Â
By Brad Lee
Holy shit, the Blues actually played well in a game they knew was important going in. Amazing.
They had to follow up the 1-0 shutout of Carolina with a good effort. They had to give Emmanuel some support after letting him carry them through a couple games. By the way, Legace set the franchise regular season scoreless streak at more than 180 minutes without allowing a goal. It was nice to see the team recognize the accomplishment in the waning moments, but it was nicer to see the fans give him a big ovation and him acknowledge them.
Hearing Emmanuel in interviews and watching him in games, I think fans are really starting to see that Legace loves this team as much as they do. As goofy as that sounds, tell me that's not one of the big reasons fans haven't latched on to guys like Eric Brewer and Christian Backman. Like with J.D. Drew when he was a Cardinal, these guys don't overtly show they enjoy what they're doing and they love where they're playing. It kind of completes that illusion that we fans are in this thing with the players and that we're not just plunking our money down for a business, but that it's a thing bigger than all of us. It's still just an illusion, but it's one of the things that keeps us coming back.
We've got about 24 hours to relish a sweet 6-1 win over Columbus, a team that was right with the Blues in the standings but was no where near their talent level when they were in the same building. The win might give Ken Hitchcock a heart attack ("Nurse, there is a whole chicken blocking this man's arteries!), it builds some momentum before the schedule starts to get heavy with road games and it shows the potential of this team.
Last night also sets up an interesting showdown come Friday night in Columbus. We guarantee a live blog for the FSN telecast. We'll be bringing the heat, so all the coolest kids on the Internets will be there. Don't forget to stop on by.
To celebrate his two goals, two more Andy McDonald photos.
