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Three Takeaways From Blues' 5-4 Win Against Avalanche

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Three Takeaways From Blues' 5-4 Win Against Avalanche

ST.
LOUIS – There
are currently five St. Louis Blues players who were part of the
longest winning streak in franchise history in 2019.

Jordan
Binnington, Brayden Schenn, Oskar Sundqvist, Robert Thomas and Colton
Parayko (injured) can now stake claim to a second historical streak.

The
Blues set a new benchmark with their 12th
straight win when they held off the Colorado Avalanche, 5-4 at
Enterprise on Saturday.

For
all the talk about this current Blues team not being able to put
together a three-game winning streak as late as January, right now,
they can’t seem to lose a game no matter how what the score is.

“It’s
very cool,” Binnington said after making 35 saves. “It’s good
to enjoy these moments, especially at home. It’s really fun to play
here right now and you can tell there’s good energy all around. At
the same time, we’ve got to focus and keep looking forward while
we’re here.”

Robert
Thomas continues to tear a blazing trail of points; he had a goal and
four assists to give him 19 points (four goals, 15 assists) in an
eight-game point streak; Cam Fowler had three assists and Zack Bolduc
scored two power-play goals to lead the Blues (43-28-7), who are now
four points clear of the Minnesota Wild for the first wild card from
the Western Conference.

And
they’re doing this without Parayko, who’s been out with a left
knee injury since March 5, and now Dylan Holloway, who’s week to
week with a lower-body injury.

“We’ve
lost some really good, important players to our lineup,” Blues
coach Jim Montgomery said.
“It means we’re good. We’re a good hockey team.

“I
am proud of that group in there to be able to overcome all of the
adversity that we’ve had this year, whether that was self-inflicted
by us. It doesn’t matter. We’ve overcome it. I’m proud of that group
for what they’ve achieved.”

The
Blues built a 4-0 lead before getting a bit complacent and then
having to fend off the Avalanche (47-27-4), who the Blues also beat
2-1 in Denver a week ago Saturday, giving Colorado (6-2-1) its only
two regulation losses in the past nine games.

“We’re
playing the right way,” said
Blues forward Pavel Buchnevich,
who
scored his 100th
goal with the Blues.
“We’re playing for each other. Sacrifice for the team and it’s
working right now. We should keep going.”

Let’s
look at Saturday’s Three Takeaways:

*
Winning the special teams – The Blues didn’t do themselves any favors,
especially early, by taking three minor penalties in the first
period, and despite being outshot 13-4 on special teams by the
Avalanche, the Blues won the game with special teams’ play.

The
Avalanche had 12 shots on their three power plays; the Blues had
three shots on their three power plays. But they made two of theirs
count and won the special teams’ battle 2-0, thanks to a pair of
power-play goals by Bolduc, each in the bumper position and receiving
passes from Thomas.

The
first came at the 49-second mark of the opening period, or 18 seconds
after Joel Kiviranta was whistled for cross checking Jordan Kyrou, to
give the Blues a 1-0 lead.

And
the second came at 8:53 of the second period, similar play, but this
time, Bolduc had some time to whip a shot top shelf on Mackenzie
Blackwood for a 4-0 lead.

“You’ve
got to be ready,” Bolduc
said.
“I’ve been trying to find the open space. You never know when the
puck’s going to come your way. I just try to set myself up and be
ready to shoot. I want to hit the net for sure.

“I
don’t know but teams will adjust. It’ll be on us to get better
and find other options that will
be open.”

*
Good sticks, forecheck – Despite getting a bit complacent and allowing
Colorado back into the game with a couple late second-period goals,
the Blues had good sticks in this game.

They
broke up a lot of plays, and it was everyone on the ice doing the
job. Whether it was the Radek Faksa line with Nathan Walker and
Alexey Toropchenko grinding pucks down low after winning them, or
Jimmy Snuggerud, in his third NHL game breaking plays up playing with
Buchnevich and Thomas, knocking pucks down and then instead of being
overwhelmed, putting pucks into good areas to go and forecheck them
back, which the Blues did. Or Thomas defending the Nathan MacKinnon
line all night and until MacKinnon scored with an extra attacker,
shutting one of the NHL’s best players down.

It
was a collective effort to break up any rush plays the Avalanche was
trying to create.

“I
thought our sticks and our angling above them,” Montgomery said.
“Third period, they scored two pulled goalies situations, but
outside of that, I didn’t think we gave them much and I thought we
had great chances (off good defensive plays). Bolduc had a good
chance to get his hat trick and Snuggerud had two in a row there
among others.”

Speaking
of Snuggerud, he and Thomas had good stick plays that helped set up
Buchnevich’s goal at 1:01 of the third period for a 3-0 lead.

It
came after Jake Neighbours also using his stick off the bench to
create O-zone time, and Neighbours eventually finding a Thomas pass
in the low slot and conversion for a 2-0 lead at 7:41 of the first
period.

“(We)
put
some pucks deep, play below the goal line,” Buchnevich
said.
‘We got first eight minutes, we kind of dominate, and got the early
power-play goal. ‘Boldy’ have a good shot, and it’s easier when
you play with the lead.”

*
Binnington’s key saves – Forget that he allowed four goals, and
none of his own doing. Jordan Binnington was rock solid, and his
saves, especially during Colorado’s barrage of shots on the man
advantage were crucial.

Sometimes
your goalie has to be your best penalty killer and Binnington was.

“We
found a way to get it done,” Binnington said. “Obviously they’ve
got some high-end talent. We found a way to get it done and that’s
just a testament to all our guys and our penalty killers. You got a
guy like Walker, I don’t know how many blocked shots he had. Just
point blank and ‘Torps’ too. We’re just sacrificing and playing
the right way and finding a way to win.”

Binnington
also made a breakaway on Artturi Lehkonen after a Bolduc mishap in
the neutral zone, and there was also a reflex save off a rebound by
Valeri Nichushkin in the second.

“He
was really good,” Montgomery
said.
“They had a lot of shot attempts. It was a hard-working night for
him. It was clear that they wanted a shot-volume night tonight. We
ate a lot of pucks blocking them, but he was there and he was really
seeing the puck well through traffic.”

It all led to Binnington winning his 10th straight home start to tie a franchise record, tying John Davidson and Jaroslav Halak.

The
Avalanche did get two sixth-attacker goals, including one with 8.1
seconds remaining by Sam Malinski that made the score academic after
Thomas hit the empty net off the goal post and in at 19:30.



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