It’s been a while since the Blues’ve scored four goals. To start the month of January off they netted four against the Coyotes, Oilers, and Avalanche, and haven’t done so since. Their offensive hiccups seemed to be solved pretty well tonight, and the Blues handed Buffalo their 12th straight road loss.
The Blues began the period’s scoring on a power play. Thomas Vanek was called for hooking, and the Blues wasted no time capitalizing on it. A clean face-off win and great positioning by David Backes by the net led to what would be the game winning goal for the Captain:
The two goal lead was short lived, however. Five minutes after Backes’ goal, T.J. Oshie was called for both roughing and then for an unsportsmanlike conduct for sharing his opinion of the original call with the ref. Unfortunately, Tyler Myers found the back of the net here, though thankfully the goal was scored on the second of Oshie’s penalties, making sure the Blues were back at full strength to close out the period.
Backes potted the empty netter to seal the deal, and cap off his four point night. So far this month, the Blues are 8-0-1, getting 17 of 18 points. Unfortunately, tonight was the last of the five-game homestand, with the Blues facing a very important game Monday night in Detroit. They dropped their last two in the Motor City, blowing a two goal lead in one to lose 3-2, and getting shut out in the other 3-0.
Tonight’s win bumps the Blues up to 4th in the Western Conference, and continues their excellent home record to 21-3-3. Detroit has won a franchise record 16 games straight at Joe Lewis, however, so Monday will be a tough day-trip to Detroit for the Blues.