SB Nation St. Louis - St. Louis Blues At Dallas Stars: Blues Sluggish To Start, Fall 3-2https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/49009/stl-fave.png2011-10-14T08:28:02-05:00http://stlouis.sbnation.com/rss/stream/22527932011-10-14T08:28:02-05:002011-10-14T08:28:02-05:00Final Score: Dallas Stars 3, St. Louis Blues 2
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<p>The special teams that the Blues needed to work on in order to play well against the Dallas Stars didn’t do their job last night. In fact, the powerplay, which went 0-for-5, was so sloppy that it allowed a shorthanded goal by Loui Eriksson. The penalty kill looked fairly good, allowing one goal on five Dallas attempts, but the team was still sluggish out of the gate.</p>
<p>The Blues tried to come back in it with goals from Matt D’Agostini and Chris Stewart in the second and third period respectively, but when you’re slow out of the gate and the goaltender that you’re facing is having a hot streak, you’re going to have to amp up your game – not spend a period trying to find your game. Kari Lehtonen stopped 33 of 35 shots on goal, which is impressive.</p>
<p>What was not impressive was the performance of Jaroslav Halak, who hasn’t regained the form that he had in Montreal – the form that caused the Blues to make what was then a blockbuster trade to acquire him. All three goals were amazingly stoppable. All three pucks went in between Halak’s legs, which means he needs to drop and close them significantly quicker. He’s been slow and more than a bit seemingly “out of it” this season thus far, and while the Blues’ performance last night certainly wasn’t amazing, and the defense did hang him out to dry on the second goal, the game was immensely winnable had Halak dropped faster.</p>
<p>The Blues continue their four game road trip Saturday night at 9 against the San Jose Sharks.</p>
https://stlouis.sbnation.com/st-louis-blues/2011/10/14/2489801/final-score-dallas-stars-3-st-louis-blues-2Laura Astorian2011-10-13T17:12:00-05:002011-10-13T17:12:00-05:00St. Louis Blues At Dallas Stars: Blues Face A Red-Hot Kari Lehtonen
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<p>After a dominating 5-2 win over the Calgary Flames on Monday, the Blues hope to play an improved power play against one of the best goaltenders in the league so far this season.</p> <p>Two games into a season isn't enough time to go into panic mode, but it is enough time to raise eyebrows if something's wrong. Aside from <span>Jaroslav Halak</span> looking shaky in net, something that has sportswriters and fans raising an eyebrow is the inauspicious start that special teams have had. The <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.stlouisgametime.com/">Blues</a> have been on the penalty kill seven times this season thus far, and have allowed three goals. If that continues, that will mean that opponents will score about 43% of the time. That's a lot of goals.</p>
<p>The powerplay has scored just once, courtesy of Jason Arnott Monday afternoon. During the first game of the season it looked disoriented, as though those guys had never practiced together before. It improved slightly as the game went on, and did apply pressure in Monday's 5-2 win over the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.matchsticksandgasoline.com/">Calgary Flames</a>. Generally speaking, though, it could be significantly better. </p>
<p>Unfortunately for the Blues, tonight's a trifecta of obstacles. Firstly, tonight is the first game in a four game road trip for the team that will take them to San Jose, Anahiem, and Los Angeles next. Secondly, Dallas swept the Blues 0-3-1 last season for the first time in franchise history. Thirdly, <span>Kari Lehtonen's</span> had good success against St. Louis and he is on fire to start the season. Lehtonen's 6-1-0 against the Blues in his career with a 1.69 GAA, which is certainly better than Halak's winless record and 3.05 GAA against the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.defendingbigd.com/">Stars</a>.</p>
<p>Lehtonen's one of the top goaltenders out of the gate this season, with a microscopic .97 GAA and a .975 SV%. These are career numbers for him if he keeps it up. The rest of the Dallas team, however, hasn't held up their end of the bargain offensively, scoring just six goals in the last three games. If Lehtonen has a bad outing, the team should be able to convert something to bail him out, and Dallas just doesn't seem to have found that gun yet. With the Blues more than doubling their opponents shots 68-33 over their first two games, Lehtonen better be on that game, because he'll be facing more shots probably tonight than Halak.</p>
<p>The puck drops at 7:30, right after the Cardinals game starts. Might I suggest picture in picture for the evening?</p>
https://stlouis.sbnation.com/st-louis-blues/2011/10/13/2488553/st-louis-blues-at-dallas-stars-blues-face-a-red-hot-kari-lehtonenLaura Astorian