The wrong time to visit Hockeytown
On Friday, Oct. 16, the Detroit Red Wings raised their ninth Stanley
Cup Championship banner to the rafters of the Joe Louis Arena. After
the banner-raising ceremony was over, they dropped the St. Louis
Blues right down to the ice.
The Red Wings celebrated their Stanley Cup victory by destroying the
Blues, 4-1.
Brendan Shanahan tallied his first hat trick of the season and Steve
Yzerman had three assists to fuel the victory.
After playing an even first 18 minutes of the game, the Red Wings
were rewarded with a power play when Mike Eastwood was sent to the
penalty box for charging. On the ensuing advantage, Yzerman and
Nicklas Lidstrom set up Sergei Federov for his first goal of the
season giving Detroit a 1-0 lead.
Just 17 seconds later, rookie Marty Reasoner scored the first goal
of his NHL career to tie the game at 1.
That stalemate lasted 56 seconds when Brendan Shanahan scored his
first of the game off of the rebound from a Jamie Macoun shot to
give Detroit a 2-1 lead going into the locker room.
Shanahan scored again 14:15 into the second when, in a scramble in
front of the St. Louis net, he flipped the puck over St. Louis
netminder Grant Fuhr's stick for a 3-1 advantage.
Shanny struck again four-and-a-half minutes later when his wrister
from between the circles slipped over Fuhr's glove to give Detroit a
4-1 lead and Shanahan the 11th hat trick of his career.
The Blues had plenty of opportunities to claw back into the contest,
but Red Wing goaltender Chris Osgood came up big and helped guide
Detroit to the win.
The Blues looked flat for the entire game and, by the way they
placed, never seemed to have a remote chance of winning.
"We didn't do anything well, from myself to Grant (Fuhr) to
everybody," Blues captain Chris Pronger said.
Fuhr, who made 21 saves in the loss, ended up straining his right
knee in the game. He will be out on a day-to-day basis, but St.
Louis hopes he'll be back as soon as possible, especially with the
way they have played defensively.
Home Sweet Home?
After getting their tails whipped in Detroit the night before, the
St. Louis Blues headed home to play their first game in the Kiel
Center this season.
The first home game was with the New York Islanders, a team that, by
looking at the roster, should be an easy win for the Blues.
It wasn't.
The Blues were frustrated all night long as they disappointed the
hometown fans with a 1-0 loss.
The only goal of the contest came at 16:08 of the second when the
Islanders where on a power play thanks to a Tony Twist holding-the-
stick call.
The story of the game was New York goaltender Tommy Salo. Salo
stopped every last one of the Blues' 23 shots for the 11th shutout
of his three-year career.
"He's turned it on for the last two games and is playing the puck
much tougher," said Islanders coach Mike Milbury.
Jamie McLennan stopped 11 of 12 shots in his first appearance of the
season.
Heading for the Nation's Capital (with the nation mentioned being
Canada)
So, the Blues were immersed in a two-game losing streak and looking
to end it fast. All they needed to do was travel to Ottawa and let
two former Senators do the damage for them.
Bluenote Michel Picard, a Senator from 1994-1996, had two goals with
Pavol Demitra, a Senator from 1993-1996, assisted on both those
goals as the Blues returned to their winning ways, defeating Ottawa
5-3.
It was the Senators who got on the board first at 11:35 of the first
when Andreas Johansson and Stanislav Neckar set up Radek Bonk for a
1-0 Ottawa lead.
Kelly Chase returned the favor about a minute-and-a-half later when
he intercepted a clearing pass and slipped a shot passed Senators
goaltender Ron Tugnutt to make the score 1-1.
Just 34 seconds later, a two-on-one break by Pierre Turgeon and
Craig Conroy gave Turgeon his first goal of the season and St.
Louis a 2-1 lead.
With almost two minutes left in the first, Picard picked up his
first of the night giving the Blues a 3-1 lead going into the
locker room for the first intermission.
Picard's second tally came 8:39 into the second period when Al
MacInnis and Demitra set up his wrist shot, increasing the
advantage to 4-1.
Andreas Johansson added a power-play goal late in the third, but
Mike Eastwood's empty-net goal with under a minute left sealed the
deal.
Shaun Van Allen scored with three seconds left, but the outcome was
already determined as the Blues ended their two-game skid, winning
5-3.
The Blues defense, a big question mark going into the game, was the
key especially the penalty kill. A unit that was ranked 22nd in the
league going into the Ottawa match, killed nine of 10 power plays.
Jamie McLennan stopped 27 of 30 shots to earn his first win of the
season.
Defending Home Ice
People always say that the best offense is a good defense. The St.
Louis Blues took that to heart when the faced the Calgary Flames in
St. Louis Saturday night.
Defenseman Chris Pronger scored two goals and Al MacInnis added a
goal with 1.4 seconds left in regulation as the Blues beat the
Flames 4-3.
Pronger started the scoring on the power play when, while in a
scrum, he knocked in the loose puck to give St. Louis a 1-0 lead
just five minutes into the match.
The score remained that way until 2:27 into the second when Pavol
Demitra scored his third goal of the young season. His power-play
goal, assisted by Michel Picard and Al MacInnis, gave the Blues a
2-0 lead. The Flames fought back when Cale Hulse scored their first
goal of the game at 7:55 of the second.
But Pronger extended the lead back to two goals at 11:10 of the
second. Marty Reasoner's deflection was stopped by Flames'
goaltender Ken Wregget. Wregget couldn't control the rebound and
the Blues' captain finished off the play, giving St. Louis a 3-1
advantage.
If there has been one soft point of the Blues this year it has been
their defense late in the game. They blew a two-goal lead to Boston
in the season opener and, in every one of their wins, they've
allowed teams to narrow the deficit late in the game.
So why should this game be any different?
Theo Fleury made the score 3-2 on a breakaway eight minutes into the
third. Then with only 1:26 left, Valeri Bure, standing at the side
of the St. Louis net, banked the puck off of goaltender Jamie
McLennan's skate to tie the game at 3.
Both teams played back and forth to try and take the lead, but
neither side could succeed. It looked like the game was headed
toward overtime, until one shot changed it all.
Al MacInnis, the man known for his 100 mph slap shot, wound up,
stopped and pushed a shot passed Wregget with 1.4 seconds on the
shot, giving the Blues the 4-3 victory.
"I was just trying to slide it by him and somehow it got up in the
air," MacInnis said. "I had my head half-turned when I saw the guys
cheering."
So, the Blues split the past two weeks' games. And although two wins
are good, an old problem resurfaced. St. Louis is having trouble
holding onto leads.
Now, there are two ways to solve this problem: 1) score a whole hell
of a lot of goals, or 2) play defense.
The Blues get the opportunity to choose which option they want. I
recommend the second.
