Carolina Hurricanes' Jeff Skinner Suspended Two Games For Kick On Blues' Scott Nichol

Thursday night’s game between the St. Louis Blues and Carolina Hurricanes seemed a bit more pushy than what one would expect. Lots of hits, shoves, and a pretty nasty spill into the boards by Andy McDonald (courtesy of one Tuomo Ruutu) highlighted the game. Ruutu’s hit on McDonald was questionable - one that TSN’s resident ref Kerry Fraser thinks should have been a tripping call - and now McDonald is listed as “week to week,” something that should make Blues’ fans cringe.

The thing that was overlooked a bit Thursday was Jeff Skinner managing to kick Blues forward Scott Nichol. Here’s the explanation via Brendan Shanahan:

Skinner will be out for two games and will forfeit $9,729.72 in salary for a pretty ill advised way to let out some frustration. It’s not that Carolina’s depending on him for a playoff run, but he’s still the kind of player they need around. Hopefully this is a lesson learned: kicking, especially when you’re wearing blades sharper than a chef’s knife, is not appropriate. Ever.

Blues Vs. Hurricanes Final Score: Cam Ward Shuts The Door In 2-0 Carolina Win

Cam Ward was in Conn Smythe mode and the Blues were in defeatist mode tonight with a 2-0 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes. Brian Elliott was no slouch in net either, making some incredible saves all game, but Chad LaRose’s goal was a trickler that snuck by:

Any air that was left in the Blues’ sails was puffed out by that goal, as the rest of the game they appeared disinterested and chock full of bad decisions —Kevin Shattenkirk’s lack of a pinch on this Jeff Skinner goal was a decent example of that:

They didn’t make the game easy on Cam Ward, who was forced to stop 40 SOG, but the shots they were taking didn’t necessarily require much effort from Ward to win his 200th game.

This is just a two game losing streak — it happens — but the way that it’s happened and the lack of a level of intensity on a road trip is troubling. It’s more so because they know that it’s a problem.

The Blues next play in Tampa Bay against the Lightning Saturday night. The road trip requires some oomph, and so does playing against a team hoping for a miracle to get into the playoffs.

Blues Vs. Hurricanes: Rough Game Gets Rougher, Still Tied 0-0 After One

People seem shocked that the Carolina Hurricanes are playing a rough brand of hockey tonight. A couple of reasons here — they have Tuomo Ruutu, who is notorious for sneaky injury causing plays (more on that in a sec); they have Eric Staal, who tends to make bad decisions when annoyed by teams more physical than he is; and they are in a three way tie for last place in the division.

The aforementioned Ruutu injury causing play was on Andy McDonald, unfortunately. The goal scoring, play making waterbug was shoved into the boards by Ruutu, sans call.

McDonald left the game clutching his shoulder and hasn’t returned since.

The pressure during the game was too much for captain Staal to handle; having McDonald injured woke the Blues up. Some rough shoving turned into two minor penalties: one for slashing and one for tripping with less than twenty minutes to go in the period. Unfortunately, Pietrangelo negated two minutes of that with a retaliatory check on Bryan Allen. Allen hit Oshie open ice, and it looked as though he got his arm a bit high on the hit. Pietrangelo took exception and skated by to hit Allen, killing two minutes of the man advantage.

The Blues had 12 shots to Carolina’s 7 that period, putting the game’s shot total at 25-19 St. Louis.

Blues Vs. Hurricanes First Period Score: Slipshod Play Keeps It Tied 0-0

The Blues intended to come out this game more disciplined than the last against the Blackhawks, and it didn’t quite work out that way. Fortunately, you can blame it partially on refs and make-up calls (Scott Nichol dished out a rare shoulder on shoulder trip), but the overall level of play this period left something to be desired.

The low-light was a Chad LaRose double minor for high sticking that turned into absolutely nothing at all for the Blues. Carolina killed off all four minutes of the penalty. It’s impressive that the power play lasted this long, as the Blues’ first one of the game, a Tuomo Ruutu tripping call was negated 50 seconds in by Chris Stewart.

St. Louis has 13 shots on goal to Carolina’s twelve, and the Canes have dinged the post twice. The blues might want to tighten up here a bit in the second.

St. Louis Blues Can Be First To Clinch Playoff Spot With Win Over Carolina Hurricanes

The Blues’ season has been tremendous on so many levels, and it’s a gimmie that lots of fans have been checking the standings to see if the Blues’ve clinched a playoff spot yet. Sports Club Stats has 100% odds that the Blues’ll be in the playoffs. They have 98 points. So, aren’t they as good as in?

According to NHL.com, if they defeat the Carolina Hurricanes tonight, and if Calgary and San Jose lose in regulation, then the Blues’re in the playoffs with 100 points — with 14 more games to go. They probably won’t do it, but there’s a chance they can actually finish a season with 128 points at the most. Raise your hand if you expected that at the start of the year.

Yup. Thought so.

Blues Vs. Hurricanes: Jaroslav Halak Looking For Team Support

Too many penalties, bad turnovers, sloppy passes, and a lack of urgency haven't kept the Blues from racking up points, but that's still no reason to keep on playing the way that they have.