PAPILLION, NEBRASKA – For those who paid little or no attention to the St. Louis Blues in the second half of last season, a two game sweep of the Detroit Red Wings may seem like a revelation. Conversely, the Blues seem to be picking up where they left off. Last season the Blues were a bit of an anomaly for the Wings as they often struggled to accumulate wins and points against the Blues. While the Wings may be showing a little hang over from the Stanley Cup Finals where they lost to the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Wings are as talented as any team in the world and while they have plenty of players who know how to win and have consistently done so for a long while now, it may be that Detroit is off to a slow start because it maybe time for the Wings to renew their roster. Anyway, regardless of the opponent, a win is a win, and two wins are even better. To make a “P.R.” trip abroad and place the nonsense aside to win two hockey games is job one and the St. Louis Blues did so. And what would make these two wins that much sweeter? The fact that they came against the hated Red Wings! The Blues opened the season in stellar fashion when they visited the nation of Sweden, home to forwards Patrik Berglund and Alexander Steen (born in Winnipeg, MB to Swedish parents). Paul Kariya, Jay McClement, and Keith Tkachuk would lead the assault against arch rival Detroit with four points apiece in the sweep of the Red Wings. Both teams would start both of their respective goaltenders with Chris Mason winning game one over former Blue Chris Osgood and Jimmy Howard taking the loss for Detroit as former Red Wing Ty Conklin would win game two for the Blues. Both Mason and Conklin allowed three goals in their first starts of the season with Mason facing 34 shots on goal and Conklin receiving 33 shots. While the Blues were outshot in both games, the Blues defensive play never lost composure and in both games came back to place the Blues ahead for good in the second period. With the pressure of returning home; Vasteras, Sweden native Patrik Berglund was faced with the daunting task of playing well in front of his home crowd, and fulfilling all of those ticket requests as well. Of course the young up and coming superstar would not disappoint as Berglund netted the game winning goal in the second period of the second game. With the successful road trip coming to an end, the 2-0-0 Blues will have the bulk of the week to recover from the daunting jet lag in order to prepare for the remainder of the season which gets underway with their first true home game on October 8, 2009 against the Atlanta Thrashers. At 6:00 PM, the Blues will dedicate a statue of legendary defenseman Al MacInnis outside of the Scottrade Center. Following the festivities, the puck will drop at 7:00 PM. The fourth game of the season will feature the Blues second different Western Conference opponent of the season as the Los Angeles Kings come into St. Louis on Saturday October 10, 2009. The Kings will look to improve on their dismal 2008-09 season and begin to solidify their young talented core of players. Saturday’s game will begin at 7:00 PM and should not create excessive issues in downtown St. Louis as the Cardinals will also be playing down the street at Busch Stadium in the Divisional Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Quote of the Week: Patrik Berglund on further developing his game from blues.nhl.com: “When I went back home, I knew I had to get bigger and stronger to be able to play my game. When I play my best game I hold on to the puck and protect it. I take it to the goal as fast as I can. I knew I had to be more intense from shift to shift here to win more battles, whether it’s on offense or defense. I’m still working on that shift-to-shift intensity.” Schedule Results of the Past Week: October 2, 2009 (in Stockholm, Sweden) Blues 4, Detroit 3 (1-0-0) Scoring – 1st Period StL – Jay McClement (1), Assist – Brad Winchester (1) Det – Jonathan Ericsson (1), Assist – Kurt Maltby (1) and Kris Draper (1) Det – (SHG) Maltby (1), Assists – none 2nd Period Det – (PPG) Ville Leino (1), Assists – Dan Cleary (1) and Niklas Kronwall (1)StL – (PPG) Paul Kariya (1), Assists – Andy McDonald (1) and Keith Tkachuk (1) StL – Brandon Crombeen (1), Assists – Jay McClement (1) StL – Paul Kariya (2), Assists – T.J. Oshie (1), Jay McClement (2) 3rd Period (None) Goalies StL – Chris Mason (W) 31/34 (1-0) Det – Chris Osgood (L) 19/23 (0-1) October 3, 2009 (in Stockholm, Sweden) Blues 5, Detroit 3 (2-0-0) Scoring – 1st Period Det – Tomas Holmstrom (1), Assists – Brian Rafalski (1) and Johan Franzen (1) Det – Dan Cleary (1), Assists – Henrik Zetterberg (1) and Todd Bertuzzi (1) StL – (PPG) Keith Tkachuk (1), Assists – Paul Kariya (1) and Andy McDonald (2) 2nd Period StL – (PPG) Andy McDonald (1), Assists – Keith Tkachuk (2) and Brad Boyes (1) Det – Niklas Kronwall (1), Assists – Henrik Zetterberg (2) and Jason Williams (1) StL – Brad Boyes (1), Assists – Jay McClement (3) and Barrett Jackman (1) StL – Patrik Berglund (1), Assists – Erik Johnson (1) and Darryl Sydor (1) 3rd Period StL – (PPG) Keith Tkachuk (2), Assists – Paul Kariya (2) and Erik Johnson (2) Goalies StL – Ty Conklin (W) 30/33 (1-0) Det – Jimmy Howard (L) 27/32 (0-1) Upcoming Weeks Schedule: October 8, 2009 vs. Atlanta in St. Louis, Missouri October 10, 2009 vs. Los Angeles in St. Louis Missouri You may contact the author at: John.Strathman@prohockeynews.com
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