Tuesday, April 3, 2007

Blues 4 Stars 2

This is the sort of game the Blues have been playing the second half of the season that have Blues' fans wildly optimistic. Last night the blues were simply the better team. Every aspect of the game was solid. OK, they gave up another power play goal but it was of the fluky variety. Sometimes that is just the way the puck bounces.

Goaltending: Sanford had a solid game. He was picking up pucks easily even when they were coming through traffic. He gave up a couple of juicy rebounds but his defense cleaned up for him.

Defense: A number of Blues had strong games. I thought Backman and Brewer in particular had fine games. Both had been a little hit and miss over the last few so it was good to see them get back on form. Jackman is right on that agression line, which is right where he needs to be to be most effective. He is fun to watch. The kids played well and you can see Woywitka get more and more comfortable with every game he plays. Walker had his best game as a Blues.

Offense: The Blues played a very smart road game. Stempniak netted a very pretty goal in the first period where Dallas D just gave him all kinds of room to skate around and pick out a corner. Boyes and Backes each had an assist and both looked good. Metropolit got in on the act with a nifty tally after a nice pass from DJ King (!) sent him in alone. The one knock I'd have is that they passed the puck a little too often at times. They needed to get a little more rubber at the net.

And I must add that King beat the crap out of Barch in a fight.

Ahh...old time hockey.

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