Vancouver Canucks At St. Louis Blues Final Score: Cardinals Act As Good Luck Charm, Blues Win 3-2

Personally, I suggest that at the very least, Tony LaRussa should be at every Blues game for the rest of the season as their unofficial mascot. He has nothing else to do now, right?

The hobbled penalty kill allowed a goal by Ryan Kesler just 23 seconds into the third period, but kept the Canucks scoreless for the remainder of the game. The tenacity of David Backes paid off, as he jammed home a puck at 5:59 for his fifth goal of the season. Oddly enough, the Blues had a multitude of wide open shots to take at Roberto Luongo’s net, but either didn’t take them or misfired completely. Shockingly, this didn’t come back to bite the Blues like it usually does, as they were able to keep the Canucks off of the scoreboard for the rest of the period.

Brian Elliott improves to 5-1 on the season with the win tonight. Tomorrow night the Blues travel to Minnesota to take on the Wild, so Jaroslav Halak’s a good candidate to start in net. It is telling that coach Davis Payne chose Elliott to start the home game and Halak to start the away. That’s a pretty good signifier of where his confidence is right now.

Vancouver Canucks At St. Louis Blues: Blues Up 2-1 After Two Periods On Second Oshie Goal

T.J. Oshie did not waste any time making sure that the Blues were carrying the momentum entering the second period. Just 1:28 into the first period, Oshie wristed the puck past a sprawling Roberto Luongo to put the Blues up. Great offensive pressure was put on the Canucks the entire period, but even more notable were Brian Elliott’s eleven saves that period, including one that nearly went in off of Carlo Colaiacovo’s skate.

The Blues’ power play is 0-for-2 so far tonight, but the power play in this period looked far preferable to many that fans have seen in the past. The puck control and the pressure were there; however, the shooting was not. The closest the puck came to going in was a booming shot of Matt D’Agostini’s from the point that Roberto Luongo somehow caught. If the Blues’d stop overthinking and react on reflex like D’Agostini did, more pucks might be going in on the PP.

Vancouver Canucks At St. Louis Blues: Game Tied 1-1 After First Period

Much like the Rams on Sunday, some of the Cardinals’ World Series magic might be rubbing off on the Blues. After an uninspired game on Sunday against the Oilers, the Blues have a lot more fight and more drive in this game, it seems. They’re able to break out of the zone effectively (even demonstrating their offensive prowess with a 4-on-2 breakout), and defensively they look better. Halak, who was the expected netminder for the evening, is on the bench in favor of Brian Elliott, so that might have something to do with the increased defensive abilities.

One goof defensively is all that it took though to get the Canucks on the board – and it wasn’t even the Canucks’ fault that they scored. Kevin Shattenkirk tried to no-look pass clear the zone, but promptly turned the puck over. Elliott blocked the shot, but Chris Steward batted the puck out of the air and into his own net. Reassurringly, the Blues didn’t fold – they picked themselves off, had a good grinder shift led by Ryan Reaves, and a cross-crease pass by Evgeny Grachev (intentional or not) to T.J. Oshie helped Osh score his second of the year on a backhand.

Here’s hoping that World Series trophy’s sitting in the locker room between periods for the guys to rub for good luck. It’s working so far.

Vancouver Canucks At St. Louis Blues: Blues, Halak Need To Regain Focus

It's Cardinals Night at the Blues game tonight, with the battle of the struggling goaltenders on the docket.