ST LOUIS, Missouri – St. Louis began the week on a Western Canadian road trip with stops in Vancouver, Edmonton, and Calgary. The dates would carry them through December 23rd before the two day Christmas holiday. The end of the week would take them to St. Paul where they would play the Wild.
Vancouver, British Columbia – The Blues did what was required in order to win a hockey game on Sunday evening. By defeating the Canucks, St. Louis proved that they can play and beat anyone. This is essentially the same Vancouver team that swept them in the first round of the play offs last season. St. Louis limited the Canucks shots and made plenty of their own to apply constant pressure. Conklin fulfilled his duties and Backes led the team in scoring. The Blues executed special teams well not allowing a power play goal on three penalties and scoring once on their four opportunities.
Edmonton, Alberta – The Blues dominated the second period opening up a tie game by abusing the Oilers on the special teams. St. Louis scored twice on the power play and used the momentum to score once again to end the period. The third period would be much of the same as St. Louis would score twice more on the power play going four for five on the evening. Alexander Steen had four points and Andy McDonald scored twice for the Blues as they routed the Oilers.
Calgary, Alberta – The St. Louis Blues ended their Western Canada road trip with an early Christmas gift for the fans – bonus hockey and at least a point for everyone. Early in the second period, Patrik Berglund scored to break open a scoreless tie that would hold into the third period. Calgary however would retaliate when Mark Giordano would score to tie the game at one and send the game into overtime. After five minutes of extra skating, and neither team managing to score St. Louis would win the shoot out by a score of 2-0 picking up their Western Canadian Sweep.
St. Paul, Minnesota – The Blues failed to challenge the Wild offensively all evening managing a mere 18 shots on net, but scoring three times. Despite the low shots and the close score, the Blues never managed the upper hand on Minnesota as the Wild continue to play well. Schedule Results of the Past Week: December 20, 2009 Blues 3, Vancouver 1 (15-14-5) Scoring – 1st Period 02:59 STL PPG – David Backes (8) – Assists: P. Kariya (10) & T. Oshie (11) 17:15 VAN Shane O’Brien (1) – Assists: M. Samuelsson (13) & M. Raymond (11) 2nd Period 11:48 STL David Backes (9) – Assists: A. Steen (3) 13:15 STL Keith Tkachuk (8) Assists: B. Boyes (14) & B. Jackman (6) 3rd Period none Goalies StL – Ty Conklin (W, 29/30) VAN – Roberto Luongo (L, 23/26) December 21, 2009 Blues 7, Edmonton 2 (16-14-5) Scoring – 1st Period 07:04 STL David Perron (10) – Assists: P. Berglund (4) & B. Crombeen (5) 09:40 EDM Sam Gagner (8) Wrist Shot – Assists: A. Cogliano (6) 2nd Period 02:52 STL Andy McDonald (8) – Assists: K. Tkachuk (11) & B. Jackman (7) 05:18 EDM Dustin Penner (19) – Assists: S. Horcoff (8) 13:29 STL PPG – Brad Boyes (9) Backhand – Assists: A. Steen (4) 16:29 STL PPG – David Backes (10) – Assists: P. Berglund (5) & P. Kariya (11) 17:08 STL Jay McClement (6) – Assists: M. Weaver (3) 3rd Period 02:01 STL PPG – Andy McDonald (9) – Assists: B. Boyes (15) & A. Steen (6) 16:01 STL PPG – Alex Steen (3) – Assists: D. Sydor (6) & B. Winchester (3) Goalies StL – Chris Mason (W, 23/25) EDM – Devan Dubnyk (L, 19/26) December 23, 2009 Blues 2, Calgary 1(17-14-5) Scoring – 1st Period None 2nd Period 06:55 STL Patrik Berglund (5) Wrist Shot – Assists: D. Perron (10) & M. Weaver (4) 3rd Period 12:18 CGY Mark Giordano (3) Wrist Shot – Assists: D. Langkow (12) Overtime None Shoot Out Blues win 2-0 Goalies StL – Chris Mason (W, 23/24) CGY – Mikka Kiprusoff (L, 26/27) December 26, 2009 Minnesota 4, Blues 3 (17-15-5) Scoring – 1st Period 14:55 MIN Guillaume Latendresse (7) – Assists: G. Zanon (6) & M. Zidlicky (17) 2nd Period 12:52 STL Andy McDonald (10) – Assists: E. Brewer (3) & B. Boyes (16) 3rd Period 02:29 MIN Shane Hnidy (2) – Assists: A. Miettinen (8) & M. Koivu (25) 08:59 MIN Kim Johnsson (3) – Assists: none 13:04 STL David Perron (11) – Assists: P. Berglund (5) & B. Crombeen (6) 16:19 MIN Guillaume Latendresse (8) – Assists: M. Zidlicky (18) & E. Belanger (12) 18:20 STL Patrik Berglund (6) – Assists: K. Tkachuk (12) & B. Boyes (17) Goalies StL – Chris Mason (L, 16/20) MIN – Niklas Backstrom (W, 15/18) Upcoming Weeks Schedule: December 27, 2009 verse Buffalo (Sabres 5 – Blues 3) December 29, 2009 verse Nashville December 31, 2009 verse Vancouver January 2, 2010 verse Chicago
Team News: While the bulk of the hockey world has taken a slight break over the Christmas holiday, the World Juniors Championships took advantage of the availability of players to skate the world wide showcase. The Blues will feature five prospects in the contest with one Swede, two Canadians, and two Americans taking to the ice. Defenseman David Rundblad will skate for team Sweden and has scored once. Jake Allen was impressive for Team Canada in his loan start shutting out Latvia for the win. Also skating for team Canada is Alex Pietrangelo who was just as impressive for the Great White North recording four assists. Philip McRae is centering a line for the American squad and defenseman David Warsofsky is on a first line pairing for the USA and recorded an assist in the first game. The World Juniors will continue play through Tuesday January 5, 2010.
Blues Clues: When the season began everyone expected David Backes to carry the St. Louis Blues in the offensive zone. Alright, so Backes is not the team’s sniper, however he is tied with David Perron for the team lead in goals. The Blues have struggled to score at times and this is more evidence of it. Backes is a great player to have who does many things well, however a team does need a go-to shooter and at this moment, regardless of what you may believe, the team does not have a person of that sort fulfilling those duties.
Quote of the Week: from Erik Johnson on the team’s loss to Minnesota: “We got away from our structure a little bit and gave them too many easy opportunities. Some bad changes and some bad puck support all over the ice kind of led to some of their goals,” said Blues defenseman Erik Johnson.
You may contact the author at: John.Strathman@prohockeynews.com
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