After their first regulation loss since Jim Montgomery took over as coach of the St. Louis Blues on Saturday against the Edmonton Oilersit was imperative for the Blues to have a short memory and close a road trip with a third victory in four.
However, it would not be easy to close a series of four Canadian games on the road against the Vancouver Canucks. But that’s exactly what the Blues did when Dylan Holloway ended the game with the game-winning goal in overtime in a 4-3 victory at Rogers Arena on Tuesday.
Robert Thomas, who assisted on Holloway’s goalrecorded a goal and two assists to give him a streak of four consecutive games with at least one point (three goals, six assists); Holloway extended his best streak to seven consecutive games with at least one point (six goals, five assists) with a goal and an assist, his fourth multi-point game; Zack Bolduc and Jordan Kyrou scored and Joel Hofer made 22 saves to earn his third straight victory.
The Blues (14-13-2) are 5-1-1 since the coaching change with 11 points out of 14 since Montgomery’s arrival.
Let’s look at the three takeaways that were the keys to tonight’s victory:
* Several rush chances thanks to connected play, northern style — The Canucks knew from the start that the Blues thrived on rushing chances. Coach Rick Tocchet talked about this same scenario during the morning skate that Vancouver had to limit.
But the Blues’ defensive six played connected with the forwards, and they were able to move them up the ice quickly, resulting in several A-level scoring chances that, without Thatcher Demko, this game might have end sooner.
Brayden Schenn had a quick entry that hit the post in the first half; Holloway was robbed on a literal 2-on-0 by Demko on the backhand in the first; Pavel Buchnevich and Oskar Sundqvist had good looks in the second that required solid saves, and Kyrou and Holloway had breakaway opportunities in the second.
The Blues only managed 25 shots on goal, which doesn’t seem like a lot, but they definitely had a few doozies in this game that were high quality.
Zack Bolduc scored in the first period from the top of the slotand Thomas converted his breakaway with the first shorthanded goal of the season to give the Blues a 2-1 lead at 17:30 of the first period:
Kyrou gave the Blues a 3-1 lead with a one-timer on the power play following a chance call at 16:18 of the second period that made it 3-1:
The offense crept in for the Blues on Tuesday.
*The best players were the best players — Let’s be realistic, if the Blues have to rely on their players to win hockey games, they are in big trouble.
Not that these guys can’t contribute to wins, because they surely do, but for the team to be consistently good, its best players need to impact the game.
Thomas, Holloway, Kyrou, Colton Parayko, Justin Faulk and Pavel Buchnevich combined for nine of the ten points produced by the Blues tonight. Getting defenders involved is always a welcome sight and Parayko assisted on Thomas’ shorty and Faulk produced a point on the power play.
Thomas also won 63 percent of his faceoffs (15 of 24).
* Limit Vancouver’s offense — The Canucks have some high-end skill, although forward JT Miller (personal reasons) and defenseman Filip Hronek (lower body injury) are out of the lineup.
The Canucks have players who also drive the net, limiting them to 25 shots on goal has limited Joel Hofer from being overextended.
Reigning Norris Trophy winner Quinn Hughes has been responsible for much of the Blues’ offensive numbers, but they ended the defenseman’s seven-game point streak tonight; he had four shots on goal with 13 attempts, but he blocked seven attempts.
The Blues had 18 blocks in the match, with Holloway leading the way with four.
Listen to what Montgomery, Holloway and Hofer had to say after the match:
