NHL - Blues - Round Up November 9-12, 2016

Blackhawks @ Blues 2-1 OT - Wednesday, November 9, 2016


The Chicago Blackhawks have won seven straight games, and goalie Corey Crawford is a big reason why. Crawford once again turned in a spectacular performance with 27 saves, and Artemi Panarin scored 25 seconds into overtime just after a penalty expired to give the Blackhawks a 2-1 win against the St. Louis Blues at Scottrade Center. Panarin, who had an assist, scored from the top of the left circle one second after the Blackhawks' power play ended, and his wrist shot beat Blues goalie Jake Allen through a screen of Blues defenseman Colton Parayko and teammate Jonathan Toews.

Marian Hossa scored his sixth goal in seven games for Chicago (10-3-1), which has won seven in a row for the first time since it won 12 straight from Dec. 29, 2015-Jan. 19, 2016. The Blackhawks are 8-0-1 in their past nine games, outscoring opponents 30-15. Alex Pietrangelo tied the game with 2:11 remaining, Allen made 28 saves for St. Louis (7-4-3). Pietrangelo, whose slap shot from the left point beat Crawford through teammate Jori Lehtera's screen, was called for delay of game with 1:36 remaining in regulation after trying to clear a puck out of his zone. Tough to take a penalty there in the last minute. It's a lonely feeling sitting in that box, I'll tell you. I thought we did a good job though, crawling our way back and getting a point out of it.
The Blackhawks wasted a terrific chance to open the scoring in the first period with a two-man advantage for 1:36, but Allen came up with two clutch saves on Seabrook and Panarin. Hossa scored 1:22 into the second period off a rebound of defenseman Gustav Forsling's one-time slap shot from the left point to give the Blackhawks a 1-0 lead. Allen was able to keep it 1-0 by sliding to his right and thwart Patrick Kane's forehand attempt after Kane got behind Blues defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk with 4:13 remaining in the second.

* Panarin got the puck from Kane and surveyed the situation. Once he saw Parayko didn't commit to him, Panarin saw Toews setting a second layer of screens and used it to his advantage to score.

* Crawford made the save of the game when he robbed right wing Vladimir Tarasenko with his left skate with 9:39 remaining in the third period on the Blues' third power play of the night.

"He didn't shoot right away," Crawford said of Tarasenko. "He kind of wound up with it. I just tried to force it in there and it gave me enough time to get over."

* Pietrangelo saw Lehtera screening Crawford and slapped the puck towards the net, finally beating Crawford to help the Blues salvage a point.

* Forsling's shot from the point seemed to come with a purpose. Knowing Hossa was coming towards the net, Forsling struck the puck hard knowing it could create a rebound for Hossa to score.

* Blackhawks center Artem Anisimov had an 11-game point streak end; he left the game late in the second period because of an upper-body injury and did not return. Quenneville said he's day-to-day.

Blues Quotes

"No idea [where the puck was]. Just heard it hit the net. Tough way to go." Allen said
"That's a tough way to lose. I feel really bad right now. (I was trying) to get the puck out of our end. Sometimes the puck rolls. I'm not trying to flip it over the glass." Pietrangelo said.
"We're taking way too many penalties when the game's on the line. We're having to extend a lot of energy with a short bench. Two games in a row, we took three penalties in the third period. It's not a good recipe and they're the same penalties." Ken Hitchcock

Hawks Quotes

"Yeah I feel good. Reading plays is good right now. Patient when I have to be. Getting out and being aggressive. It's a good spot right now, but (there's) always room for improvement." said Crawford, who is 6-0-0 in his past six starts and has allowed six goals.

"[Crawford''s] definitely the backbone and getting the job done. Tonight he made some unbelievable saves." Brent Seabrook said

"We've been in a lot of these games. It's close the whole way and we find a way to get two points at the end of the night. We do different things. Our goaltending at the end of the night has been a big factor. [Crawford's] been outstanding, instrumental in us winning most of these games and again tonight, couple of big, big saves." Joel Quenneville
 

Blues @ Nashville Predators 1-3 - Thursday, November 10, 2016


Calle Jarnkrok scored two goals to help the Nashville Predators to a 3-1 win against the St. Louis Blues at Bridgestone Arena. Jarnkrok tied the game 1-1 at 18:26 of the second period on a wrist shot from the slot. He received a backhand pass from Colin Wilson from the corner and beat Blues goaltender Carter Hutton. The Predators took a 3-1 lead at 4:50 of the third period on Jarnkrok's second of the game. Filip Forsberg created a turnover in the offensive zone, Mike Fisher retrieved the puck and fed Jarnkrok, who beat Hutton with the wrist shot from the slot for his third of the season. Fisher returned to the lineup after missing three games with an upper-body injury. James Neal gave the Predators a 2-1 lead at 3:44 of the third on a one-timer from the right faceoff circle. Mike Ribeiro made a cross-ice pass and Neal got behind the Blues defense to one-time the puck past Hutton for his fourth goal. Predators forward Pontus Aberg got his first career point with an assist on Neal's goal.

Jaden Schwartz gave the Blues a 1-0 lead at 3:59 of the first period on a wrist shot from the right faceoff circle. He got the puck from Vladimir Tarasenko and took a shot that beat Predators goaltender Pekka Rinne for his third goal. The Blues committed five penalties. St. Louis coach Ken Hitchcock wants to see the penalties cut down and the energy level maintained. Rinne made 23 saves. Hutton made 25 saves against his former team. Blues forward Nail Yakupov returned to the lineup after being a healthy scratch for three games. He replaced forward Robby Fabbri.

   

* Jarnkrok's first goal of the game seemed to change the momentum in favor of the Predators. Wilson made a backhand pass from the corner that went off of a skate and on to Jarnkrok's stick. He beat Hutton on a wrist shot from the slot.

* Rinne made a save on a wrap-around attempt by Tarasenko in the second period to keep the game 1-0. Rinne got his left pad on the puck to make the save and the Predators cleared the puck to avoid further danger.

* Forsberg's defensive play to create a turnover on Jarnkrok's second goal was key. He created the turnover on a stick lift and got the puck to Fisher, who eventually fed Jarnkrok for the goal to put the Predators up 3-1.

* Ribeiro made a cross-ice saucer pass to Neal on the game-winning goal. He got a step ahead of the Blues' defense and hit Neal in stride with the pass.

Blues forward Alexander Steen is one goal away from 200 for his NHL career. … Forsberg got his ninth assist of the season but still has yet to score a goal through 13 games.

"[Penalties are] part of it, but I think after a while, you start living on one goal, you're not going to win many games. I didn't think we had any energy in the third period at all. It showed up in the first two goals we got scored on. We lost two board battles. Next thing you know, puck's in our net. It's disappointing. We played really well for 38 minutes and then gave up that tying goal and lost our energy." Hitchcock said.

Blues @ Columbus Blue Jackets 4-8 - Saturday, November 12, 2016


Even though the Columbus Blue Jackets defeated the St. Louis Blues 8-4 at Nationwide Arena, there was not a lot of satisfaction. Still, there was much to like from the Blue Jackets' standpoint. Sam Gagner had two goals and Cam Atkinson set an NHL career high with four assists for Columbus (7-4-2). The Blue Jackets had 13 players with points, seven of whom had at least two, including Nick Foligno with a goal and two assists. Sergei Bobrovsky made 33 saves. Vladimir Tarasenko had a goal and three assists, Robby Fabbri scored twice and David Perron had three assists when the Blues (7-6-3) scored four power-play goals against the NHL's best penalty kill (tied with St. Louis). Eight days after the Blue Jackets defeated the Montreal Canadiens 10-0 in Nationwide Arena, they were at it again. Gagner's sixth goal of the season and second of the game at 5:18 of the second period gave Columbus a 4-1 lead and led to Blues goaltender Jake Allen being pulled after making eight saves. Carter Hutton allowed a goal on his first shot for the first goal of the season by Brandon Dubinsky at 5:56 for a 5-1 lead. Hutton made 14 saves. Rookie defenseman Markus Nutivaara scored his first NHL goal at 10:52 to put Columbus ahead 6-1. William Karlsson made it 7-1 at 13:30 before Fabbri made it 7-2 at 15:56.

* Gagner opened the scoring at 2:34 of the first by skating from beneath the goal line and scooping a backhanded shot over Allen and underneath the crossbar.

* Tarasenko was going for his second goal and fifth point of the game and had Bobrovsky down after cutting around him, but the goaltender still managed to deflect the shot with his pads with three minutes left in the third period.

* St. Louis was trailing 3-1 three minutes into the second period but couldn't get any closer because Bobrovsky made a save on Jay Bouwmeester through traffic with his glove, then slid to his left to get in front of the rebound shot by Dmitrij Jaskin. Three minutes later, Gagner scored for a 4-1 Columbus lead.
* The way to score on the Columbus penalty kill is to move the puck quickly, and there was no better example than the goal by Fabbri in the second period. All the attention was on Tarasenko to the right of the goal, so he sent a pass to the goalmouth where Fabbri had an open net waiting for him.

* Hitchcock, who will retire after this season, coached for the final time in Nationwide Arena. He coached the Blue Jackets from 2006-10 and is first on the Columbus games coached list (284) and second in wins (125). … Blues forward Alexander Steen is stuck on 199 NHL goals after going goalless in 10 games. … The Blue Jackets were a plus-35 while Blues defenseman Alex Pietrangelo was a minus-5. …The Blue Jackets have completed their two-game season series against the Blues, the Anaheim Ducks, the Dallas Stars and the San Jose Sharks.

"We're getting a lot of breakdowns. Every mistake we make ends up in the back of our net. Soft on the puck. Soft on coverage. We're not competing hard enough at the puck and we're not firm with it. That's a bad recipe. We're firm in the offensive end so we've reversed the trend." Ken Hitchcock said.
"It's alarming. It's very alarming. It's not just the eight. It's six against Dallas. Five against the Rangers. We need to get back to the little things that made us good." Kevin Shattenkirk
"It's a crazy game. It's definitely not happy for a goalie. Four goals is a little too much." Blue Jackets goalie Sergei Bobrovsky