The Blues’ve continued to play a pretty solid road game so far; despite looking sloppy at the start of the second period, they regrouped enough to convert on another power play – their second two powerplay goal game in a row. Alex Steen noticed that Jimmy Howard didn’t have the puck fully covered here, and there was no whistle – so he took advantage and batted the loose puck in to give the Blues a 2-0 lead:
You can’t poke at Howard for not being aware where the puck was – he’s the reason that the Wings aren’t down by more than one goal with the solid play he’s had in net so far. Brian Elliott’s also been impressive, despite giving up a goal to Nik Lidstrom that he absolutely did not see. Needless to say, Pavel Datsyuk – who has been all over the ice all night – was part of that, setting up Lidstrom for the shot.
The Blues’ defense will probably clamp down, but they need to continue outshooting the Wings (they currently are ahead 28-19) and they absolutely have to get that insurance goal. It would be a shame to lose out on two points, considering how well the Blues’ve been playing.