Blues Take One Point in Chicago, Still Have Chances To Top the Central Division

The St. Louis Blues missed an ideal opportunity last night, to tie with Winnipeg Jets and the Nashville Predators at the top of the Central Division.

Craig Berube’s guys lost in Chicago to Blackhawks after a shootout 4-3, and stayed one point behind the leading duo.

Still, after all the problems they have experienced this season they are not too disappointed with the final result of last night’s contest. Blues were behind 3-1, and for some of the players, one point they took is a huge success, having in mind the adversities during the match.

Defenseman Alex Pietrangelo was satisfied during the media session. He acknowledged that his team didn’t play well, and because of that, being able to reach at least that one point is excellent for him.

“It’s a big point,” Pietrangelo said. “We didn’t play the way we needed to play but to find a way to get a point, that’s big.”

The same opinion has the guy who sparked the comeback in the last 10 minutes, David Perron, and he too believes that a point from this one is a great thing.

“[It’s] always good to get a point you didn’t think you’d have 10 minutes before that,” Blues forward David Perron said.

Now, the Blues were constantly behind in this game. The Blackhawks who are out of the playoffs had nothing to lose, and were playing without any pressure, which paid off to them.

After a dull start, they netted first with 3:34 until the end of the first period. Jonathan Toews was the scorer.

Vladimir Tarasenko tied it, after just 26 seconds into the next period, and indicated that this might be Blues’ sequence. But the momentum didn’t shift to their side.

Artem Asimov brought back the edge to the hosts, and the guests once again had to chase the lead.

Hear from Tyler Bozak and David Perron following tonight’s game in Chicago. https://t.co/MpvoofOing #stlblues

— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) April 4, 2019

Patrick Kane raised to 3-1 for the Blackhawks. Along with this goal, Kane also had an assist in Wednesday’s event, and with those two points, he set a new personal record of 107 points during one season.

With somewhat more than 8 minutes, St. Louis had to react, and Perron decreased the lead on a power play, 46 seconds after Kane’s goal. After that, the visitors began pressuring and became more aggressive, which gave results at the end, when Tyler Bozak leveled the score only 39 seconds before the final buzzer.

Blues didn’t have the strength to make a complete comeback in the overtime, and eventually, the shootouts were decided by Cam Ward. Chicago’s goalie was perfect during that sequence, stopping all three rivals.

Craig Berube told the media that his team still has a nice chance of improving their place before the playoffs. After the game, the 54-year old, also stated that in order to do that, the crew needs to avoid any oscillations in their game.

“Home-ice advantage is up for grabs, the division, lots for things are still there that you can get,” Berube said. “We need to play consistent hockey here going into the playoffs.”

“I thought we’d have a lot more energy and emotion in the first period and that was missing… the third period was our best period.” https://t.co/xM8eX4J5dF #stlblues

— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) April 4, 2019

Since he sat on Blues’ bench, the team started posting wins. Lots of them. This franchise was sitting at the bottom of the league at the end of the last year. That was some six weeks after he took over the wheel. But the magical streak in February when they won 11 consecutive matches catapulted the Blues into the orbit.

Now they have 95 points, one fewer than Jets and the Predators with two games to go. The last two games of the regular part of the season, are at their Scottrade Center, against the Philadelphia Flyers and Vancouver Canucks.

Predators too, have two games at home, also against Canucks, and against the Blackhawks, while Jets have to play away from home both matches. The first one against Avalanche in Colorado, and the second vs Coyotes in Glendale. These two teams are in a desperate fight for the playoffs, which gives a nice chance for the Blues to profit from that.