Two streaks ended tonight: the Blues’ penalty kill streak ended at 51, and the Blues undefeated when scoring 3 goals streak ended as well. The Blues, though, did not deserve to win this game. Despite a good first period as far as shooting percentage goes, the Blues only exploited a shaky Ray Emery; the three goals weren’t a testament to how they were planning on playing this game.
The Blackhawks outshot the Blues 44-24. When you allow yourself to be outshot that much, you really don’t deserve a point let alone to win the game. The Blues at least came away with one of those; they’re up to 98 points on the season and still hold the top spot in the league. Blues fans shouldn’t worry about the game — every team has a terrible game here and there, and God knows that this was one of the clunkers for the Blues — but just because they lost doesn’t mean that it’s the end of the world. For whatever reason they looked tired and disorganized. Ken Hitchcock should have them back in decent form to take on the Eastern Conference second-worst Carolina Hurricanes Thursday.
It’s silly to have a meltdown when you’re team’s leading the league. Stuff happens. Take a deep breath, learn from it, and come back Thursday night ready to win.