The Blues are going 6-1-1 in their last 8 games, currently on a three game winning streak after back-to-back-to-back games against Minnesota, Pittsburgh and Atlanta.
In the most recent game against Atlanta, Brian Boucher got his first shot as a St Louis Blue. He got some help from the third and fourth lines in the first, with Ben Guite scoring a powerplay goal while Samuel Pahlsson was off for boarding. To add insult to injury, just 7 seconds later Stu Barnes scored his 3rd of the season and 2nd in three games with the Blues. Although Marc Savard cut the lead in half in the last minute of the first. In the second, Atlanta's lack of discipline cost them a chance to get back into the game. After Peter Mueller took a huge hit from Jason Smith, Greg Zanon chased after Smith taking an Unsportsmanlike penalty in the process. Just 8 seconds into the powerplay, Ryan Malone scored to put the game out of reach.
This was a special teams battle as St Louis went into the game with the 7th best powerplay and the 6th best penalty kill, while Atlanta came in with the 6th best powerplay and 4th best penalty kill. St Louis went 2 for 4 on the powerplay and held the Thrashers scoreless on 5 powerplay opportunities. Now the Blues hold the 5th best powerplay, dropping the Thrashers down to 7th and swapped places with the Thrashers for penalty killing.
The next game for the Blues are the Blue Jackets tomorrow, ending their 4 straight game streak. Nabokov will be back in net against their divisional rival.
As the Blues passed the quarter mark of the season, they were sitting 2nd in the division but 9 points behind leaders Chicago. Just 5 games later and they now sit 3 points back and on a four game winning streak since trading away Chris Drury, Daymond Langkow, Jay Pandolfo and Ilja Bryzgalov. The player leading the way for the Blues, is it Staal? Legwand? Meszaros? No, it's veteran Stu Barnes who became part of the deal due to salary concerns in San Jose. Barnes had 2 goals and an assist in the 4-3 win over Columbus tonight, giving him 5 points in 4 games with the Blues (He had 1 goal in 24 with the Sharks). Out of his four goals, he also has 2 game winners.
In their fourth game in four nights, the Blues were obviously the tired team being out-shot 41 to 28. However, resting Nabokov was the correct decision as the goalie kept his team in it. Stu Barnes scored at 11:06 of the first but 8 seconds later, the Blues defense allowed Fedorov to easily gain the zone and blast a slapshot over the shoulder of Nabokov to tie the game. In the second, after killing off a penalty, Dan Boyle scored 8th of the season assisted by Parrish and Gonchar. Gonchar now leads all defensemen with 27 points while Boyle is tied with Bryan McCabe with 8 goals each. Scott Nichol made it 3-1 4 minutes later before a late goal by Radek Dvorak closed the gap to one.
In the third, Stu Barnes scored the eventual game winner just 42 seconds into the period. A quick response from Nilsson made the game interesting, but despite having 3 powerplays in the period, the Blue Jackets could not solve Nabokov. Stu Barnes was named 1st star for his 3 point effort, while linemate Scott Nichol was named 2nd and goaltender Evgeni Nabokov was named 3rd.
The Blues have a couple days rest and should have defenseman Andrej Meszaros back in the lineup when they travel to meet Roberto Luongo and the Flyers.
