The St. Louis Blues won their first game of 2011 against the Calgary Flames by a final score of 5-2. The Blues looked very good for the second consecutive game. They played Nashville on Saturday night but lost 5-2. They put an overwhelming 39 shots on net! Predator goaltender Pekka Rinne was fanstastic.

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ST. LOUIS BLUES HOCKEY

Quick Thoughts…

1. G Jaraslov Halak needs to play better. He looks uninterested at times, and especially early. The Blues need their star goalie to live up to his big contract. Halak was largely unimpressive last year and needs to have a big season to prove his reliability. Goaltending has been the Achilles-heal for too long and Halak needs to stop the buck.
2. The additions of C Jason Arnott and W Jamie Langenbrunner look good. Arnott has netted his 2^nd goal of the season Monday and Langenbrunner had a beautiful assist on D Alex Pietrangelo’s game winning goal. They are savvy veterans that know how to play smart hockey and the Blues will benefit both.
3. This team is bigger. Christ Stewart, David Backes, Patrik Berglund, and Arnott are big, physical forwards who give the team a presence in the offensive zone. Puck possession is such an imperative stat in today’s game and having big-bodied forwards to control the puck is essential. The Blues looked small in previous years–too many fringe players playing “up-A-line”. This year they have 4 solid lines that have the potential to score a lot of goals.