Team had no life, no energy early, got smacked in mouth by Avalanche top players; Dvorsky scores again; penalty kill stays perfect
One would like to think that wasn’t a predictable result coming into a second of a back-to-back when the mighty Colorado Avalanche is waiting for you, but unfortunately for the St. Louis Blues, it was worse than one could imagine.
The Avalanche quickly and efficiently doused the Blues’ hopes of what looked like a mountainous task of trying to win two games in 24 hours against the Dallas Stars, which they did, and then the Avalanche by burying St. Louis, 6-1, at Ball Arena in Denver on Saturday night.
Yeah, it was that kind of a game.
After a very impressive 4-0 win in Dallas on Friday, the Blues (1-1-0) couldn’t afford to fuel the feeding frenzy that the Avalanche (2-0-0) can bring on a nightly basis, and they did just that.
As for the game, well … where to begin?
* Needed a strong start – The Avalanche, fresh off also pasting the Los Angeles Kings, 8-4, have been sitting around for two days at home waiting for the Blues, who got into Denver late off their win Friday. They were fresh, they were amped up, they were ready.
Jim Montgomery knew what was coming, so he moved some parts around, including putting his top defensive players (Philip Broberg and Colton Parayko together) and wanted to have his top line (Robert Thomas, Dylan Holloway and Jimmy Snuggerud) against Colorado’s top line featuring Nathan MacKinnon and top defensive pair, including Cale Makar, who will next season be the NHL’s highest paid player at $20.4 million average annual value.
Quite the opposite happened.
Makar and Martin Necas scored goals in the opening 20 minutes, and both came against the Blues’ D-pair and top line. And let’s face it, if not for Jordan Binnington in that first period in which the Blues were outshot 15-4, it could have been 4-, or 5-0.
* It really unraveled in the second – The Blues probably would have felt better about themselves entering the second had Robert Thomas, whose turnover led to the Avs’ second goal by Necas, converted late in the first but instead hit the post. Regardless, they did have some decent legs and rushes to begin the period.
But when Josh Manson’s one-timer from near the blue line deflected past Binnington off Jonatan Berggren’s stick at 5:38, it led to more mistakes in which the talented Avs will make you pay for.
And things didn’t get better for Binnington, who allowed six goals on 36 shots on the night when Artturi Lehkonen intercepted a mid-air clearance and made it 4-0 at 11:40, then Nicolas Roy and Necas scored twice late in the second period 23 seconds apart and it was all over but the shouting at 6-0.
Roy’s goal came off a failed clearing attempt and Necas converted when a rimmed puck eluded Binnington behind the net.
The Avs scored four times on just seven shots that period.
* Dvorsky two in two – Sure, the game was well out of reach (6-0), but the Blues needed to play the third period like it was 0-0, show some fight and spunk.
Dvorsky’s goal at 2:34 of the third came off a hustle forecheck by himself and Berggren to help create the turnover back to the left point, where Theo Lindstein throws it towards the net. Yes, there was a bit of a break when the puck was mishandled by Manson right to Dvorsky, but he made no mistake in whipping his backhand past Mackenzie Blackwood:
* Penalty kill continues to shine to start – The Avs pumped four man-advantage goals past the Kings in their opener and we all know the Stars were one of the top power-play units in the NHL last season.
After going 4-for-4 on the PK Friday, the Blues followed it up with another 4-for-4 effort to begin the season 8-for-8 on a unit that was 25th (76.7 percent) in the league last season.
As for the power play, well, there will be better days. There better be if this team is to make the necessary jump in the standings; that side again didn’t generate much, going 0-for-2 after going 0-for-4 Friday, and in the two opportunities Saturday, it was problematic getting set up in the zone again and losing the offensive zone draw.
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