Coyotes Vs. Blues Recap: Ugly Wins Are In Fact, Still Wins.

Blues Forwards:

Jaden Schwartz - Brayden Schenn - Vladimir Tarasenko

Vladimir Sobotka - Paul Stastny - Alexander Steen

Dmitrij Jaskin - Oskar Sundqvist - Magnus Paajarvi

Scottie Upshall - Kyle Brodziak - Chris Thorburn

Blues Defensive Pairs:

Carl Gunnarsson - Alex Pietrangelo

Joel Edmundson - Colton Parayko

Vince Dunn - Robert Bortuzzo

Starting Goalie:

Carter Hutton

Game Highlights:

Picking up tonight’s action in the second period, the Blues break the 0-0 tie. After Brayden Schenn rang the puck off the pipe, Chris Thorburn collected the puck. He found Edmundson in front of the net, and he doesn’t miss from there. Of note, Thorburn tallied his first point with the Blues tonight. 1-0 Blues five minutes into the second.

Moments later, the Coyotes’ tied it at one. Brendan Perlini was the beneficiary of a great pass from Anthony Duclair. Perlini recieved the puck and put the puck into the back of the net. Nothing that Hutton could have done about that one.

As mentioned above Carter Hutton got the rare Scottrade start tonight. With the game tied at one Hutton made some key saves while the Coyotes were on the powerplay.

In the waining moments of the second, the Coyotes got their second goal of the night. It’s Perlini again, only this time he scored on the Coyotes power play that had been 0’fer to this point in the game. He benefitted on this goal from a beautiful back handed pass from Christian Dvorak. 2-1 Coyotes after two periods. Not ideal.

Five minutes into the third period the Blues tied it. A wrist shot from Captain Alex Pietrangelo finds its way past Arizona starter Antti Raanta. Just hand him the Norris now, am I right? That’s already Pietrangelo’s seventh of the year. He (and the rest of the defense) have really benefitted from the coaching staff unchaining them so to speak. Who would’ve thought the Blues secondary scoring would come from the defense?

The Blues almost lost it in the overtime frame when Oliver Ekman-Larsson was left all alone in front of the net. Carter Hutton made the brilliant stop and allowed this game to go to the skills portion of the competition.

In the skills competition Schenn went first, and scored first giving the Blues the early advantage. Schenn also had another assist tonight for the Blues giving him 15 on the year already. He’s on pace for about 500. We’re not sure on the math, but that sounds about right.

After some kid from Swansea Illinois failed to score, (Clayton Keller maybe) Tarasenko missed, Coyotes missed, Alex Steen seals the win for the Blues.

As ugly as this win was, the Blues still pull it out 3-2 in the shootout. The Blues keep finding new ways to play down to their competition. Or so it seemed like in this one. It didn’t help that the Blues took a few penalties that they could’ve done without. Looking at you Bortuzzo, who is now averaging one stupid penalty a game. The shots on goal totals were 38 for the Blues and 29 for the Coyotes. Next up for the Blues is the Islanders on Saturday night.

From the “Is this good” Department because this joke will never get old:

I for one bow down to our new offensive defensemen overlords:

Oh yeah, this kid’s from Alton.

Player of the Game:

Anyone that realizes that just because it’s the best team in the league playing the worst team in the league...You might not always play well against them. Or Blow them out. You get the idea. Upsets do happen...But not tonight Satan er, Coyote.