GDT #50: 2/3/15 | 7:00PM CST | v Lightning | FSMW/KMOX

[drwoland]

Looking a little more like Blues hockey now keep that up and we'll pull this one out.

Although it looks like the 3rd was a lot more like the 1st (didn't get to watch beyond the 2nd) and we just rode this on out on Elliott's back. They all count..

[cprice12]

The Blues were fighting it bad in the first period. Nothing seemed to be working for us.
But I'll give credit to Tampa Bay. They were winning the battles in the corners and getting sticks in the lanes blocking passes and they seemed to block a lot of shots and force a lot of shots wide.
Tampa played a real good game...they just couldn't beat Elliott enough to win.

What a goal by Tarasenko. That was a laser upper glove off the post and in. Great shot. He had a lot of chances this game, and he finally buried one. I love that he is the "go to guy" who the PP is obviously centered around feeding him the puck. We haven't had that kind of sniper in a long time...the guy you turn to to bury a puck when you really need it.

Elliot though...holy hell was he good...but he's been doing this for years now. Not surprised...just impressed.
He stole us these two points and rightfully got the #1 star. He should have gotten the #2 star as well.

I think someone may have talked to Petro about him leaving his skates on every 2 on 1 and pass from the corner across. There were a few times where I thought, here we go...he's leaving his skates to try to block this pass, but he didn't. He stood up and made the better play. He did leave his skates once in the 3rd, but it was a good play in that he didn't do it too soon and blocked the pass.

Schwartz's goal was just persistency from a skilled guy as he was trying to fight through the defense. Nice footwork to pull the puck up to his stick and then juked Bishop, who looked so solid all game long, even though we didn't pepper him with a lot of shots.

This game for Tampa was the exact same kind of game we used to lose. How many times would we say we'd outshoot and outplay our opponent that would be a real good team, but give up a late goal or lose in OT? It's a good sign that we're winning these kinds of games now. Winning against a good team when you aren't playing your best? Sure, it would have been nice to play a great game against the Lightning, but there are going to be nights when you just don't have your A game. And to win against them when not playing our best is a great sign. That is what great teams can do. Now, with all of that said...you'd like to see a more consistent effort next game.

[cardsfan04]

The Blues were fighting it bad in the first period. Nothing seemed to be working for us.
But I'll give credit to Tampa Bay. They were winning the battles in the corners and getting sticks in the lanes blocking passes and they seemed to block a lot of shots and force a lot of shots wide.
Tampa played a real good game...they just couldn't beat Elliott enough to win.

What a goal by Tarasenko. That was a laser upper glove off the post and in. Great shot. He had a lot of chances this game, and he finally buried one. I love that he is the "go to guy" who the PP is obviously centered around feeding him the puck. We haven't had that kind of sniper in a long time...the guy you turn to to bury a puck when you really need it.

Elliot though...holy hell was he good...but he's been doing this for years now. Not surprised...just impressed.
He stole us these two points and rightfully got the #1 star. He should have gotten the #2 star as well.

I think someone may have talked to Petro about him leaving his skates on every 2 on 1 and pass from the corner across. There were a few times where I thought, here we go...he's leaving his skates to try to block this pass, but he didn't. He stood up and made the better play. He did leave his skates once in the 3rd, but it was a good play in that he didn't do it too soon and blocked the pass.

Schwartz's goal was just persistency from a skilled guy as he was trying to fight through the defense. Nice footwork to pull the puck up to his stick and then juked Bishop, who looked so solid all game long, even though we didn't pepper him with a lot of shots.

This game for Tampa was the exact same kind of game we used to lose. How many times would we say we'd outshoot and outplay our opponent that would be a real good team, but give up a late goal or lose in OT? It's a good sign that we're winning these kinds of games now. Winning against a good team when you aren't playing your best? Sure, it would have been nice to play a great game against the Lightning, but there are going to be nights when you just don't have your A game. And to win against them when not playing our best is a great sign. That is what great teams can do. Now, with all of that said...you'd like to see a more consistent effort next game.

That last paragraph is a really good point that I hadn't thought of for this game. We've beaten bad teams while not playing well plenty of times. It's nice to do it to good teams. That's happened to us so many times the past few years.

[Fradi]

This game has shown us again who are the players who can pick up and carry the team when it struggles. I was reserving praise for Elliot so far, but last night he has shown that he's got a world class Vezina goalie in him. Schwartz is my real hero though, that move...dropped and lost my chin for a few minutes. He's a real ray of light for us short players (I'm 5'7) :D

Don't want to get ahead of myself, but this wasn't the first time this year the team proved they can grind out a win even on "off-nights", a characteristic I haven't seen consistently so far from them.

[glen a richter]

2 points is 2 points. I didn't get to watch/listen because I was at work. Is Tampa's defense that good or what? I always took them for a more offensively oriented team. Holding them to just one goal is pretty solid on Elliott's part.

[dmiles2186]

2 points is 2 points. I didn't get to watch/listen because I was at work. Is Tampa's defense that good or what? I always took them for a more offensively oriented team. Holding them to just one goal is pretty solid on Elliott's part.

I'm the same way but man, they were everywhere last night. If a shooting lane opened, Tampa closed it a second later. If we tried to find open ice but looping around into the corner, Tampa closed off the angle. They were everywhere. They blocked shots, they were getting sticks in lanes....I was impressed. Really up until 3 mins to go, Bishop had it relatively easy.

Props to Stastny on the faceoff draw win that fed Senko for the tying goal, by the way. That was text book. This was a game where it felt like the Blues weren't going to score and then it shifted to, 'Holy crap, we could win this thing.'

I'd be really, really upset if I was a Lightning fan today. That has to be a tough loss to swallow.

[not_a_wings_fan]

We had no business winning that game, but goaltending and skill folks just stole that game for us.

That is EXACTLY how the hawks and wings used to sneak by us... we own the game everywhere but the scoreboard and late in the game one of their skill guys snipes a highlight reel goal, and all the "hard work" and "dominating possession" doesn't mean shit.

It is SOOOOOO nice to be on the winning end of a game like that for a change.

[cprice12]

2 points is 2 points. I didn't get to watch/listen because I was at work. Is Tampa's defense that good or what? I always took them for a more offensively oriented team. Holding them to just one goal is pretty solid on Elliott's part.

It seemed to be a combination of our game being a little off for most of the 1st period and 3rd periods, and Tampa Bay playing really well in their own zone. As I mentioned earlier, they were getting sticks in the lane, blocking passes and shots, and winning battles along the boards in their own zone.
The shot total was lopsided, but it didn't seem like we were getting hammered and dominated in terms of time of possession like back in the day vs. Detroit. Tampa had some good shifts though where they did control the play, but it wasn't a constant barage...at least not that I remember.

[theohall]

Elliott stole that game. The number of quality chances the Lightning wound up getting and Elliott kept stoning them.... that's stealing a win.

[drwoland]

Elliott stole that game. The number of quality chances the Lightning wound up getting and Elliott kept stoning them.... that's stealing a win.

Yeah. Curt is right, and TB didn't dominate play as much as the discrepancy in shots would indicate. 31 shots total isn't that many. The lopsidedness of the SOG line had more to do with their defense stifling our flailing offense.

THAT SAID, you are also correct: out of those 30 shots, at least 7 or 8 were real high quality chances, and Elliott came up HUGE.