The St. Louis Blues hit some posts. Vladimir Tarasenko lost a tooth and thwarted an empty-net goal. But, for all their efforts, the Blues couldn’t score against Corey Crawford.
Instead, the Blackhawks won 1-0 on Wednesday, ending an eight-game losing streak (five under Joel Quenneville, three under Jeremy Colliton). This was a significant effort for a few reasons beyond the obvious need to get back in the win column:
- 33-year-old Colliton gets his first win as an NHL head coach.
- Crawford stopped all 28 shots for his first shutout since November of 2017.
- Remember when Brent Seabrook was the butt of a few jokes? Well, he earned some retribution in this one, scoring the game’s only goal, with some help from Jay Bouwmeester, another occasionally hard-luck, expensive defenseman:
It was a low-event game overall, with the Blues generating a significant SOG advantage of 28-19, but they couldn’t solve Crawford. This was a painful evening for Tarasenko and others, sometimes literally:
Will @tara9191 be putting this tooth under his pillow for the tooth fairy tonight? pic.twitter.com/gkICS6B8sC
— NBC Sports Hockey (@NBCSportsHockey) November 15, 2018
The Blackhawks improve to 7-8-4 for 18 points in 19 games, remaining second-to-last in the Central Division. St. Louis continues to look up at Chicago and every other team in the Central, as the Blues’ record slips to 6-7-3 (15 points in 16 games).
As the Blackhawks adjust to a new head coach, it’s tough to shake the impression that the Blues might be teetering toward a similar change of direction. Fair or not, letdowns like being shut out by a shaky Chicago defense (albeit with an on-task Crawford) will not help Mike Yeo’s case.
MORE: Your 2018-19 NHL on NBC TV schedule
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James O’Brien is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @cyclelikesedins.