Blues FINALLY Strike Gold In Edmonton And Are Back At It Tonight With A Huge Opportunity
FINALLY. Goddamn being winless in the Bubble was starting to get frustrating. How frustrating?
As long as you aren't a Bauer Nexus belonging to a St. Louis forward, you probably woke up feeling a lot better this morning than about 11pm last night. The Blues "had it" from the jump last night and you could tell there was something good brewing. Thurman "Cabo" Thomas was threading the needle to Justin Faulk who had his best game of the bubble so far.
DP57 was violating goalies…
And the Blues were laying the body on the Canucks at a healthy clip.
As the game wore on and the Blues did not have a lead, the doubt started to creep in. If the Canucks could "steal" this game with a heroic Markstrom effort and a bounce in their favor, the season was all but over. Being down 2-0 is not a fun place to be, there I said it. It all changed in the blink of an eye when the puck flung out to center ice and a white jersey appeared on the screen blazing toward the Canucks zone.
GAME. BLOUSES. Let's get into the takeaways from last night as we turn the page into today's game that starts in just a few hours.
Shoutout to Jake Allen for an unreal performance last night and one that the Blues REALLY needed. When you are down 2-0 in a series, the room for error is all but gone.
Ryan O'Reilly was such a force last night. Winning huge faceoffs clean back, battling below the goal line, and sniffing around the net for loose pucks that are going to eventually start going in. Because he is such a force on the defensive end, people might forget how critical a role in the Blues offense he was last year during the run. Not only that, but he quietly has 6 points in 6 games in the Bubble. Its a lot of pressure, but they Blues will need to lean on him again tonight to control the faceoff dot and keep that line cooking.
Speaking of the O'Reilly and Perron line, holy jumping do they work well together. They consistently generate pressure and end up creating problems in the offensive zone every time. Perron can't help himself from stirring shit up after the whistles as well and it seems like the other teams HATE him, which I like a lot. He draws a lot of attention and it seem productive in causing problems for the Canucks D.
Parayko and Scandella know that wasn't the most graceful display of defense in hockey history and I think everyone else does as well so we don't have to harp on that, not exactly a hot take to say hopefully that doesn't happen again.
The Blues survived without Tarasenko while he was scratched for health reasons. Jordan Kyrou played his ass off and I hope he stays in the lineup. He didn't score but his energy and compete level was very visible throughout the game. No fear for the young dude last night.
Tonight is obviously going to be a huge game and the margin for error is still incredibly small. 3-1 is barely a shade above 3-0 is the sense of doomed situations for the trailing team. The Blues need the SAME sense of urgency they had last night. Its an enormous weight off their shoulders that they finally got a win but that can't be enough. They need to be even hungrier tonight because the Canucks are going to respond after getting beaten last night. Time to get your pre-game nap in and drink your coffee. The 10:30 PM EST starts are not for everyone, but I'll be there locked and loaded on another naked periscope so tune in and comment your thoughts on the game. Jump on them early and maybe play with a lead for a little bit? How cool would that be? The reward is a tied series and brand new beginning. LETS GO BLUES!!!!!!