Oh, That Good Old-Fashioned Chicago-St. Louis Rivalry
With two ties on their resume from their previous two games, the St.
Louis Blues looked for an outcome greater than one point as they
returned from their three-game left-coast road trip.
When they returned from the fun and sun of California, they found
the hapless-since-1992 Chicago Blackhawks waiting for them. To pick
up the two points they wanted in that game, they relied on just two
players -- Pavol Demitra and Pierre Turgeon.
Demitra had a hand in every goal on the evening, scoring twice and
helping three times, and Pierre Turgeon scored those three goals as
the Blues held off the Hawks 5-2.
But the St. Louis offense wasn't the biggest factor in the game.
That honor goes to the defense who allowed only 14 shots to reach
goaltender Jamie McLennan, who was playing despite a sore thumb.
Blues' head coach Joel Quenneville was pleased with his team's play
throughout the entire game.
"I can't think of a better game we've played this year," he said.
"The offense was strong all night and the defense didn't let them
have many scoring chances."
Quenneville's opposing number, Chicago head coach Dirk Graham, was
not as pleased with his team's effort as Quenneville, saying that
the only players that showed up to play for his team were right
wing Dennis Bonvie and left wing Reid Simpson, who both got into
fights with Tony Twist and Kelly Chase, respectively.
One Scary Road Trip
One would say that a big loss to division rival Detroit would be the
most devastating thing possible to the St. Louis Blues. A person who
would say that wouldn't be aware of what happened on the trip to
Detroit.
As the team's charter plane prepared to land at Detroit Metropolitan
Airport, heavy winds shook the plane back and forth, causing many of
the players and staff on the plane to wonder if they would even be
around for that night's game against the Red Wings.
"It was the scariest flight I've ever been on," forward Geoff
Courtnall told The St. Louis Post-Dispatch. "We came in and had to
go back up and come down again."
"We were going sideways," forward Tony Twist said. "How do you go
sideways in a plane at 500 miles per hour?"
The flight itself had to wear down the Blues, as they fell behind
4-0 after 40 minutes and eventually lost to the defending champions
6-2. Scott Pellerin and Jim Campbell were the only two players to
score for St. Louis, who had 28 shots on the night.
"They are the best team in the league, but we just gave them too
much respect," defenseman Al MacInnis said. "We didn't compete. If
you give them some room, they're going to make you look bad, and we
did tonight."
The loss was sort of bad for the team, especially if they planned to
win the division. The two points Detroit picked up for the win tied
them with St. Louis atop the Central Division.
"We weren't ready to compete in an important game," Blues head coach
Quenneville said. "It's a four-point swing. I know it's early, but
it was still an important game and we didn't respond."
Expansion Means Two Points
After getting their butts handed to them on a platter in Detroit,
the Blues headed home (this flight was smooth) to meet the expansion
Nashville Predators.
But this was not another expansion team. Coming into the game, the
Predators were just three points behind the Central Divsion
co-leader Blues.
Nobody told St. Louis that.
Al MacInnis and Pavol Demitra both netted their team-high eighth
goals of the season as the Blues pinned a three-spot on the
scoreboard in the first period and went on to beat the Preds 5-1.
St. Louis outshot the newest club in the NHL 39-17, and their five
goals in the first two periods were enough to chase Nashville's
starting goaltender Mike Dunham before the third period.
Rematch With Expansion Team Means Two Points, Right?
Five days after pasting Nashville at home, the Blues traveled to the
land of country music for the first time ever to try and defeat the
Preds again.
Uh, not that simple.
St. Louis dented the scoreboard first when Pierre Turgeon and Pavol
Demitra set up linemate Geoff Courtnall to give St. Louis a 1-0 lead
3:22 into the first. A little more than five minutes later, Craig
Conroy made it 2-0 when he scored off of a three-on-two led by
defenseman Chris Pronger.
With 1:33 left in the opening period, Nashville narrowed the gap when
Predator's captain Tom Fitzgerald and former-Bluenote Darren Turcotte
helped Patrik Kjellberg put the puck in the net for the third time of
the season, making it 2-1.
After a scoreless second period, Ville Peltonen took Scott Walker's
pass and blasted it past Blues goaltender Jamie McLennan to tie the
game at 2-2 with just under 15 minutes left.
With :39 left in the game, Denny Lambert intercepted an errant pass
from Blues defenseman Todd Gill, and passed it to Cliff Ronning, who
one-timed it past Jamie McLennan to give Nashville a 3-2 victory,
their first victory ever against a Central Division opponent.
For the Blues, being up two goals and then losing it at the last
second was the worst way to lose this game.
"Any time you're up 2-0, it's tough to lose a game like that when you
stop doing the things you did to get up 2-0," said Chris Pronger, the
Blues' captain. "It's a tough pill to swallow. In the third period is
where you've got to be your strongest. We've done that a few times,
and it's disappointing. It's frustrating."
The Return of Brett Hu....What The Frig???
The Kiel Center was ready for something special.
A crowd of 20,294 filed into the home arena of the St. Louis Blues to
see one man return. A man who had one of the greatest careers of any
player to ever wear a Bluenote on his chest.
Finally, game time neared.
The excitement that had been building since July 3 quickly turned to
utter disappointed when the scratches were announced. The name of
the man the 20,294 fans wanted to see was spoken over the PA
system.
"Number 22, Brett Hull."
Naturally, the crowd booed.
Brett Hull, the man who owns the Blues' career goal-scoring record,
stayed in Dallas to nurse a bruised kidney. But his team showed up
in St. Louis as the top team in the league when they took on the
Blues. And Dallas's superiority showed early in the contest.
On a power play eight minutes into the first, St. Louis goaltender
Jamie McLennan stopped a Darryl Sydor shot but couldn't control the
rebound, as Mike Modano put that home as Dallas took a 1-0 lead.
A little more than eight minutes later, Grant Marshall extended that
lead when he beat McLennan on his short side, giving Dallas a 2-0
lead. That goal was McLennan's last as he left the game after the
first with back spasms.
Rich Parent, the man who replaced McLennan, let in his first goal of
the game when Jamie Langenbrunner scored on a power play 16:09 into
the second to give Dallas a 3-0 advantage and complete control of
the game.
But St. Louis wasn't finished. 1:27 left in the second, Pavol
Demitra scored on the power play.
3-1 Dallas.
15:43 left in the third, the rebound of a Tony Twist shot was put in
the net by Mike Eastwood.
3-2 Dallas.
12:56 left in the third, Pascal Rheaume set up the puck for Pierre
Turgeon who tied the game up from in front of the net.
3-3.
Dallas head coach Ken Hitchcock had seen enough scoring as he pulled
starting goaltender Roman Turek, who allowed three goals in 8:31, in
favor of Ed Belfour. And Belfour slammed the door shut, sending the
tied game into overtime.
The Stars had the best opportunity in the extra frame when they had a
power play for three minutes. The St. Louis penalty killing didn't
let up anything as the Blues clawed back from three goals down and
earned a tie with a 3-3 final.
"They were more hungry than we were for 60 minutes," Hitchcock said
of the Blues. "We tried to sit on it and once we got back on our
heels, we couldn't get going again."
So, all in all, the Blues didn't have a bad two weeks. Five points
in three games is always good in my book. But one problem arose in
the five games, and, once again, it involved a goaltender. Jamie
McLennan is day-to-day with back spasms, meaning both of St.
Louis's goaltenders are on the training room bed.
It's up to rookie goaltenders to stop the puck. But the burden must
be placed on the defense who needs to keep the opponents' shot
total to a minimum.
