Recap: We Don't Need No Stinkin' Goals

The Blues hosted a Thursday night throwdown with the Philadelphia Flyers. The Blues would start Brian Elliott again in net. (It's like he's the number one goalie or something). The Flyers would start Steve Mason. Which if you remember, pretty much held the Blues in check the last time these two played. A few notes, Jay Bouwmeester got rid of his bird flu or whatever he had, and was back on the ice. Also, some line up mixing as, Chris Porter would be with Backes and Oshie while Alexander Steen would be with Paul Stastny and Dmitrij Jaskin. Patrik Berglund would spend the evening in the Ian Cole Memorial Press Box.

First Period:

Well, the good news is the Blues finally ended their streak of giving up a goal at home in the first in consecutive games. The bad news is, they didn't score any either.  Unfortunately, Mason would be a big part of that:

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Brian Elliott would also play apart in the scoreless first:

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Ryan Reaves would make his presence felt in the first. Who needs breaks when you have people:

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The goaltending display was on for sure. Also on display was the Blues PK unit. When do you, as a team, start asking if you can decline the powerplay? The Flyers wouldn't be able to convert on the man advantage whatsoever tonight.

Second Period:

The second period would be more of the same for both sides. As both goaltenders stood on their heads. Not literally, although if that happens someone take video of it, because I'm sure it would be awesome. Not so awesome is this 3 on 1 that the Blues wouldn't convert on:

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Oops. Jaskin would have a perfect opportunity to score. Steve Mason and his diving ability would prove to be too much though:

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Later on the Blues powerplay, Steen would have one of the best chances to score:

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Balls.

Third Period:

See other two periods. No, really. Neither team would score. Although Tarasenko would try to kill Stastny:

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I guess when it's your bobblehead night, you can do whatever you want. Later on in the period Vladimir Tarasenko would force a turnover. He then bought some time and got it over to Jori Lehtera. Goal right?!?!?!?

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That was probably going to be the game winner, but alas Steve Mason was the Blues kryptonite. Again. Really guys? Also, never play Steen in posts. As he hit not one, but two tonight. Both in key situations. Both, that could have given the Blues the lead. Not his fault at all. Just bad luck really. Or good depending on whose side you were on.

Overtime/Shootout:

Here's where the magic happened. Well maybe not so much in overtime as it did in the shootout. These two teams would battle for the whole game to include the overtime frame. It was a shame that this one went to a skills portion of the competition, because it had the feel of a playoff game. Very intense. However it did go to the shootout and you bet your ass T.J. Oshie delivered:

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And why wouldn't this be the game winner?

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Elliott and Mason would both get credit for a shutout tonight. Only Elliott would get credit for the win however. That shutout would tie our old pal Jaroslav Halak for the team record in shutouts. (20) He would stop all 28 shots that he saw. He also stopped everything he saw in the shootout. (all two shots) Mason on the other hand would stop 35 shots that he faced. Most of those seemingly would come in the third. At least that's what it felt like to me. I could be wrong. Alex Pietrangelo is steadily getting back to form. He looked good again tonight. Seems to have some of that confidence back that he had last year. Time will tell. But it seems right now his timing is pretty good.

Not only would Ells tie the franchise record for shutouts, Ken Hitchcock would get win number 700 tonight. He is only the fourth coach in the NHL to do this. Congrats coach.

The Blues take the ice again on Saturday as they take on the Wild.