Defense anybody?
It looks like the old problem with the St. Louis Blues has struck
again.
St. Louis jumped out to a 3-1 lead in the first half of the first
period and held a 4-2 lead on the Flames after the second, when the
Flames got a good piece of coaching advice from head coach Brian
Sutter.
"Coach told us to just shoot the puck on net and it worked, for us,"
Rene Corbet said.
Well, Calgary shot the puck at the net 13 times and scored on five
of them as the Flames turned the tables on the Blues, pounding them
7-4.
Jim Carey got the start for the Blues stopping 19 of 21 in the first
forty minutes and only one of five in the first 9:14 in the third.
"I just wasn't playing with a lot of confidence out there and when
they got one quick one in the third period, it went bad from
there," Carey said.
Well, maybe he won't be playing a whole lot more.
Jamie McLennan finished the final 10:46, saving seven of eight.
The Rematch of the Century
They've met twice in the Stanley Cup Finals - 1968 and 1969. In the
first two years of the franchise's existence, the St. Louis Blues
advanced all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals, both years losing
to Montreal. Now, 30 years later the rivalry has come full circle
as the Blues and Habs meet on a Thursday in St. Louis.
And the Blues lost yet again.
Danius Zubrus scored in his first game as a Canadien as Montreal
went on to a 3-0 win.
The Blues lost despite outshooting Montreal 41-25. Jeff Hackett
stopped every shot he faced to give the Blues their second straight
loss.
Brent Johnson stopped 22 of 25 for the loss.
Thank God
For the first time in seven weeks, the Blues were solid in net.
Why? Grant Fuhr was back.
After missing 16 games, der Fuhr stopped 24 of 28 shots to help the
Blue fight from a 4-3 deficit after two to win 6-4. The win was
Fuhr's 100th in goal for St. Louis.
Mike Eastwood tied the game at 4-4 just 18 seconds into the third.
Just 3:01 later, a cutting Pavol Demitra fed Lubos Bartecko for his
third goal of the season, which put St. Louis up for good.
Oh My God, He Won
It had been almost a year and a half since Jim Carey won a game in
the National Hockey League. Kind of unexpected considering Carey
won the Vezina Trophy only two years ago. It looks like his
difficulties may be turning around... but don't hold your breath.
St. Louis scored three times in a 3:54 span of the first, giving
Carey enough room to earn his first win since October 21, 1997 as
the Blues beat the Chicago Blackhawks 5-2. Carey stopped 22 shots
in the win.
"Tonight is the first game I can honestly say I felt good out
there," said Carey. "But I'm not at the top of my game. I know
that's not going to happen overnight."
Pavol Demitra scored twice in the first to help the Blues to
victory.
The Greatest Game Ever
Let me give you some background.
I'm from the Philadelphia area. I've lived in the southwestern
portion of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for all of my 19 years
on the planet.
This would explain why I am a St. Louis Blues fan. (Not really. It
all goes back to when I saw the 1991 playoffs and, because the
Flyers sucked, I saw teams for other cities in the league. I saw
the Blues. I liked what I saw. The rest is history.)
Thus, because of my support for the Blues, I have faced ridicule for
the greater part of my high school life by Flyers fans.
"St. Louis sucks, Tom!"
"The Blues blow, Cooper"
"Why don't you root for the Flyers?"
"You still wet the bed."
I heard it from every angle. So, for me, when the Blues play the
Flyers, it a big game for me. Not just for the team I love. But for
my pride. That's why I can't get over what happened two Tuesdays
ago.
After drawing the second period 1-1, the Blues came out to try and
add to the Flyers misery, who hadn't posted a victory in the
previous 11 games. Terry Yake put the Blues up for good 1:27 into
the third, but that wasn't the best part.
At 6:47 into the period, St. Louis was on the power play. Off of a
face-off in the Philadelphia zone, the Blues controlled. Flyers'
penalty killer Jody Hull appeared to be pulled down by Terry Yake.
The whistle was not blown and Pavol Demitra ended up putting the
puck in the net to give the Blues a 3-1 victory. Flyers head coach
Roger Neilson was pissed.
In protest of the goal, he kept his players from going on the ice
for the face-off after the goal. Referee Bill McCreary warned the
Flyer bench, but Neilson persisted.
McCreary blew his whistle, but this was to give the Flyers a
delay-of-game penalty.
Neilson still persisted. This time, Neilson grabbed one of his
player's stick and threw it on the ice in a flashback of his days
as a prominent high school javelin thrower. The stick Neilson threw
just missed a linesman.
McCreary threw Neilson out of the game.
"That's Roger," said Al MacInnis of Neilson, who was an assistant
with the Blues until midway through last season.
"He's a very emotional guy, and he's going through obviously a tough
time with that club."
The Blues continued to turn the heat on. Pierre Turgeon scored on
the power play 2:24 after the flying blade incident as the Blues
made my night with a 5-2 victory.
The Blues won for two reasons:
1) A four-goal third period and 2) Stellar goaltending from Grant
Fuhr, who stopped 26 of 28 shots in a fashion that reminded fans of
his play from the past two seasons.
Kissing Their Sister
Phoenix was a good team early in the season. They were the hottest
team in the league throughout the 1998 calendar year. Then they got
injured, and everything went downhill from there.
The same thing happened to the Blues, except for the hottest team in
the league part. Now both teams were healthy and both teams were
making the final push toward the playoffs. A loss wouldn't have
helped either team's cause. Good thing they tied, eh?
Mike Eastwood put the Blues up 1-0 in the first, but Phoenix came
back with two goals in a 2:55 span in the third to take the lead
2-1. 1:18 after Mike Stapleton scored that go-ahead goal, Pavol
Demitra salvaged the tie to give both team a point with a 2-2 tie.
Although complacent with a point, Blues goalie Grant fuhr thought
Phoenix's share should belong to the Blues. With St. Louis up 1-0
8:05 into the third, Fuhr got into position to block a Jeremy
Roenick shot. Suddenly, Greg Adams came up and tripped Fuhr,
knocking the netminder off his skates. Adams eventually ended up
with the goal to tie the game at 1-1.
"We feel like we got the point stolen from us," Fuhr said. "Ideally,
it should have been a 2-1 win."
Best in the League
The Blues aren't the greatest team in the league. Let's be honest
about that. So, saying they lost to Eastern Conference leading
Ottawa wouldn't be a shock. That happening wasn't a definite.
Pavol Demitra scored his 33rd and 34th goals of the year in the
first and third periods respectively to help tie the game at 2-2
with 11:23 left in the game.
The Blues defense clamped down in the third, allowing only one
Ottawa shot. The shot, taken by Shawn McEachhern, beat Grant Fuhr
with 8:15 left to give the Senators a 3-2 victory.
