St. Louis Blues Morning Links: Home Is Heaven Vs. The Devils
The St. Louis Blues must have some sort of magic elixir in their gatorade bottles when they are on home ice. The Scottrade Center again proved to be a cure for their ailments.
Whatever is wrong with the St. Louis Blues seems to disappear when they return home. Perhaps disappear is too strong since they still have plenty of issues, but they certainly aren’t as affected by those issues on home ice.
That was again the case against the New Jersey Devils. Just when things looked bleak, the team found a way to bounce back when that would not have happened on the road.
The Blues shot themselves in the foot to start the game. A Vladimir Tarasenko whiff on the powerplay led to a break and eventually a shorthanded goal for New Jersey.
After that, another goal was scored. This time the Blues were on the wrong end of a fortunate bounce off the end wall. The Devils pounced on it and just like that the Blues found themselves down by a pair.
On the road it would have been a different story. St. Louis probably would have either closed up shop and gotten out with the score the same or allowed a handful more and chipped in a cheap goal of their own late.
Instead, the Blues gave a reason to reuse the old hashtag #RoarBacon. No, it wasn’t against the Blackhawks or the same dire scenario.
Still, St. Louis needed to find a way to win this one. After their disastrous road trip, it would not have boded well for this team to lose on home ice to the only team they defeated on their trip.
Instead, the Blues showed up. Tarasenko made up for his mistake and got the team on the board. It was downhill skiing from there.
St. Louis took a page out of the Predators book. Having witness it happen to them, the Blues turned the tabled and scored five unanswered goals themselves.
Further evidence to the home cooking magic that is going on are how some of the goals went in. The Blues earned all their scores, but the finishing product wasn’t the stuff of highlights.
Jori Lehtera was finally rewarded for his extra effort. Robby Fabbri got the initial credit but Lehtera got the tip. Perhaps that will spark a bit more confidence.
Alex Pietrangelo was just in the right place at the right time. Nail Yakupov‘s shot was deflected and fell into the net. Not how they draw things up, but he’ll take it after sitting so many games.
Patrik Berglund also got off the hot seat. It had been over 25 games since he scored and though it was an empty net, they all count.
The Blues must find a way to play this style on the road. We are far enough into the season to have more reason to trust the evidence in front of us than believe it will change. Still, it must change for the Blues to have hope of winning in the spring.
Here are your St. Louis Blues Morning Links to get your day started off right.
If you want to relive the game in more detail, Lou Korac and the NHL have your hookup. Stats, recap and of course highlights are all there. (NHL)
The Blues were clearly happy with their win, regardless of their opponent. Hear from the guys themselves from the postgame comments and interviews. (Blues)
The Blues have continually rotated their forward lines with different variables of success. The defense is often overlooked and though it didn’t help initially, the Blues seemed to benefit with some new defensive pairings. (Post-Dispatch)
In case you missed it, we posted our Second Day of Bluesmas yesterday. It even got featured on Fox Sports’ website. (Bleedin’ Blue)
While the Winter Classic itself is still a few weeks away, preparations began in earnest to set things up. There will be tons of work and man-hours put into the thing that the general public will never see. (STLToday)
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The Blues next opponent has a familiar name, but not as many familiar faces. That said, the Chicago Blackhawks have reinforcements ready on the horizon. (Blackhawk Up)
Some players want to hold on to their place on statistical lists for dear life. Mark Messier does not fall into that category. As he is about to see Jaromir Jagr pass him by, the Oiler and Rangers captain is more than happy to step aside. (ESPN)
Have a great day Blues fans!
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