Junior Championship camp for Team Canada.

Forwards
Perron-McDonald-Boyes
Kariya-Backes-Oshie
Steen-McClement-Crombeen
Tkachuk-Berglund-Winchester

Defense
Jackman-Polak
Sydor-Johnson
Colaiacovo-Weaver

Goalie
Ty Conklin

Keys to the Game

1. Keep it Clean
- Limit penalties and do everything possible to have solid puck management. Possession teams love to take advantage of turn overs to score quick goals, then control the puck the rest of the game.

2. Strong in Front
- The Blues allowed too much pressure on top of Chris Mason in their last three games. The Blues need to protect Conklin and keep their crease clear. At the same time they need to drive hard on Nabakov. Something Brad Winchester, David Backes, Keith Tkachuk, TJ Oshie, and David Perron should be able to do.

3. Who Else?
- Who besides the Blues current top 2 lines can produce goals? Alex Steen, Brad Winchester, Patrik Berglund, and BJ Crombeen have been quiet on the score sheet. The time for the periphery scoring to click in, is now.

Who to Watch for?

Dan Boyle

Dan Boyle has 24 (6G, 18A) points in 29 games this season, including 13 (3G, 10A) on the power play. Truly one of the best offensive defensemen in the game today.

Linking to this Twitter page???

The Blues have to be considered the favourites for Heatley. Their current package is believed to contain Boyes, Perron and possibly Brewer.
about 13 hours ago from web

I really don’t know where to start with this.

This would potentially work from a money stand point. As moving Brewer and Boyes would clear out $8.25mil in cap hits for 09-10, 10-11 and $4mil in 11-12. This would in theory give you money to keep Backes, Oshie, and Berglund.

However, I would think this would have to work on the assumption that the Blues feel that Eller, Sonne, or Palushaj would be ready now and be an impact player now.

So pushing logic aside for a moment, is that even really Bob McKenzie?! IS that Twitter account real? We all know what LaRussa did with Twitter…

Dredger is on Twitter and its on the TSN.ca site, but where is McKenzie’s if this is real?

Calling more BS.

Eklund advises the hockey world that the Blues want to have a deal done to get Heatley to St. Louis by Wednesday, two days before the draft.

I think we need a few grains of salt, a lemon wedge, and some good tequila to analyze that one.

AS we talked about here and many other sites have discussed, Heatley to St. Louis is very hard to imagine. While the Blues have the desire for a top flight player, can they truly afford him with out giving up Brad Boyes (which defeats teh purpose of getting Heatley) and if they can, which young stars do we lose?

Perron? Berglund? Oshie? Pietrangelo? Eller? Backes?

Who is traded now and/or later? Who cannot be re-signed?

It’s a this point I really hope that the front office politely says “no”.  No to thinning out our NHL level depth. No to moving out a young core member. No to tying up roughly 12-15% of the Blues cap hits in one player.

I know teams want to get that name power. You want that guy to drum up media support, to sell tickets, to sell jerseys. At the same time, this isn’t your dad’s NHL anymore. This is not so much a veterans game. This league is dominated by 3 players who have all gained the right to buy alcohol in the last 12 months. It is a young-man’s game now.

This is where the Blues can differ from other teams. Push away the old status quo and really stck with their kids. Will it be hard to keep your home grown talent when you could haeve offer sheets and high priced offers. However, at the same time the Blues have to believe that they can develop their rebuilt core and keep them around. With the cap going down  (for at least the next two years it looks like), you need to be able to control your contracts. The Blues will get great control over their group.

The young core of this team is as follows (argueably):
TJ Oshie
Patrik Berglund
Erik Johnson
David Perron
David Backes
Brad Boyes
Alex Pietrangelo
Jay McClement
Roman Polak
All of these players are under contract for at least 2 more years or will be RFA’s in that time period.

The current roster situation gives you a large amount of control over how much your core makes, allowing you to spend elsewhere. However, that control doesn’t mean you add a $7.5mil cap hit.

THe Blues have a chance to say “we have our core, we arent moving them and in the long term interest of this organization, we are going to retain these players”. How many teams will be able to do this? Not many. Edmonton  might. Phoenix has no money to begin with. Chicago has spent a ton (Campbell) and are going to have MAJOR cap issues retaining Kane, Toews, and Versteeg down the road.

By saying no, the Blues have the chance to do what few teams can do, kep their most important long term peices while they are still contributing now. Heatley all but kills that chance. The time is not now. The Blues got in to the Playoffs minus a top 3 forward and a top pairing Dman, lets see what Kariya and EJ give us first. Save the money now to dabble at the deadline if you want to add a body.