ST LOUIS, MO – The advent of sports seems to have brought the idea of peaks and valleys soon after. While a team may have a wonderful month, it often will balance that month out with one that is less than stellar. A champion is not always the greatest team of the particular season, but rather the one that played the best at the appropriate place in time. The St. Louis Blues had a less than stellar week losing as many quality players as they did games. With injures to Oshie and King, the Blues have some holes to fill as they look to rebound from losses to Pittsburgh and Dallas, and a win over lowly Minnesota. This week will take the Blues to Raleigh as they look to rally and bring them home to face a pair of teams from the Sun Belt in Florida and Phoenix. Neither of this week’s opponents has played exceptionally brilliant as Florida and Carolina have played well below .500. While Phoenix has played well they have shown to be vulnerable and should offer the Blues a quality opponent at the end the week in the Scottrade Center. Schedule Results of the Past Week: October 20, 2009 (in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) Pittsburgh 5, Blues 1 (3-3-1) Scoring – 1st Period Pit – Tyler Kennedy, Assisted by: J. McKee and M. Cooke Pit – Evgeni Malkin , Assisted by : B. Guerin and S. Gonchar 2nd Period Pit – Ruslan Fedotenko , Assisted by: K. Letang and M. Eaton Pit – Matt Cooke, Assisted by: K. Letang and J. Staal StL – Paul Kariya, Assisted by: E. Johnson and P. Berglund 3rd Period Pit – Alex Goligoski, Assisted by: S. Crosby and C. Kunitz Goalies StL – Chris Mason (L, 31/35) StL – Ty Conklin (7/8) Pit – Marc-Andre Fleury (W, 22/23) October 23, 2009 (in St. Louis Missouri) Blues 3, Wild 1 (4-3-1) Scoring – 1st Period STL – Jay McClement, Assisted by: D. Perron and T. Strachan 2nd Period STL – David Perron, Assisted by: none Min – Chuck Kobasew, Assisted by: E. Belanger and S. Hnidy 3rd Period STL – Brad Boyes, Assisted by: K. Tkachuk and P. Kariya Goalies StL – Chris Mason (W, 20/21) Min – Niklas Backstrom (L, 23/25) October 24, 2009 (in St. Louis, Missouri Dallas 4, Blues 1 (4-4-1) 2nd Period DAL – James Neal, Assisted by: B. Richards and L. Eriksson DAL – Loui Eriksson, Assisted by: B. Richards and J. Woywitka 3rd Period DAL -Tom Wandell, Assisted by: F. Brunnstrom and S. Ott DAL – Brian Sutherby, Assisted by: none STL – Alex Pietrangelo, Assisted by: D. Perron and R. Polak Upcoming Weeks Schedule: October 28, 2009 at Carolina in Raleigh, North Carolina October 29, 2009 vs. Phoenix in St. Louis, Missouri October 31, 2009 vs. Florida in St. Louis, Missouri Team News: Tuesday evening’s game against Pittsburgh was quite embarrassing for the St. Louis Blues. While T.J. Oshie logged a few impressive shifts that created some tempo for the Blues, the team appeared “awestruck” by the extremely talented Stanley Cup winners. Fans seeking a measuring stick of the Blues progress would be quite disappointed by St. Louis’ effort as goalie Chris Mason’s impressive play would keep the game considerably closer than the scoring sheet revealed. The essential savvy of a potential champion lacked on behalf of the Blues as Pittsburgh effortlessly moved the puck around the ice as thought the Blues looked like blue traffic cones. If anything can be said, it is that the Blues are a very talented, skill wise, yet there is quite a bit of mental maturing ahead of this very youthful team. While much can be said of David Perron’s poor play of recent, nothing can be said of his merit. Perron was recently “demoted” to the checking line. His first game in his new role was to be Friday evening’s game against Minnesota. The Wild are one of the worst teams in the league and Perron took advantage of the planetary alignment to get his mojo back. Perron’s two points made the compelling argument that this is not a player who has lost his way, but rather a player off to a slower than average start. With the goal and assist against the Wild, Perron now has three points for the year. While Perron seems to have been the first “underachieving” Blue to take a hit on the chin, he quickly ‘informed’ head coach Andy Murray that he can be counted on throughout the season. While Friday’s victory was a solid text book win from the Blues, Saturday would showcase the Blues inconsistent play of late. Dallas would walk through the Blues without concern as they would coast to an easy win. The lone bright point for St. Louis was easily that of rookie forward Alex Pietrangelo. His first career goal came in the latter part of the third period as Perron would feed him the assist. Fan favorite T.J. Oshie had emergency appendectomy surgery on Saturday October 24 when his appendix erupted sending him to the emergency room. Oshie played 17 minutes and 33 seconds of Friday night’s game against the Wild in which he complained of nausea. After a scan at Barnes Jewish Hospital the decision was made to operate. Oshie’s surgery was successful and he is expected to return in approximately two weeks. Quote of the Week: Winger Chris Porter in the Peoria Journal Star on the teams recent wins despite the outbreak of flu: “Sometimes when you have guys injured or sick, you come together as a team,” said Porter, who has four goals in his last four games. “There was no magic to what I did. Push hard to the net, go hard. I’m a defensive player, and when I can chip in some offense, it sure gets fun.” You may contact the author at: John.Strathman@prohockeynews.com
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