St. Louis Blues At Washington Capitals Final Score: Blues Spoil Dale Hunter's Debut 2-1

The Blues might not be a high scoring team, and the power play is apparently on the fritz again, but as long as they keep playing like this – with a tremendous will to win – they’re going to steamroll the competition. Ken Hitchcock’s team spoiled Dale Hunter’s debut, adding a eighth win to Hitch’s total and another two points to the Blues’ coiffers.

The Blues were aggressive and completely un-intimidated. Heck, Scott Nichol even got into it, as ill-advised as this was:

You have to love a guy like that’s heart.

The Blues are now second in the league in five on five scoring, so the lack of power play goals aren’t hindering the scoring, as frustrating as that would be. Part of the reason the scoring’s staying up, of course, is that the shot total is staying up. The Blues outshot the Capitals 30-19 on the evening.

Jaroslav Halak won his fourth of the season, allowing just one goal. This is his second one goal game since Hitchcock’s taken over. Add that to a shutout and a solid shootout loss, and the 3-2 loss to the Kings on the 15th looks like a fluke. The Blues have two extremely on goaltenders right now. With everything firing on all cylinders, there’s no reason why this season shouldn’t continue to be solid.

With tonight’s win, the Blues are in 4th in the Western Conference, and if the Blackhawks lose to the Phoenix Coyotes tonight then the Blues’ game Friday night against the Colorado Avalanche could very well be for the top spot in the Conference.

St. Louis Blues At Washington Capitals: Blues Take 2-1 Lead On Matt D'Agostini Goal

The second line hasn’t exactly been productive. Before tonight’s game, you’ll have to go back to November 15th to see the last point that Patrik Berglund scored. Chris Stewart has three assists and a goal in his last ten games. Matt D’Agostini has two and an assist in that same amount of time. Well, let’s say three goals and an assist in eleven, because being able to track and follow the puck well got him a cookie:

The Blues haven’t let the Capitals really put forth any sort of pressure on the offense so far. The Capitals only got six shots on the period, but part of the Blues’ outshooting the Caps by a 11-6 margin was the short lived five on three they were given thanks to a trip by Brooks Laich and then a four minute hi-sticking call on Troy Brouwer. Of course, just a few seconds into the five on three, Kevin Shattenkirk gets called for hooking, and the Blues couldn’t convert on the 4-on-3 or the 4-on-4. The power play is still crippled by the loss of both Andy McDonald and David Perron. The sooner they get back, the better.

St. Louis Blues At Washington Capitals: Blues And Caps Tied 1-1 After First Period

The cement in Alexander Ovechkin’s skates apparently got transfered to Jaroslav Halak. Ovie’s played with some get up and go so far, but hasn’t had any of the edge of your seat pep that he usually has. Regardless of if he’s standing still sometimes, such as when Kevin Shattenkirk gave him a big hit into the boards, Ovie’s been there when he needed to be. Minimal coverage on Ovie and David Backes losing Niklas Backstrom in the shuffle led to the first goal of the game, with a pass straight across the Blues end that Backstrom was able to fire over Halak’s blocker side pads. Had Halak pushed off to move laterally, he would have been able to block the puck, but oddly enough he remained upright and kind of shuffled over.

Luckily Vokoun is exactly as quick as Halak, and T. J. Oshie is observant as to where to go near the net – he tied it up with this beauty of a tap in from a bounce off the crossbar:

The Blues need to tighten up a bit more this period and be observant, but really they need to exploit the Caps’ amazingly surprising lack of speed. Dale Hunter probably isn’t a happy camper so far.

Alex Pietrangelo Out Sick Against Capitals Tonight; Cade Fairchild Called Up

The Blues’re going to be out a significant piece of the puzzle (see what I did there?) tonight, as number one defenseman Alex Pietrangelo will be out tonight with an illness. They’ve found another offensive defenseman to replace him with, as they’re calling up the AHL leader in +/- for the second time this season. Cade Fairchild was a 4th round pick in the 2007 NHL draft for the Blues, and has two goals and five assists with the Rivermen this year in 19 games.

Fairchild was called up for a couple of games last week, but did not play. Tonight will be his NHL debut, and he’s doing it against some offense that is looking to rebound after terrible play in both zones.

St. Louis Blues At Washington Capitals: Blues Get To Break In New Caps Coach Dale Hunter

Welcome to the NHL as a coach, Dale Hunter. You get to try to have top offensive threats who're under-producing score against a tighter defense than Ft. Knox. Best of luck.