Blues Vs. Islanders Recap: New York Shatt Of Mind

The Blues headed to New York to take on the Islanders tonight in front of an SUV. Well, there were people there too, but yeah, an SUV. Anyway, In net tonight for the Blues would be Jake Allen Brian Elliott. Yes, that's right Brian Elliott makes the rare start for the good guys. In goal for the Isles (much to my dismay) would be Thomas Greiss. Some fresh faces in the lineup as far as the forwards go: Lehtera would slide up to play along side Stastny and Tarasenko. Steen would be paired with Backes and Brouwer. Fabbri would be with the returning Gomez and Jaskin, and the fourth line would consist of the same three guys of Ott, Brozdiak, and Reaves. Your Defensive parings tonight would see the obvious of Bouwmeester and Pietrangelo. Shattenkirk would be paired with Parayko and Bortuzzo would be with Gunnarsson.

First Period:

The Blues resembled much more of a hockey team in tonight's first period than they did the other night against the Panthers. (Not saying much though). The Blues would get a power play chance early on and would even record a shot on goal:

David Backes was a man on a mission tonight. Here he would light up Nelson. Granted it was an interference call, but still big hit early. It would set the tone for the night.

Here is the Backes hit on Nelson. Only call on the ice was interference, but it does look nasty. #stlblues https://t.co/yj7nFJqGrA

— Jeremy Rutherford (@jprutherford) December 5, 2015

As mentioned before Elliott would get the start in net tonight. The Isles would get a chance on him here on the power play following the Backes hit on Nelson.

A few minutes later Anders Lee would get a chance on Ells. Not only a chance on net, but a stick to Ells face. Shatty didn't like that too much. Probably could have been called for interference if it had gone in.

The Blues would get another power play in the opening period. But Greiss would deny the Blues for a second time on the man advantage. Here he saves a decent chance from the Captain:

But the real magic happened at the end of the period. Kevin Shattenkirk would bang one off of the pipe and in. After the Isles iced the puck, Paul Stastny would win the faceoff. (The Blues have been better in the faceoff zone since he's came back) Tarasenko would get it over to Shattenkirk, and Shatty would bury it for the 1-0 Blues lead. It's Shatty's third goal of the season.

The Blues would take the 1-0 lead into the locker room. This is only the sixth time this year that the Blues have done this.

Second Period:

Do the Blues come out and have a horrid second period tonight? Spoiler: no. But it wasn't anything spectacular by any means either. Early on it looked like the Blues were going to regress. Three minutes into the period Matt Martin would challenge Ells, but would be denied:

The first real chance for the Blues came about 5 minutes into the period. Lehtera would swap with Steen to be on the Backes/Brouwer line. Here he takes a centering pass and gets in on Greiss to force him to cover the puck. The Lehtera, Stastny, and Tarasenko line didn't last long huh?

Brian Elliott would keep the Blues in the game tonight. (Regulation/OT...) As John Kelly would say Josh Bailey gets a chance from the ladies tee but Ells would deny him. (Random MSG feed is random)

So at the end of two, the Blues would still lead the Isles 1-0. All seemed to be going well...

Third Period:

UNTIL OH MY GOD LEGS AREN'T SUPPOSED TO BEND LIKE THIS. (If you're squeemmish scroll away)

This angle is even worse oh my goodness. pic.twitter.com/K05JHomRiG

— Cristiano Simonetta (@CMS_74_) December 5, 2015

But because he's a hockey player, or something, he would only miss about 3 minutes of the period. I thought for sure he was going to be out a long time, but then again I'm not a doctor. Whatever, it was nice to see him come back after the plethora of injuries the Blues have suffered so far in the season.

This didn't help the fowl mood that Blues fans were in while wondering what was going on with Parayko:

What in the wide world of sports was Bortuzzo doing on this play? Needless to say, both him and Gunarsson closed in on Strome. That would leave Grabovski alone. Bad things happen when you leave guys alone in front of the net.

The Blues and Isles hit each other A LOT tonight. 106 times to be exact. (Seriously) You can add islands to things David Backes hates. He was a wrecking ball out there tonight:

The Blues and Isles would go to three on three OT. *Cue the circus music*

Overtime:

When the Isles played the Blues in STL they won it in OT. Not tonight though. Elliott and Greiss both would keep the puck out of the net. Not to say that both teams didn't have chances. Although questionable to have Brouwer out there during 3 on 3. I mean why do you sit Fabbri now? Did he get grounded to his room or something that Brouwer has to come out in OT? No offense to Troy but...again, questionable.

A number 91 almost won it. No, not that one.

Shootout:

And for the skills portion of the competition, the Blues would send out Shattenkirk and Tarasenko. The Isles would send out Nielsen and Okposo.

Neilsen:

Shattenkirk:

Okposo:

Tarasenko:

Elliott played a great 65 minutes tonight. Only to see it go to hell in the shootout. Your final score, 2-1 bad guys.

Three Stars:

3rd: Kevin Shattenkirk (1 goal, fed a dead mole to a guy on a local STL morning show)

2nd: Thomas Greiss (1 goal allowed, Making me wish Jaro played that much more)

1st:  Mikhail Grabovski (1 goal, can score if you leave him open)