Edmonton Oilers
vs.
St. Lois Blues
Pregame
After a disappointing loss to the Canucks at the hands of the Officials the Blues have a tilt against the slumping Oilers.
The Blues will have to get down to business as the Oilers shouldn’t be taken lightly. Yes, they have been horrible in 2010, losing every game and only taking two points via the OTL. However, you cannot take any team in the NHL lightly. The Blues need to forgot bad penalty calls and get back to hard work and improve their special teams play.
According to JR over at the Post there are no line up changes expected. Save for Chris Mason being between the pipes. Tyson Strachan will be the healthy scratch till Carlo returns Saturday. Expect DJ King back up this weekend as well as his conditioning stint in Peoria is over.
Kariya-Oshie-Backes/Boyes
McDonald-Tkachuk-Perron
Steen-McClement-Backes/Boyes
Winchester-Berglund-Crombeen
Jackman-Polak
Brewer-Johnson
Sydor-Weaver
Mason
I will not be updating as play goes along for the most part tonight. I will do my best to get back with period updates.
First Period
Davis Payne throws us a curveball with the line up. The lines actually look like this:
Kariya-Backes-Oshie
McDonald-Tkachuk-Boyes
Steeen-Berglund-Perron
Winchester-McClement-Crombeen
Johnson is a late scratch and Strachan is in with Brewer.
Genereally the Blues did a better job of going north, but Edmonton is no where near as fast and efficient as Vancouver. Tkachuk and Berglund generated solid chances coming off the wall. I’ve said this before, but not for a while…Patrik Berglund looks like Malkin in the offensive zone when he works hard. That big body controlling the puck and finding open lanes for passes and shots. If Berglund played this way every game, he’d be a top 6 guy.
Mason wasn’t really tested.
I don’t mind the non calls on the two non calls where Jackman was tripped up, so long as the game is called that way, both ways, all night.
Strachan took two shifts to get in the game, but was fine after that.
Does anyone hound the puck carrier better than Steen? Does anyone protect the puck and keep the play moving like Steen does? This guy is coming out since he came back from injury. Heck of a player.
Blues outshot teh OIlers 9-4, Hits are even at 6 a piece, Blues have 8 Giveaways to the Oilers 6, and the Blues have lost 7 of 10 faceoffs. Isn’t Edmonton one of the worst? Backes is 1-for-4.
Second Period
Interesting period as neither team really looks that good. The Oilers do strike first with a nice goal by a wide open Penner. The Blues answer 17 seconds later with a goal by Brewer. Well it was credited to Brewer at the time, but it looks like it was given to Tkachuk. It was a great effort by Boyes and Tkachuk to get to the net and create a great screen.
Anyone else have the feeling that this is just a sloppy game that Edmonton could win and the Blues just can’t seem to put the Oilers down?
The trend of odd officiating calls continue. Brule goes hard to the net and is “tripped” and no call. Not that long after a “trip” is “called” and as Jeff Deslauriers heads to the bench the ref puts his arm down? Really? Which is it? I’ll take the non calls (which have been fairly consistent), but yeash the officiating is just plain goofy.
I love the “scrap” between Comrie and Weaver. It looked like lightweight high school wrestling.
How does Backes miss the wide open net and hit iron? Should be 2-1. Not really feeling the mojo from the Kariya-Backes-Oshie line tonight. I know the Blues are a tired team, but the Tkachuk and Berglund lines have looked better in my opinion. FWIW, lets see McDonald-Backes-Oshie and a reunion of the Kariya-Tkachuk-Boyes line.
Brad Winchester’s level of impact is slipping once again. Can’t tell he is playing if he isnt running people over or crashing the net. Not doing either tonight. In about 6 minutes on the ice through two periods Winchester has zero hits. That needs to chance in the third.
Through two periods the Blues are out shooting the Oilrs 19-15, Hits are even at 9, Giveaways are tied at 15, and Edmonton has won 16 of 27 faceoffs. That last number there just isnt good enough for the Blues to pull two points out this game. They need to win more faceoffs and control the pace of the game.
Third Period
To start the third both teams elevated their pace and play. Edmonton has really come in waves, but the Blues are matching their speed and intensity. I don’t see panic in the Blues I see them working at the pace of the game, denying the Oilers chances. The pressure is there, but not many threatening chances.
Excellent play by Steen to look pass and shoot short blocker side on Deslauriers. I wish Tkachuk would have done the same and shot rather than try to pass to Boyes.
The Bakces line (well Oshie at least) has come out hard and strong in the third. backes physical play has been there. A nice hit on Gilbert, but Gilbert needs to keep up and take the Backes hit on the shoulder and not turn away. I like the hit on Vishnovsky by Backes. Clean and hard. I like the physical play by Strachan as well. Got good position on Andrew Cogliano flying down the ice and too the body twice to deny him room to work.
Recap
Bernie Miklasz tweeted after the game that when Backes hit the post on th eopen net when the score was tied 1-1, he felt like “it was one of those nights”. I have to say that I agree, but thank the hockey gods for Alex Steen and his one well placed shot. The Blues managed only one shot in the third period, but it was Steen’s game winner.
Speaking of hockey gods, its nice that they have smiled on the Blues for once recently. There were no phantom penalty calls, few odd bounces, and no hot goalies to play against. The gods instead gave the Blues the worst team in the NHL on the second game of a back-to-back set. As I said earlier, no team is to be taken lightly. However, the Blues had all the reason in the world to come in expecting to win the game if they worked hard. This game concluded the Blues run through western Canada for the season giving them a 5-1-0 record in that half of Canada.
I was a little concerned being such a low hitting game. I understand that the Blues played last night, but 15 Hits in the game? I know that’s an average of five a period, but it didn’t feel that way till the third when the pace quickened. Backes had the physical game going, as did Strachan, but little else. The Blues forecheck was not taking the body as hard as I think they would have liked to.
The Blues also struggled in the faceoff circle, winning only 18 of 41 draws (44%). Edmonton is 28th in the NHL with a 47.2% on the season. Against a team like Edmonton, it doesn’t hurt as much. However, losing faceoffs at that rate against Nashville, Detroit, Chicago, and other better teams will be a recipe for disaster. The Blues do not have great passing to begin with (which we saw some tonight), so winning faceoffs will be key to possessing and managing the puck against strong teams.
I love the game played by the Steen-Berglund-Perron line. They had good jump in the first period and were solid throughout. Alex Steen certainly was the player of the game. His forecheck was strong, he protected the puck well, registered the game winning goal along with a Plus-1 Rating, 1 Hit, and 1 Blocked Shot. Patrik Berglund was using his body to control the offensive zone. I will keep saying this because I feel its true, but when Patrik is really working he looks like Malkin. Now Patrik may not have the skill level Geno does, but Patrik has the same style. Physical, puck protection and takes the puck to open areas with authority. Before Payne arrived Berglund appeared Peoria bound and regressing. Under Payne Berglund is finding his game more often than he isn’t.
I thought Oshie got better as the game progressed. How effective was Paul Kariya tonight? Not so much from my view on the couch. Andy Strickland tweeted tonight, asking if Blues fans still thought Daryl Sydor was a bum. I would hope not. I have praised and attacked the signing for various reasons. However, you cannot knock the job Daryl has done. He comes in, shares his knowledge, and does his job. He has been a solid pick up, there are no bones about it. Ditto can be said for Mike Weaver…again.
Chris Mason made saves when he had to, although I didn’t feel that Edmonton really tested him hard. It wasn’t similar to what Ty Conklin endured last night in Vancouver. Chris was still solid in stopping 24 of 25 shots against.
Edmonton is going through a rough patch. They need to hold on to Gagner and Cogliano. Use those two as supplemental players to around Hemsky and Penner and go from there. I thought that Cogliano, Gagner, and Penner played the best of the Oilers. Vishnovsky was good as well.
This was not the greatest game in Blues history, but it got the job done. The Whatever It Takes attitude prevailed and the Blues found a way to close out a game. Next up is Columbus at Scottrade Saturday night. More points on the line.
