It's a shame that this had to be a nationally televised game, because it was one of the Blues' sloppiest and most boring outings in a long, long time. That won't matter to all the mouth-breathers out thger who are, no doubt, already tapping into their keyboards about how the boring Blues are killing the NHL by employing Ken Hitchcock's 1999 trap system.
They aren't and he isn't, but good luck getting anyone to believe that if they have a sample size of one in Blues games watched. Lots of chipping and chasing, lots of tied up pucks along the boards, lots of scrums at the net - that was some ugly, ugly hockey.
But the Blues proved they can win ugly, grinding games too. They've won shootouts (both literal and figurative) and they've won fast-paced games full of big hits. They now also know they can win these games down in the trenches, too.
The Blues now hold a share of the NHL lead in points and hold the top spot in the West. That's exciting, yes, but it's also likely to be fleeting as Detroit plays tomorrow and Chicago plays Wednesday, so by the time they take the ice again, the Note could be back in third in the Division and fifth in the West. I'd recommend enjoying the look of the standings, but let's try to stay somewhat even keel on this. The Blues are in a great spot and are doing a great job of getting points every game, but this is going to be a slugfest and they'd better be ready for the battle for position to go on all year.
Instead of bulletpoints tonight, I'm just going to turn it over to you all to spell it out in the comments. Who was good, who looked slow, is Oshie finding another gear and finally, is any penalty called more inconsistently in the NHL than interference?
Do your thing, yo.