Since it was Beanie Baby Night, Does That Mean David Wells Will
Pitch A Perfect Game?
The Kiel Center had 18,105 people in it when the St. Louis Blues
took on the Nashville Predators.
Notice the usage of the word "people" and not the word "fans." Why
did I choose that word? Well, because I have a pretty good idea
that not everybody in attendance was there for the hockey game
only.
The St. Louis Blues announced that Nov. 24 was going to be Beanie
Baby Night at their home arena, as they would give out the fan
favorite "Gobbles The Turkey" in celebration of the upcoming
observance of Thanksgiving.
But Blues officials panicked in the days prior to the game as their
press release for the event made it sound like everybody that bought
a ticket and entered the Kiel Center's gate was going to receive this
"adorable" little thing...free.
But, with images of riotous middle-aged women storming the gates
demanding their beanies, those same Blues' officials sent out
another press release to all of the media outlets they could find,
even ESPN, saying only the first several thousand would receive the
plush playthings.
People still showed up to the Kiel Center and the Blues and
expansion Predators still took the ice. But it sure as hell didn't
look like Nashville was in the building. (They were probably
disappointed they didn't get a Gobbles.)
Pierre Turgeon, Al MacInnis, and Scott Young each scored once and
Pavol Demitra picked up a goal and two helpers as the Blues outshot
their newest division rival 41-19 and beat the Preds, 4-0.
The previous Saturday, Jamie McLennan left the game against Dallas
with back spasms. Just three days later, McLennan re-entered the
lineup and stopped all 19 shots he faced.
"He's getting a chance for some quality ice time in the net," St.
Louis head coach Joel Quenneville said about his goaltender who is
filling the void until starter Grant Fuhr returns from a groin
injury. "He made a couple of really big saves."
Demitra helped to start the scoring when he set up Young from behind
the net to give St. Louis a 1-0 7:45 into the first. Demitra doubled
the margin 15 minutes into the second when he deflected a Jamie
Rivers shot past Nashville netminder Eric Fichaud to push the score
to 2-0. The goal was Demitra's tenth on the season and the 101st
point of his 146-game career.
MacInnis picked up his ninth on the season 13:22 into the season and
Pierre Turgeon matched that five minutes later to finish the scoring.
"A lot of pucks were deflected and bounced off players," Fichaud
said. "I don't know if it's bad luck or what."
For St. Louis, the win was a little sweeter considering Nashville
had beaten them 3-2 five days earlier.
"We definitely feel we gave away two points, and that's very
frustrating," said Scott Young. "With the parity in this league, you
can't do that."
Black Friday
With most of America out at malls and shopping centers to get a jump
on their Christmas shopping on this, the Friday after Thanksgiving,
the Blues went on a shopping trip of their own: the product they
wanted to find was a win that could come as easily as possible.
A win against the San Jose Sharks would give the Bluenotes their
first two-game winning streak since they beat Calgary on Oct. 24.
San Jose, eh? Not a bad team to choose. They haven't won a game
since a 5-4 decision over Los Angeles back on Nov. 18. This win is
going to be a bargain, right?
Uhhhhhhh...
The Sharks opened the scoring when former-Blue Joe Murphy slid the
puck past Jamie McLennan 1:47 into the contest to give St. Joseph a
1-0 lead. (St. Joseph = San Jose in English)
Exactly 8:33 later, Pavol Demitra, attempting a pass to Chris
Pronger, banked the biscuit off of Shark defenseman Mike Rathje and
past San Jose goalie Steve Shields to tie the game at 1-1. That
power-play goal extended the young left winger's points streak to
five games, a streak in which he has earned five goals and three
assists.
The Blues took the lead 34:27 later when Mike Eastwood and Tony
Twist (the scoring sensation that he is) set up Chris Pronger to
give St. Louis a 2-1 cushion, much to the delight of the hometown
faithful in the Kiel Center. (Yeah!)
Would those hometown faithfuls be rewarded with a victory? Not if
the Sharks had anything to say about it, and look out for them--
they're looking for their fifth win of the season. Just 17 seconds
after Pronger scored, Steve Guolla beat Jamie McLennan to tie the
game at 2-2. On a power play six minutes later, Jeff Norton sent a
slapper whizzing past McLennan to put San Jose ahead for good.
Marco Sturm added an empty-net goal with 1:13 as the Sharks
cancelled the Blues' credit card and left St. Louis with a 4-2
victory.
"It was a tough game to get into a flow," said Blues' center Craig
Conroy.
It's very difficult to pick up the flow if the referee's whistle
continuously shrieks.
The zebras called 28 penalties in the 60-minute game, with the bulk
of them coming toward the end of the first period. At 16:17 of the
first, San Jose bad boy Brian Marchment removed Scott Pellerin from
the game with a check that gave Pellerin a concussion. In
retaliation, Chris Pronger attacked Marchment, and that's when the
fun started.
Pronger received a double roughing minor, Stephane Matteau and Kelly
Chase both got fighting majors, Tony Granato got a roughing and a
misconduct, Marchment received interference and roughing minors, and
Tony Twist joined the party with a roughing, an unsportsmanlike
conduct, and a misconduct penalty.
Tack that onto the roughing and fighting major Owen Nolan got and
the instigator, fighting major, and misconduct penalties Marc
Bergevin earned, both men getting their penalites after the first
period siren, and you've got 68 minutes of penalties called.
"It was a tough hit," St. Louis coach Joel Quenneville said about
the Marchment hit. "He (Pellerin) doesn't have the puck You can go
around killing guys if they don't have the puck. Obviously,
Marchment knew what he was doing because he saw the playing coming
at him."
You Mean These Guys Made the Stanley Cup Finals?
After a disappointing loss to the disappointing Sharks, the Blues
wanted to leave their home crowd with a taste of victory in their
mouths as they ended a four-game home stand with a battle against
the defending Eastern Conference Champion Washington Capitals.
And they got off to a good start.
Michal Handzus scored 2:44 into the contest, beating Capitals
goaltender Olaf Kolzig through his happy hole for an early 1-0 lead.
Mad props go to Michal for scoring his first ever NHL goal.
"He finally broke the egg," Blues' coach Joel Quenneville said.
"He's been knocking on the door for his first 19 games, but didn't
have any luck until tonight."
Washington tied the game with 1:12 left in the opening stanza. With
Pierre Turgeon in the box for an obstruction-holding the stick
penalty, Peter Bondra scored his 10th goal of the year by sending a
shot under the arm of Blues' goalie Jamie McLennan, knotting the
game at 1.
At 12:47 if the second, Todd Gill picked up a loose puck and passed
it to Scott Young, who found Craig Conroy closing on the Capital
goal. Conroy beat Kolzig to give St. Louis a 2-1 lead.
The Blues put it away 6:28 into the third, when, from behind the
Washington goal, Pavol Demitra fed Pierre Turgeon for the
game-winning goal and a 3-1 advantage.
Washington did pick up one more tally, but it wasn't enough as the
Blues added an empty-netter and beat the Capitals 4-2.
Jamie McLennan, playing in his 100th career game, had another solid
contest between the pipes for the Blues. He stopped 32 of the 34
shots he faced for his sixth win of the season, all of this coming
despite bruising his right thigh on a Richard Zednik shot in the
second.
"I'll feel this for a few days," McLennan said of his bruise. "I
knew I was playing in my 100th game and this will help me remember
it for a while."
The Home-and-Home: Part One
The Colorado Avalanche have been a disappointment this season. Going
into Friday night's game with St. Louis, the Avalanche were 9-11-2.
Although it's early in the season and they're still in the thick of
the playoff race, there is concern in the Mile High City. This team,
with superstars like Joe Sakic, Peter Forsberg and Patrick Roy,
should be in the upper echelon of the league's clubs.
Colorado has started to turn things around, but, of course, anything
other than a 0-4-1 start is a turn-around. The 'Lanche had just
beaten arch-nemesis Detorit the previous night and were now ready
to challenge.
And they were ready.
Forsberg and Aaron Miller each scored, Joe Sakic had a hand in both
goals and Roy picked up the 42nd shutout of his career as the
Avalanche beat the Blues 2-0.
Only 48 seconds into the game, Adam Foote passed to Forsberg in
front of the goal. The Swedish superstar's shot beat Blue's
goaltender Jamie McLennan to give Colorado a 1-0 lead.
Colorado shut down the Blues' offense. They didn't get their first
shot until eight minutes into the game, but they did get their
chances. In the second period, St. Louis outshot Colorado 12-5,
including the chances on two big power plays. A Chris Pronger
penalty negated the first one and Patrick Roy turned aside two good
shots on the second man advantage to keep St. Louis off of the
board.
Aaron Miller put the game away 6:13 into the third when Sakic passed
from behind his own net to the waiting Miller. Roy shut down the
Blues for the final 13:47 as St. Louis fell to Colorado 2-0.
"We couldn't get our offense started," Pierre Turgeon said. "Patrick
was fantastic, but we struggled to get up and down the ice all night.
We didn't have any energy."
That lack of energy may be attributed to St. Louis' off period
between games when they only played scrimmages for six days.
"This was a game that had me concerned because of our layoff and
having to come up to altitude," Blues' coach Joel Quennville said.
"We hadn't played in nearly a week and it showed in our play. I saw
people on our bench coming off the ice with their tongues hanging."
The Home-and-Home: Part 2
The second match in the Friday-Saturday home-and-home series was set
back in St. Louis, a little bit closer to sea level than Denver
where Friday's game was played.
That difference showed early.
Like Colorado did the night before, St. Louis scored early in the
first. Mike Eastwood accepted a pass from Pascal Rheaume, then
backhanded a shot past Colorado goalie Craig Billington to give the
Blues a 1-0 lead 1:27 into the game.
It wasn't until 18:26 of the second that the scoreboard was dented
again. This time, Rene Corbert delivered the puck to Chris Drury,
the rookie center who won a Little League World Series with
Trumbull, Ct., who beat Jamie McLennan to tie the game at 1.
The match stayed even until 15:10 of the third, when, on the power
play that resulted from a Chirs McAlpine interference call, Claude
Lemieux beat McLennan to put the Avalanche ahead 2-1.
Joe Sakic scored an empty-net goal with one second left, and Craig
Billington stopped 29 of 30 shots, 10 of those saves coming in the
third, as the Blues lost for the second straight night to the
Avalanche, falling 3-1 on this occasion.
The Blues have gone on a bit of a slide as of late, going 2-2-1 in
the past two weeks. And it won't get any easier as they will have
to face Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Colorado again, Phoenix, and New
Jersey all before Christmas, then Detroit the day after. Good
luck.
