St. Louis Blues At Detroit Red Wings: Division Not-A-Rivals Square Off
The Blues're still without T.J. Oshie tonight, and the Wings are out a Tomas Holmstrom. It's a battle of the coaching geniuses tonight in Joe Louis Arena, as Ken HItchcock wants to keep the Blues on a roll, and Mike Babcock has to have the Wings continue their ten game winning streak at home.
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There’s an implosion, and there’s tonight. Regardless of if they’re tired of playing back to back games (as did the Red Wings) or if they’re worn out because they were down to five defensemen thanks to a Kris Russell injury, the Blues absolutely quit in the third period, and allowed the Red Wings a wide open period with which to roar back and knock off the Blues 3-2, climbing ahead of St. Louis by one point in the standings.
Pavel Datsyuk, shortly after an elbow to the face of Barret Jackman, tapped in a rebound of an Ian White shot at 11:19 into the period. Niklas Kronwall iced it with the game winner, a sneaky wrister that Elliott didn’t see thanks to Carlo Colaiacovo screening his own goaltender.
Jimmy Howard has to be given praise for his stellar play tonight. After his second goal allowed, he clamped down, made some fantastic saves, and completely won Detroit the game. It also helped that St. Louis managed just three shots on goal the third period to Detroit’s 13, which is inexcusable.
Thankfully the Blues’ll have the chance to come with Oshie (and hopefully Russell) back on Saturday night, as ringing in 2012 with a win’d be swell. We’re back on FoxSports Midwest on Friday as the Blues square off with the Nashville Predators at Scottrade.
The Blues’ve continued to play a pretty solid road game so far; despite looking sloppy at the start of the second period, they regrouped enough to convert on another power play – their second two powerplay goal game in a row. Alex Steen noticed that Jimmy Howard didn’t have the puck fully covered here, and there was no whistle – so he took advantage and batted the loose puck in to give the Blues a 2-0 lead:
You can’t poke at Howard for not being aware where the puck was – he’s the reason that the Wings aren’t down by more than one goal with the solid play he’s had in net so far. Brian Elliott’s also been impressive, despite giving up a goal to Nik Lidstrom that he absolutely did not see. Needless to say, Pavel Datsyuk – who has been all over the ice all night – was part of that, setting up Lidstrom for the shot.
The Blues’ defense will probably clamp down, but they need to continue outshooting the Wings (they currently are ahead 28-19) and they absolutely have to get that insurance goal. It would be a shame to lose out on two points, considering how well the Blues’ve been playing.
Three for four on the power play in the last two games – this is what the Blues’ve needed to pull their game up a level. Last place in the NHL no more (now 28th!), the Blues pulled ahead of the Red Wings on a Matt D’Agostini powerplay goal. D’Ags screened Detroit goaltender Jimmy Howard and was able to redirect a Kevin Shattenkirk bomb from the point past the goaltender:
The Blues controlled the first period initially, but later allowed the Wings to gain their bearings. Nonetheless, there’s little to complain about when a road team is up 1-0 after one period and is leading in shots 10-7. Factor in the fact that the Blues’ve not taken a penalty yet so far, and this’s turned into a solid road period.
The Blues're still without T.J. Oshie tonight, and the Wings are out a Tomas Holmstrom. It's a battle of the coaching geniuses tonight in Joe Louis Arena, as Ken HItchcock wants to keep the Blues on a roll, and Mike Babcock has to have the Wings continue their ten game winning streak at home.
