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This afternoon the St. Louis Blues had the opportunity to take the lead in Conference III from the Shitcago Fuckhawks. They were semi-successful in achieving this goal. It wasn't easy to watch and it certainly wasn't their best performance this season. The team required extra time in overtime and then a shootout to secure the lead.
First Period
Tonight the Blues came out looking a bit sleepy and lethargic. They just couldn't seem to move their skates quick enough or chip the puck hard enough. It was hard to watch at times because Winnipeg clearly came to play. The Blues were the first to get on the board with a Brenden Morrow snapshot, with helpers from Vladimir Tarasenko and Derek Roy at 7:39.
This afternoon the Blues couldn't seem to keep themselves out of the box. At 10:33 the dreaded too many men on the ice call would go to Morrow. As the Blues were just killing off the Peg's power play Brian Elliott could not contain a wrister from Winni's Mark Scheifele, tieing the game up at 1-1 at 12:33 of the period. The Blues would get lucky as Derek Roy would capitalize on a wrist shot at 17:38. Successfully completing RoyWatch and reaching 36 points for the year so far. Get out your wallets Blues fans!
The period would end 2-1 Blues but not without some Extra Curriculars from Ryan Reaves and Chris Stewart. Rever would drop the mitts for the first time since returning from his hand surgery at 12:35. Stewie would drop the mitts with 1:10 seconds left in the period.
Second Period
The second period would kick off in a very boring fashion. Neither team seemed to put offensive pressure on the other. It seemed to be dead locked at times and the puck didn't seem to move down into either offensive zones for quite sometime. Jay Bouwmeester would take his 3rd penalty in three games with a slashing minor that really didn't appear to be a slash. Winnipeg would fail to convert the power play into a tying goal. At 5:00 of the period Olli Jokinen would attempt to blind Non-Visor user Brenden Morrow with a foolish/random swing of his stick. Morrow would go off to patch up the new wound next to his left eye as blood trickled down his face. During the 4 minute major Jokinen was assessed the Jets would take another penalty, giving the Blues a sizable 5 on 3 chance. Again the Blues would fail to convert on the power play and result in a Winnipeg goal at 10:22, exactly 22 seconds after the jets killed off the Blues power play. St. Louis and Winnipeg would go into the second intermission tied at 2 apiece.
Third Period
The start of the third period would see a blast from Jaden Schwartz ending up in the back of the Winnipeg net, effectively taking a 1 goal lead back from Winnipeg. Schwartz would be in front of the net and take a Barret Jackman shot off of the knee, take his own rebound and backhand it into the net at 00:34 of the period. The Blues would sit back and seem to fall back asleep just enough to take some careless penalties and allow Winnipeg to tie up the game at 13:53 on the power play, sending the game into overtime and a shootout.
Overtime/Shootout
The Blues and Winnipeg would quickly blast through the 5 minute overtime. The shootout would follow and would only need 3 rounds to decide the winner. T.J. Oshie and Vladimir Tarasenko would score to Winnipeg's 2 misses, sealing a victory for the team from St. Louis.
Its time for the Olympic Break. I hope you all enjoy and cheer on your respective countries to gold! See you at the end of February when the Blues head on the road.