Sloppy play and turnovers were the special du jour in this second period, apparently, as the Blues show that they can’t complete a 60 minute game without taking a 20 minute break. Dany Heatley scored the first of the period, capitalizing on sloppy Blues passing. Alex Pietrangelo gave the puck directly over to Guillaume Latendresse, who promptly backhand flipped it right past Halak.
Halak, however, kept the Blues in the game during the second period, considering the turnovers and lack of concentration helped the Wild take nine shots that period, most of which were up close and personal. Halak seems to do better with the in-close shots, but the shots where he needs to get in position to block a shot from further out.
The couple of end-of-period scrums signaled some frustration by the Blues, though chances are good that they’re not frustrated with the Wild, but rather with themselves. Instead of channeling that frustration into physicality of the roughing kind, perhaps they should channel it into effective shot choices. The Blues had 13 shots on goal that period, but the scoring chances would have been much higher – and much more converted on – if the team had either aimed or picked their spots better.