NHL

Game 2: St. Louis Blues Lose in Overtime to the Chicago Blackhawks 5-4

Last game the St. Louis Blues looked strong in the first two periods but fell apart defensively in the third allowing the Winnipeg Jets to score four goals and take the game 5-1. Saturday, St. Louis looks to bounce back against the Chicago Blackhawks.

1st Period

9:39 into the period Alex Pietrangelo took a tripping penalty to give Chicago a powerplay. A minute later the Hawks power play was cut short when Patrick Kane gets called for hooking against Chris Butler. This leads to 4-on-4 hockey. Pietrangelo’s penalty expired giving the Blues a powerplay but this is stopped by another penalty. Ryan O’Reilly has assessed a two-minute penalty for high-sticking. Back to 4-on-4.

Near the end of the second Hawks powerplay, Jonathon Toews is called for hooking 13:07 into the 1st period. Once the 4-on-4 expired the Blues’ top powerplay unit jumps on the ice.

Now Colton Parayko has the puck with 34 seconds left on the powerplay. Parayko sends it to the far side to Ryan O’Reilly at the top of the face-off circle. O’Reilly takes the shot, then gets to the rebound left by Cam Ward. He carries the puck to the wall where he is met by Brent Seabrook. Patrick Maroon picks the puck up, spins and throws it to Colton Parayko who is wide open at the point. Parayko sets up for a slap shot and lets it rip past Cam Ward for a BLUUUEESSS POWERPLAY GOAL.

STL Goal: Colton Parayko (1) Assisted By Patrick Maroon (1) and Ryan O’Reilly (2) 1-0 Blues

The St. Louis Blues are trying to break the puck out with just over 4:25 left in the period. The puck is poked away from Jordan Kyrou and picked up by Alex DeBrincat. He splits the D and has a partial break on Jake Allen. The puck slips off DeBrincat’s stick and Allen dives to poke it away where it finds Duncan Keith’s stick. He shoots it on the net with Allen about 12 feet out of the net but Allen makes the save and waits for a whistle.

Brent Seabrook has the puck in his own end of the ice. The Blues have three men in on the forecheck. Seabrook throws the puck up the middle and gets hit hard by Maroon. O’Reilly jumps up and catches the puck and sets it down on his stick. He carries it to the hash marks and gives it to a wide open Vladimir Tarasenko. He takes a shot and finds the loose puck near Cam Ward. Tarasenko taps the puck off of Ward’s leg and into the net for a second BLUUUEESSS GOAL.

STL Goal: Vladimir Tarasenko (1) Assisted By Ryan O’Reilly (3) 2-0 Blues

A little over a minute later the Blackhawks are breaking into the zone. Toews carries the puck in and gives it to DeBrincat who dishes it to the point. Erik Gustaffson’s shot misses the net and is picked up by Toews in front. As Allen is getting back to the right post, Jonathon Toews slips it in for a goal.

CHI Goal: Jonathon Toews (2) Assisted By Erik Gustaffson (2) and Alex DeBrincat (1) 2-1 Blues

2nd Period

The Chicago Blackhawks have the puck in the offensive zone a minute and a half into the period. Nick Schmaltz shoots the puck into the corner where it is picked up by Patrick Kane. The puck is on Kane’s stick as he carries it to the high slot. Kane takes a wicked wrist shot that finds the back of the net up over Jake Allen’s blocker.

CHI Goal: Patrick Kane (2) Assisted By Nick Schmaltz (1) 2-2 Tie

Just past the halfway point of the game, the Blues are trying to break out of the zone with a long stretch pass. The pass gets blocked by a leg then picked up by Tyler Bozak. He breaks into the zone and leaves the puck for Steen. The puck is knocked away and sent to Patrick Kane. Marcus Kruger and Patrick Kane come in on a 2-on-1. Kane shoots at Jake Allen’s left leg. Allen slides over, makes the save and leaves a juicy rebound for Marcus Kruger who swats it home for a Blackhawks goal.

CHI Goal: Marcus Kruger (1) Assisted By Patrick Kane (2) and Nick Schmaltz (2) 3-2 Blackhawks

3rd Period

The puck is played up to Sammy Blais at center ice. Brent Seabrook steps up to knock Blais off the puck but Blais swings around and has his knee clipped by Seabrook. This draws a tripping penalty and the Blues go to the powerplay not even four minutes into the third.

During the power play, the Blues win the face-off and get set up. O’Reilly sends the puck to Vince Dunn who sends it back to O’Reilly just above the near circle. Ryan O’Reilly slap passes the puck down low to Pat Maroon in front of the net. Maroon spins and throws a backhand pass on to the tape of Vladimir Tarasenko who takes a shot at a wide open net. Cam Ward turns and knocked the puck away with his stick and play continues. “But Wait…” says Toronto as they call down to St. Louis, to review this play.

It turns out that the save by Cam Ward was made behind the goal line. Vladimir Tarasenko has scored a BLUUUEESSS POWERPLAY GOAL.

STL Goal: Vladimir Tarasenko (2) Assisted By Patrick Maroon (2) and Ryan O’Reilly (4) 3-3 Tie

4:20 into the third and almost a minute after Tarasenko’s game-tying goal, St. Louis has the puck behind the net. Jaden Schwartz, who is there, throws it through the slot to Ivan Barbashev. A redirection of the puck sends it to Chris Butler. Butler shoots and scores on Cam Ward who is screened. BLUUUEESSS GOAL.

STL Goal: Chris Butler (1) Assisted By Ivan Barbashev (1) and Jaden Schwartz (1) 4-3 Blues

Two minutes later Chicago has the puck in the zone. DeBrincat has it then drops it off to Henri Jokiharju who takes a shot. Allen makes the first save but leaves the rebound for Jonathon Toews. Alex Pietrangelo, who should have been boxing Toews out, was near the goal and on one knee while Toews put it into a wide open net to tie the game again.

CHI Goal: Jonathon Toews (3) Assisted By Henri Jokiharju (1) and Alex DeBrincat (2) 4-4 Tie

Overtime

Vladimir Tarasenko has the puck and drops it off for Vince Dunn. The puck is blocked away by Jokiharju and Brandon Saad. Toews races to get it on a breakaway. Skating in on Allen, Toews rips a shot at the hash marks over Jake Allen’s glove and off the crossbar. The puck sits inside the net as Jonathon Toews has the game-winner and a hat-trick.

CHI Goal Jonathon Toews (4) Assisted By Brandon Saad (1) and Henri Jokiharju (2) 5-4 Blackhawks

Final in Overtime: Chicago 5 – St. Louis 4

Jake Allen looked good but not great. There were times when he made great saves and there were times where it looked like he could have made a save. The defense was better this game than the first game but there are still positioning mistakes and plays where a defenseman needs to keep his man from getting in front of the net. Alex Pietrangelo let his man walk right to the front a few times which led to goals by the Blackhawks.

The powerplay is finally gaining traction and it looked good even though the Blues were just 2-for-6 with the man advantage. The fourth line didn’t play as much as they did in the first game and Robert Thomas was almost invisible. Thomas is still trying to make the team and needs to get things going. He has 7 games left in his 9 game tryout.

A final positive for game 2 of 82: Ryan O’Reilly won 20 of the 23 faceoffs he took. That is good for 87 percent. O’Reilly was 8-for-8 against Toews. All three faceoff losses by O’Reilly were to Artem Anisimov.

Thoughts

The Blues looked better in the third but the defense is still not the best. The little things like boxing out are not getting done
Jordan Kyrou and Sammy Blais both look like they may be full-time NHLers in the near future while Robert Thomas may not make the team.

What’s Ahead?

The St. Louis Blues (0-1-1) are home against the Calgary Flames (1-1-0) on Thursday (10/11) at 7:00 pm.

Other Blues News

• Just after his first goal of the season, Chris Butler was assigned to the San Antonio Rampage
• Joel Edmundson may be ready to go by Thursday’s game against Calgary

Social Media

Follow Jared on twitter @jared_pettus_00 

Photo Credit

Photo Courtesy of Jared Pettus