Recap: Blues Fall to Sharks 3-2 In OT

Tonight the St. Louis Blues brought on a repeat performance that harkened back to the olden days of last Thursday. The team seemingly had control, leading 2-1 late in the third period. In the last few seconds of the period the Blues not only lost their lead, forcing over time, but they also lost the game.

The First period the Blues spent most of the time keeping the San Jose Sharks at bay. San Jose only totaled 2 shots in the first period, both of which came late in the last three minutes of the period. The Blues looked dominate, taking advantage of sloppy turnovers by the Sharks. Unfortunately for Blues fans looks can be deceiving. Again we learned this lesson the hard way.

The Blue and Yellow spent the next 40 minutes playing as if they barely had their feet on the gas pedal. Their play slowly became messy and somewhat timid as the Sharks took advantage of their hesitance to play their game. In the entire 60 minutes of hockey there were only 6 minutes of penlites handed out, All of which were against St. Louis. The officials tonight were not to blame for the sloppy performance by the Blues. They let both teams play and only called things they absolutely thought was an accurate call. Sure there were a few blown calls that could have helped the Blues but honestly I appreciated a game by the NHL Officials where they let the players play.

Jake Allen had a damn good game tonight and the boys in front of him let him down big time. Yeah he let in the first goal in the second that can be considered a "Bad" goal. But there were several other Shark chances, in quick succession, that he sure as shit prevented from going in.. He earned his Second star of the game tonight. Sadly I can't say much about the rest of the team since they were pretty much non existent. They got burned again. Its a narrative I am all to familiar with and am pretty damn tired of parroting.

It has become a joke that California holds the kryptonite for the St. Louis Blues but I just don't see any secret special voodoo that these teams hold over us. These last two games have been primed and ready for the Blues taking. I don't think its Voodoo or magic that is holding this team back, but I cannot say what is holding them back. We know they can play with these teams. On paper they are a better team then the San Jose Sharks or the Anaheim Ducks, and hell even the Los Angeles Kings. So why aren't they succeeding on the ice when called upon to play in the state of California?

Last time around you can chalk up the losses to the "Bacterial Infection" that ran rampant through the team that brought on a lackluster performance in LA and Anaheim. This time we are down a hell of a player in Jaden Schwartz with pretty much the rest of the team seemingly fine, so is it just a skid or are we in full blown slump mode? The team as a whole needs to figure out their collective shit, soon. I am not panicking yet or calling for a fire sale of our players. But something needs to be done to shake this team out of its own head. Let's see if they can do just that Tuesday against the Colorado Avalanche.

Looking On The Bright Side:

• Jake Allen had one of his best games of the season. He kept the team in the game even when they mentally checked out in the third. I saw some great promise in this young kid, with that said, I don't know if he is quite ready to the be the Blues main starter. There is only goal tonight that he can be blamed for which is better then what we saw from Martin Brodeur last game.
• Brian Elliott is taking practice time with the Blues. They showed a clip of him from practice this morning looking as if his knee is doing better.
  
• Steve Ott scored his first goal as a Blue. Tyler will tell me this isn't a bright side per say but the Blues celebration after the goal was nothing short of Magical.
  
• Tonight was odd player goal night as Patrik Berglund also added a tally to his small collection of goals.
• David Backes played his 600th game as a Blue.

Game Highlights: