Blues Score Big Win Against Predators

by Brad Lee on Dec 9, 2008 1:06 AM CST

Why is this man smiling? Oh yeah, the Beej got a hat trick.

By Brad Lee

There's a lot of hockey left to play, but Monday night's 6-3 win over the Nashville Predators is big for a couple reasons.

First, it pushes the Blues' record in the division to 5-1-0 on the season. Like the rest of the season, there's a lot of hockey to be played in the Central Division. Those six games are just a quarter of the 24 games the Blues play in the division. They have yet to see Columbus and have only played the Red Wings once, the only division foe to best them this season. But considering the Blues' struggles against Nashville in recent seasons, winning three in a row against the Predators feels pretty freaking good.

Second, the win Monday hopefully was the coming out party for some of the new players on the roster this season. Recently-acquired center Alexander Steen tallied a goal and an assist. He had a highlight reel play in the third that we'll talk about in more detail shortly. The game also saw rookie center Patrik Berglund continue his coming out party. He has nine goals and nine assists on the season. Considering he's only played in 21 games so far this season, he could be considered one of the two or three most important players on the team right now.

You don't talk about Valley Park like that! Bradley Boyes scored his 14^th goal of the season. Labeled as "inconsistent," "streaky" and "under-performing," Boyes with his 40-goal season last year is cementing himself as the premier goal scorer on this team. Last year was no fluke. It is interesting to watch Boyes play in recent games. He's focused on being more of a playmaker, especially on the power play. His passing is underrated, but he needs to focus on getting the puck in the net himself. The return of Paul Kariya one of these days will help that.

BJ Crombeen had scored two goals in his NHL career before Monday night. He now has five. Don't assume for one second that Crombeen will be a threat to do something like this on a nightly or even weekly basis. But give credit to the son of the former Blue for being in the right place at the right time Monday.

On Crombeen's first goal of the game, the puck came in front of the Predators' net. A Nashville player tried playing the puck, but it rolled off his stick to goaltender Pekka Rinne. He tried sweeping it forward to another teammate, but it went right to Crombeen who blasted it home from about 10 feet outside the crease.

His second came from new center Alexander Steen. He carried the puck down the left wing, he deked his way around one defender, lured another toward him then passed it to the streaking Crombeen who delayed his entry in the play, hoping he would get lost in the shuffle, which is exactly what happened.

Don't think I won't cut you. "That was an easy play for me. Steen made an unbelievable move, walked their d-man, came in, pulled the other one over and slid a backdoor pass to me. Not much else you can ask for from him," Crombeen told Fox Sports Midwest's Dan McLaughlin immediately after the game. On his third, he got the puck in the neutral zone and flipped it into an empty net, his second shot at the vacated goal. His first hit the post.

The Blues finished a three-game home stand with five out of a possible six points. Only a blown two-goal lead Friday night kept the Blues from being perfect. Nashville still finished the night in eighth place in the conference with 30 points, just three more than the Blues' total. Six teams are within five points of the last playoff spot.

"These are some big points. We're trying to work our way up the standings and it's such a tight race," Crombeen told McLaughlin. "Every game is huge. We're trying to take every game like it's our last one."

The Blues strike out on a West Coast swing starting Wednesday night. They play all three California teams in four days. So far the Blues are 0-5-1 against them. More on that matchup Wednesday.

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Comments

Good read, Brad. I still can’t believe that game, way to go Beej! Our Blues are building a core that is really hard not to fall in love with, quality players and it seems people. I also love how “On the Fly” will give us some serious time when we play well, it’s exciting to see us with international exposure. Let’s Go Blues! Man what an exciting finish, can I get a “WWWWWWWWWWWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”

Just finished watching Dark Knight, school in a few hours, heads I over sleep – tails I’m there on time.

by Nancy's Boy on Dec 9, 2008 3:26 AM CST reply actions

Solid recap, Brad.

Just to reiterate from the open thread . . . that play by Steen in the 3rd was just absolutely sick. I guess it took him a few games to get the courage up to do something like that. It was amazing After that happened, the game was pretty much over – the Music City It’s-A-Miracle-We-Have-A-Hockey-Team Crew pretty much conceded after that (hence the next goal 45 seconds later).

Nashville might have a nice city – I wouldn’t know, I’ve only driven through Nashville. But I’ve never liked their hockey team, or the fact that they HAVE a hockey team. So any time the Blues beat ’em, I feel MUCH better the next day.

by Donut King on Dec 9, 2008 6:55 AM CST reply actions

Good job Brad.

Crombeen is now ahead of Stamkos in the rookie scorign race!!! lol.

Hopefully Steen does this on a consistent basis. In Toronto he’d show some of this flash and then poof it’d disappear.

In the big picture the trade looks more and more favorable to us with each passing game. Cola is the shizit! I think he’s caused Brewer to work even harder, because here’s this kid that played basically a full season worth plus 29 games before coming here and he straight up schools Brewer on how to play like a number one defenseman.

Though you can’t expect this from Crombeen every night this is the type of guy I’ve been wanting on a fourth line. A guy who also has some skill, can fight, cycles the puck well and hits hard. This guy should make it hard for players like Hinote, Stastney, King and Janssen to see ice time. To put it perspective Hinote scores about five goals a season and twice six goals and has been playing for roughly nine seasons. Fan favorite Ryan Johnson never scored more than seven goals in any one season.

This is sweet! LGB!! and fuck up the Sharks!!

by Chris D. on Dec 9, 2008 10:51 AM CST reply actions

Here’s Steen’s mad assed assist from last night:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULK4A1fg9ws

by Answer Man on Dec 9, 2008 10:58 AM CST reply actions

Life is good … till wendsday at least.

by Aaron on Dec 9, 2008 2:54 PM CST reply actions

A few notes from the game…

- Second game in a row that I didn’t see the 1001 uses for opponent’s jersey video. Could be more than that, but I don’t go to every game. Maybe they gave up on it?

- Friday night’s game, Louie was on the ice during the pee-wee game on skates. Skating ability closer to Janssen than Perron. (Actually, made Janssen look like Perron.)

- Saw Louie do a handstand on the stairs during a break in the play last night. If he goes over the wrong way and breaks something, does the Blues training staff have to tend to him? (Maybe this goes along with the new video feature “dare Louie”? Saw that one the other night with Louie on a skateboard. Fairly entertaining.)

- No real horns last night, not even weak ones. Just airhorns, “I’ll yell like a horn” guys/kids, and that tiny horn from somewhere around section 308 (but could be anywhere, including outside the building because it’s so soft).

- Worst “shoot the puck into the circles to win prizes” attempt I’ve ever seen. The guy shot for the near circle, and the puck slid at most 4 feet. Embarassing.

- Heard the guy in front of me yell “we want tacos” when the 5th goal was scored. Unless DQ has a new taco-flavored blizzard, this guy will be disappointed.

- Somebody in 305 really hates Brewer. Hates him so much hasn’t noticed that he’s been playing quite well the last few weeks.

by Mr. Particle on Dec 9, 2008 6:24 PM CST reply actions

Particle, somebody in every section hates Brewer.

by Chris Gift on Dec 9, 2008 8:23 PM CST reply actions

Most of the time there are multiple people in each section that hate Brewer.

by irishblue on Dec 9, 2008 9:51 PM CST reply actions

After the 4th goal saturday, at least 2 people in 326 started chanting “We want tacos”. At least one of them was me. Let’s face it. “We want tacos” rolls off the tongue better than “We want ice cream” or “We want blizzards”.

by baroose on Dec 10, 2008 7:29 AM CST reply actions

“We want BJ”?

by Pagan on Dec 10, 2008 1:07 PM CST reply actions

Anyone notice there hasn’t been a “cotten-eyed joe” song played at he-ha center the past few games?

by DanGNR on Dec 10, 2008 3:17 PM CST reply actions

Last year I gave it to Brewer so hard…uhm I mean the booing and yelling he sucks I swear he looked back at me and had a sad expression on his face. The situation made me feel his humaness then I remembered that I dumped well over three grand on the Blues last year and he hardly showed up for any games. Playing better for a few weeks doesn’t cure the shit play for well over a year. He needs to play his ass off the rest of the time here. We gave him a big contract that at the time few defensemen had especially ones that scored way more than a mere 29 pts in a season.

Tkachuk also. He’s worked harder this season than any other here and yet he like the fourth most paid player to ever play the game. No Cup and never broke a 100 points.

I don’t mean to be a downer but I expect them to play that hard now and until their last shift for the Blues or whoever they are playing with. We give them our hard earned money and they get the PRIVLEDGE to wear the Blue Note and get paid handsomely to do so.

by Chris D. on Dec 10, 2008 5:40 PM CST reply actions

Holy crap, DanGNR. I hope they’ve finally come to their senses.

by Brad Lee on Dec 10, 2008 5:40 PM CST reply actions

damn we really need an edit button fucking spelling errors doh!

by Chris D. on Dec 10, 2008 5:41 PM CST reply actions

thanks for the link A-Man, sadly I missed the game and regret it. it sounded awesome from reading the game-day comments.

anyone see this other video linked to the Steen video?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5wEK5BjKjk&NR=1
a Leafs fan analyzes the Stempniak/Steen&Colaiacovo trade

by Dooks on Dec 10, 2008 6:15 PM CST reply actions