Jaroslav Halak notched his 12th shutout as a member of the St. Louis Blues tonight, and it wasn’t without a few heart pounding saves and near goals for the Kings. Honestly, though, what would a Blues game be without that? The team still can’t seem to net a high number of goals despite chances, but when you have defense that’s limiting the Kings’ shots on net (they had none in the last five or so minutes of the third period) then you can afford to hear a couple of post clangs.
Halak stopped all 22 of the Kings’ shots for the teams’ 30th win in 50 games. The Blues wound up finishing the game with 33 shots on net; Jonathan Quick proved why he is an all-star goaltender. He played the role of “Chris Carpenter” tonight with a stellar performance blown by his teammates not being able to convert on solid scoring chances.
Some bad news did come out of tonight’s game. Jason Arnott, who is fourth on the team with twelve goals, took a shoulder on shoulder hit from Dustin Brown (a clean one, to clarify) that sent that left shoulder into the boards. Arnott left the ice of his own ability and headed back to the locker room, not to return:
With tonight’s win, the Blues hop the Nashville Predators, tomorrow night’s opponent, for the time being back into second in the Central Division and fourth in the Western Conference. Tomorrow night’s game will be a well-fought out match up between the NHL’s two hottest teams. It’s absolutely one not to be missed.