Kings At Blues Final Score: Jaroslav Halak The Difference In 1-0 Win

Jaroslav Halak notched his 12th shutout as a member of the St. Louis Blues tonight, and it wasn’t without a few heart pounding saves and near goals for the Kings. Honestly, though, what would a Blues game be without that? The team still can’t seem to net a high number of goals despite chances, but when you have defense that’s limiting the Kings’ shots on net (they had none in the last five or so minutes of the third period) then you can afford to hear a couple of post clangs.

Halak stopped all 22 of the Kings’ shots for the teams’ 30th win in 50 games. The Blues wound up finishing the game with 33 shots on net; Jonathan Quick proved why he is an all-star goaltender. He played the role of “Chris Carpenter” tonight with a stellar performance blown by his teammates not being able to convert on solid scoring chances.

Some bad news did come out of tonight’s game. Jason Arnott, who is fourth on the team with twelve goals, took a shoulder on shoulder hit from Dustin Brown (a clean one, to clarify) that sent that left shoulder into the boards. Arnott left the ice of his own ability and headed back to the locker room, not to return:

With tonight’s win, the Blues hop the Nashville Predators, tomorrow night’s opponent, for the time being back into second in the Central Division and fourth in the Western Conference. Tomorrow night’s game will be a well-fought out match up between the NHL’s two hottest teams. It’s absolutely one not to be missed.

Kings At Blues Second Period Score: Blues Up 1-0 After Jamie Langenbrunner Goal

There’s something to be said for pressing forward and making things happen. That hasn’t exactly been Matt D’Agostini’s strength this year, but tonight he utilized his good strength and ability to stay upright on skates to make the Blues’ only goal so far tonight happen. A hip check from Drew Doughty isn’t enough to stop D’Agostini, who seemed basically unfazed by the poorly timed check that all but missed him. D’Ags continued heading to the net, where Jamie Langenbrunner was positioned perfectly to get a slap shot past Quick:

The rest of the period was a physical affair, with just one minor penalty each: Jarret Stoll for slashing and Roman Polak for tripping. I would be remiss to not mention the goaltending on each side. Jaroslav Halak has made several lead-saving saves that the Blues need to pay him back for in the way of goals. Jonathan Quick also is showing why he was an All-Star this past weekend, stopping 24 of 25 shots on goal. The Kings have just 13 SOG. That’s certainly not a way to win a game… they need to keep that up.

Kings At Blues First Period Score: Scoreless, But Blues Dominate Physical Play

It’s odd. The Blues had a massive nine-day break between their last game and tonight’s matchup, and it doesn’t look like they’re the team that’s having issues keeping up. Usually with such a long break, teams take a little while to get back into the swing of things; tonight it took just a couple of minutes and the Blues were getting shot after shot on Jonathan Quick.

The Blues’re outshooting the Kings 10-1. with Ryan Reaves getting two very good looks, using his big body to create chances while plowing to the net. David Perron had the obligatory post-clang, and the Blues had a few gift-wrapped chances go awry, but all in all, it was a solid start to their first period back after a break that lasted a bit too long.

Kings At Blues: St. Louis' Long All-Star Break Ends

The Nashville Predators and Detroit Red Wings have been given the opportunity to gain some ground in the Central Division race. Tonight the Blues get a chance to catch up.