The Blues played back-to-back games against two of the league’s best teams.
The St. Louis Blues played back-to-back games against two of the best teams, the Carolina Hurricanes and the Edmonton Oilers, this past weekend.
The Blues didn’t play some of the most inspired hockey, but they had some things to be happy with. Here are three takeaways from the Blues’ back-to-back games.
Tarasenko achieved an almost forgotten statistic.
When the Blues took on the Hurricanes on Saturday, they lost 3-2, but it wasn’t much of a tough loss. The Blues’ defense has been subpar as of late, but it looked okay on Saturday night. Blues goaltender Joel Hofer started, and ended his night with 21 saves on 24 shots. The Blues could’ve easily trailed by 5+ goals without Hofer’s performance.
Anyways, Vladimir Tarasenko scored the game-tying goal just 48 seconds into the third period. Tarasenko’s sixth goal of the season was assisted by Ivan Barbashev (5) and Robert Thomas (11). But, somehow, Tarasenko never scored a career goal at PNC Arena, despite scoring 223 career goals as of November 13, 2021. This calls for a celebration, am I right?
Vladimir Tarasenko: “These were two big games for us, back-to-back with teams with (some of) the best records in the League. It’s sad when you lose, but we played well (tonight) and this is a quick turnaround. We need to get ready for tomorrow.” #stlblues
— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) November 14, 2021
Kyrou extended his point streak to four games.
Jordan Kyrou opened the scoring with his sixth goal of the season, a power-play goal at 14:18 of the first period on Sunday night. Kyrou’s goal was his fourth goal in four games on the power play. His goal came just minutes after Ivan Barbashev’s power-play was called back following an Oilers’ successful challenge for offsides. His goal was assisted by Pavel Buchnevich (3) and Robert Thomas (12).
However, St. Louis was just 1-for-5 or 20% on the power play unit on Sunday night. Edmonton was 1-for-3, which wasn’t perfect either, but 33% is still better.
OOHHH, OOHHH
HEY!!! HEY!!! #stlblues pic.twitter.com/H7L6jMxJUe— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) November 15, 2021
Bortuzzo ended his goal-scoring drought.
Whether you think Robert Bortuzzo is a dirty player or not, he scored his first goal of the season on Sunday night. Bortuzzo’s game-tying goal in the second period was assisted by Tyler Bozak (6) and David Perron (6).
Big Bortuzzo’s got himself a Big Goal. #stlblues pic.twitter.com/La7ofQdKMM
— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) November 15, 2021
After Sunday’s game, Bortuzzo told the local media: “It’s frustrating to give a few of those (points) away, especially tonight when I thought we had great energy… just frustrating.”
The Blues host the Arizona Coyotes on Tuesday at 7:00 pm Central.