Anaheim Ducks At St. Louis Blues: Bruce Boudreau Still Trying To Right His New Ship
None of the NHL's new coaches have been able to fix their team as well as Blues' coach Ken Hitchcock. The Ducks, Capitals, and Hurricanes should be suffering from a bad case of coach envy, and the Ducks' is about to get worse after tonight.
StoryStream
Live
4Total Updates since December 8, 2011
Important1
Updates3
Articles1
All Updates4
Do you want major updates to this story in your Facebook News Feed?
It was not an eventful third period for the Blues. They were slowing down as the Ducks started to press, but for the second game in a row, carrying a two goal lead gave the Blues some insurance just in case something happened, and it did. Devante Smith-Pelly hacked at a puck and it flew up and an odd angle and right past a screened Jaroslav Halak. In all honesty, Halak couldn’t’ve judged where the puck was going even if he weren’t screened on the play.
Goals like that happen, but thankfully it happened against Anaheim. In a night of comebacks in the NHL (the Devils came back to beat the Senators, the Predators came back to beat the Blue Jackets, and the Canucks roared back from three down to beat the Canadiens), the Blues needed to ensure that they wouldn’t be another victim, and Halak and the defense made sure that happened.
Oshie capped off a night of outstanding play with an empty net goal. He finished with two goals, five shots on goal, and a +2 rating for the night. Also having an outstanding evening was a guy who wasn’t even supposed to play: Ian Cole. Subbing for Kevin Shattenkirk, Cole had a goal and he assisted on Chris Porter’s goal. He finished +2 with over seventeen minutes of ice time – and a 100% shooting percentage.
The only line that did not have a successful night was the second line, made up of David Perron, Patrik Berglund, and Chris Stewart. They each finished -2, and Perron had the most ice-time amongst the three with 13:21.
Unfortunately for the Blues, the Blackhawks and Red Wings both won tonight. Since Vancouver also won, the Blues’re staying in 6th place with 35 points. Considering the way that they started the season, having this many points at this juncture of the season seemed like a pipe dream a few months ago. Ken Hitchcock’s turned it into a reality.
The Blues next face off against the San Jose Sharks Saturday night at 7:00.
A very, very sloppy beginning of a second period where the Blues were finding themselves outshot 5-0 turned around in a hurry. The Blues’ first shot in the period was by defenseman Ian Cole, who is in the game for an ill Kevin Shattenkirk. This happened:
He was in the perfect spot to snag a huge rebound let loose from Jonas Hiller on a Matt D’Agostini shot, and he wristed it past Hiller to put the Blues up 2-1. A little over ten minutes later, T.J. Oshie was able to put a nice wrister on Hiller that found the top of the net. Hiller was out trying to take away the shot, but dropped too quickly. Way to exploit a turn-over, Teej:
The Blues wound up with two goals on just five shots this period. Hopefully that shooting percentage continues through the third.
Some good give and take this game. Nothing too physical, but having Carlo Colaiacovo back on the ice is being felt. Unfortunately, Kevin Shattenkirk is not out there thanks to a touch of the flu.
The Blues might be leading in shots 11-4, but the game’s tied up. St. Louis’ goal came from Chris Porter, whose presence of mind to stop at the red line instead of skating off around the back of the net left him in prime position to see the uncovered puck an inch behind Jonas Hiller to be scooted into the net.
Unfortunately, just five minutes later, Bobby Ryan was able to net his 10th goal of this season from a pass by Teemu Selanne. Selanne, who apparently has found the fountain of youth, slid the puck from behind the net to a wide open Ryan, who just had to push it past Jaroslav Halak to tie the game up:
Luckily Hiller doesn’t seem to be on his best game tonight. Hopefully the Blues can take advantage of some of these bounces to get this one locked up in the next period.
None of the NHL's new coaches have been able to fix their team as well as Blues' coach Ken Hitchcock. The Ducks, Capitals, and Hurricanes should be suffering from a bad case of coach envy, and the Ducks' is about to get worse after tonight.
