Throughout the 2017 Stanley Cup Playoffs, Puck Prose has run a series of pieces on the eliminated teams. In this one, the Nashville Predators eliminated the St. Louis Blues in six. How did they go wrong?
The St. Louis Blues have been eliminated from the 2017 Stanley Cup Playoffs. After beating the Minnesota Wild in five games in the first round, they lost to the Nashville Predators. The second series lasted six games.
How did the Blues go wrong from one series to the other? How do they fix that which ails them? What do they do to make sure that they don't make the same mistakes next year?
Offensive Production, Starting With Vladimir Tarasenko
Nashville Predators take St. Louis Blues right wing Vladimir Tarasenko (91) to the ice (Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports)
In the regular season, Vladimir Tarasenko scored nearly 40 goals, putting up 39 in 82 games. And then, in the playoffs, he scored only 3 in 11 games. When the going got tough, Vladimir Tarasenko took off, and that killed the Blues. They needed a leader to lean on, and it should have been Tarasenko, and it wasn't. In the series against Nashville, Tarasenko only scored in one game.
The rest of the team was also disappointing in the Nashville series. Whereas they scored 11 goals in five games versus Minnesota, they posted that same 11 in six games versus Nashville. The Predators held the Blues to one goal 3 times, each time a loss.
In the six-game series, only nine St. Louis Blues scored. Only two of them, Jaden Schwartz and Vladimir Tarasenko, scored multiple times. Again, Tarasenko did his damage solely in one game. Schwartz spread them out, which also turned out not to be beneficial.
Magnus Paajarvi wasn't able to find the same success as round one. Neither Patrik Berglund nor Alex Pietrangelo scored during the entirety of the 2017 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Same with David Perron and Jay Bouwmeester.
St. Louis Blues defenseman Alex Pietrangelo (27) (Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports)
And that reminds me – many of the defensemen on the St. Louis Blues couldn't find success shooting. Bouwmeester, Carl Gunnarsson, Robert Bortuzzo, and Pietrangelo all did not score in the 2017 Stanley Cup playoffs, despite their playing in 10 or more games. Only Colton Parayko and Joel Edmundson found that success.
How to Change It
That's gotta change. The Blues were much more successful last season, and it's because of the size that they had. David Backes and Troy Brouwer were able to use their bodies to score ugly goals from in front of the net. The Blues didn't have that same element this season, and they weren't able to screen Pekka Rinne.
Jake Allen Disappoints
In the first round of the 2017 Stanley Cup Playoffs, Jake Allen was an astounding goaltender. Allen posted three games above a .950 SV% against the Minnesota Wild. The Wild just could not find ways to beat him. Allen was a major factor in the upset of the Blues over the Wild.
And then Allen came up against the Nashville Predators. Twice his save percentage dipped below .900. And both his save percentage and goals-against average totals fell from the first series to the second. The Nashville Predators were able to deny the Blues goals on one end then turn right around and score them.
St. Louis Blues goalie Jake Allen (34) after allowing the game-winning goal (Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports)
In the second series, Allen posted a .909 SV% and a 2.40 GAA. That's down from a .956 SV% and a 1.47 GAA versus Minnesota. Allen truly was amazing and then suddenly he wasn't. The Blues came to be able to rely on him, and then when they couldn't anymore they couldn't win. The St. Louis Blues needed him, as they were constantly outplayed in both series, and that's why they lost.
Jake Allen ran out of gas in his first full year of playing starting goaltender for the St. Louis Blues. That's understandable, he hit the rookie wall. And that'll change next year, as he gains playoff experience and the ability to do longer season runs. Maybe get him a better backup than Carter Hutton, though.
Death by Special Teams
When it came to the special units in the St. Louis Blues-Nashville series, the Blues were crushed. The Predators scored on four of seventeen chances. The Blues scored on just one of fifteen. That one came in a game where they had five chances.
For five games, the St. Louis Blues could not score a power play goal. The Predators penalty kill destroyed the Blues power play, and St. Louis lost because of it. The Blues had several games with multiple chances. In game 5, a game they won, they went zero for five. Three times, though, they went zero for one.
St. Louis Blues right wing Scottie Upshall (10) is escorted off the ice after a penalty (Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports)
And that's something that also killed the Blues – when the Predators were called for penalties, they were called for penalties. When they weren't, they weren't. The Blues had one game with zero penalties, wherein the Predators had five. Otherwise, the Blues were called for more penalties than the Predators.
When the Blues were called for penalties, they were less successful on the kill. There were three games in which the Blues allowed a power play goal. In game one, they allowed two on three chances. That's not setting the team up for success. The St. Louis Blues were continually beaten on special teams, which must change.
Because if the Blues can't score when they had an advantage, I don't know how they could. Pekka Rinne was too big, the defense was too good. The one chance you have at beating that is when the other team is playing solely defensive hockey. And the Blues couldn't capitalize.
Conclusion
The Blues lost for their inability to score, starting with their leader Vladimir Tarasenko. They lost because they couldn't capitalize on the power play. They lost because they were reliant on a goaltender who lost his mojo. And the Blues lost for all these reasons combined. Nashville out hustled and out defended the Blues, and it ended in the elimination of St. Louis.
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