Call that a good game. Not only did the Blues stay focused on the two points at hand and avoided being distracted by the Steve Ott Sideshow like they did the last time the two teams met, but they managed to step to him and administer a beat-down within the context of the game too.
Thanks to Versus thinking that their 98% worthless content and 2% NHL presence means that they can get paid more for their 'service', I wasn't able to watch the game, instead taking it all in old-school via KMOX. I haven't listened to a game on the radio like that in a while and forgot just how much more nerve-wracking it can be when you're totally dependent on Chris Kerber's description. As the announcer noted the other night in his post-game show, "when you're calling the game, you're calling on the puck." Which means that if someone is having a good game away from the puck, we'll never hear it.
And as many people in the monstrosity known as our Game Day Thread noted, we didn't hear a lot of T.J. Oshie's name tonight. That is, of course, until he unleashed The Laser:
Bottle Popper, bitches.
So, without the power of television to tell me what I saw and what I now believe, I have to go with bulletpoints based off of the descriptions of Kerber and Kelly Chase combined with the discriptive power of our own GDT:
- Goals by Erik Johnson, David Backes and Oshie sound about right. Veteran presence or not, these are the guys who are supposed to be providing that secondary scoring which has been virtually non-existant so far this year.
- Ty Conklin did enough to win, but what is it with the Blues goaltending that they seem to get stronger as the game progresses? There must be a way to be better prepared for these starts and avoid giving up the first goal of the game so often.
- You pass out a few stickers with your logo on them and damn if they don't find their way into the strangest places. Our own loyal reader Brado keeps the streak alive by getting the GT guy onto national TV for the second straight game in Texas. I feel a Project Mayhem assignment coming on....
- Eric Brewer very likely didn't convert many haters into fans tonight, but goddamn if he didn't do the captain-like thing by pounding the shit out of Steve Ott tonight. Not only was the message sent, but he did in at a time and in a way that he didn't hurt his team. Very efficient program, Captain Roboto. Very efficient indeed. I made the comment in my editor's article on Monday that I like my captains to be like Mike Richards of Philadelphia. Brewer stepping up to punchasize Ott's face is exactly what Mike Richards would have done for his teammates.
Next up is a trip to Nashville to play their boring-ass hockey team on Friday. The Blues avenged one home loss tonight. Can they do it again against the Preds?