DBJ's 5 Thoughts on Game 23: St. Louis

St. Louis 2 - Columbus 1
6-14-3, 5th in Central Division, 15th in Western Conference

Ken Hitchcock brought his streaking St. Louis Blues into Nationwide Arena and, after grabbing a one-goal lead, locked the game down and added two standings points at the expense of the Columbus Blue Jackets, 2-1 in regulation.

1. ZZZZZZZZZZZZ - Yes, it was Hitch Hockey.  Yes, it was slow moving hockey that largely was played from faceoff circle to faceoff circle, punctuated only by the occasional breakaway.  Some will stick up their nose at this "boring" brand of hockey, but let's face facts: IT WORKS.  It wins games. If your team plays this type of hockey, you are watching your team play into April and May.  Right now, I'll take that over "exciting" hockey.

2. Don't blame the goalie - Sanford stopped 27 of 29.  That's a .931 save percentage.  If you can't score enough to back up those types of numbers, you don't deserve to win.

3. After you. No, after you.  No, really, after you. - I was struck by one particularly profound sequence where Rick Nash and Jeff Carter seemed either incapable or unwilling of shooting the puck.  Instead, they flipped the puck back and forth.  Guys, it's not going to jump off your stick and into the goal.  You need to aim it in that direction.  And the last week's worth of games has proven that you can do that!

4. Because he's awesome - Derek Dorsett's breakaway goal in the second period was really, really nice.



Without going back and finding chapter and verse to cite, I note that Dorsett has had breakaways before in his career and been unable to finish.  If he can add the breakaway shooter to his current repertoire of the wraparound shot, he becomes that much more dangerous.  But his game-leading (along with Marc Methot) five hits surely were appreciated.
5. Is it my deodorant? - I don't get it.  I leave the state for a week, and the Blue Jackets grab at least one point, if not the two point win, in every game.  Tonight, zilch.  What did I do to deserve this? 
NEXT UP: The dreaded West Coast trip begins on Tuesday at 10PM EST in Vancouver (and likely will end sometime around 12:30AM EST on Wednesday) when the Blue Jackets take on the defending Western Conference champion Canucks.
On a loosely related point, the Dark Blue Family rode a rental car shuttle bus over the weekend with a couple of guys who were wearing Canucks ball caps.  We could've taken 'em.