Hurricanes At Blues Recap - There’s No Place Like Home

Before the game Joel Edmundson got his Stanley Cup ring. The Blues were also kind enough to fly his parents in for the occasion.

First Period -

Less than three minutes into the game, the Blues took the 1-0 lead. Jordan Kyrou was almost able to be the one to tally the night’s first goal but came just a few inches short. Instead it was Sammy Blais that was able to find the puck on a rebound chance from a Justin Faulk shot. Blais gained control of the puck and fired a simple wrister past Hurricane’s starter Petr Mrazek. Blais with goal number sixth on the year. The aforementioned Faulk (10) and Ivan Barbashev (14) tallied the assists.

Shots in the period were 9-7 in favor of the Blues.

Second Period -

Second periods haven’t always been great for the Blues. Ok, they’re down right awful at times. Zach Sanford wasn’t having any of that tonight as he gave the Blues a 2-0 lead 1:27 into the period. Sanford skated the puck in and went in behind the net. As he skated back in front he stuffed the puck past the goal line. It had to be reviewed to make sure it had indeed crossed the goal line. Luckily (at least as far as reviewing video is concerned) the ref clearly saw the puck past the line and awarded the goal. Sanford (7) from Jay Bouwmeester (7) and Colton Parayko (12)

The Blues weren’t done scoring quite yet. Brayden Schenn rushed up the ice with the puck. Schenn skated the puck into the zone and had Colton Parayko with him. Schenn passed the puck over to Parayko who one timed it on net. No one was stopping that absolute blast, and that put the Blues up now 3-0. Parayko (3) from Schenn (26) and Thomas (22)

The Hurricanes were able to cut the lead to two with a goal from Sebastian Aho. The ‘Canes got a lucky puck bounce off of the referee’s skate. The puck trickled to Warren Foegele. Foegele was able to find Aho right in front of the net with a pass. Aho finished the play with a goal. The ref was not given an official assist on the play.

The period was going so well for the Blues (despite giving up the Aho goal) that they scored their first of two power play goals in the second. Both Ryan O’Reilly both had excellent chances. First on the Alex Pietrangelo pass to O’Reilly that was turned right on net. The second chance was on the rebound shot from Jaden Schwartz. The third try was the one that went in as Schenn was there to clean up in front for goal number 19 on the year. Schwartz (26) and O’Reilly (36) with the assists. 4-1 Blues.

The second power play goal came from Schenn again. Completely different goal this time around. Schwartz hit Schenn with a pass that Schenn one timed into the back of the open net. That gave Schenn goal number 20 on the year and Schwartz and O’Reilly another assist on the score sheet.

That goal capped off an amazing four goal period for the Blues and a 5-1 lead after 40 minutes of play. Shots on goal for the period were all knotted at 7. Yes, that means the Blues scored four goals on seven shots. Not bad.

Third Period -

Not to be outdone by Schenn. Sanford scored his second goal of the night a little over midway through the period. O’Reilly won the faceoff and Jay Bouwmeester collected the puck. Bouwmeester passed it over to a wide open Sanford who just blasted the puck past Mrazek. Bouwmeester (8) and O’Reilly had your assists with O’Reilly getting assist number three on the night.

The Hurricane’s tried to make this a game late. By that, they got a lucky bounce and a questionable power play. First Brock McGinn got the lucky bounce as Jordan Staal centered the puck. The puck bounced off of McGinn’s leg and past Jordan Binnington to cut the lead to 6-2.

And then they added their third goal of the night after Alexander Steen was called for a questionable hooking penalty. And this goal had a deflection off a Blue for the power play goal. Not that Martin Necas’ shot wasn’t great...it had a little help.

Your final from Enterprise 6-3 Blues. Final shot count was 28-26 in favor of the Hurricanes. The Blues got a much needed win and finally had some success from the power play as it was 2-4 on the night. (I’d even be willing to throw the last one out. It was garbage time late, and they were trying to get Sanford the hat trick.)

Next up for the Blues are the Jets at Enterprise Thursday night.

Tweet Tweet Tweet Something Darkside.

Look, I’m sorry I bitched that Sanford was getting top 6 minutes even though he wasn’t getting the job done. Clearly, someone knows more than I do. (Which is a LOT of people)

From the “I see what you did there” department..

Sanford postgame...Tonight marked his first two goal game in the NHL.

And as Hildy mentioned on Twitter...Can we petition the NHL to let the Blues play the rest of their games in St. Louis?