Hello Everyone, and welcome to the 3rd volume of Weekly Write. Weekly Write is a twice-a-month STL or National sports article by me, Charlie Bilyeu. This week I’m writing about our very own St. Louis Blues facing off against the Los Angeles Kings.

PRE-GAME

Yesterday Sunday, Jan. 28 the Blues dropped the puck versus the Kings. Both teams were contenders for the upcoming playoffs going into this game. Los Angeles sat at 22-14-10 and St. Louis at 25-20-2. As fans flooded the stands of the Enterprise Center in St Louis, MO. A sea of blue filled the rows and rows of the 30-year-old Stadium. Warmups started, and fans settled in their seats and awaited the ensuing Western conference battle. 

1st Period

The Kings took an early possession, two blocked shots and a save from Blues Goalie Joel Hofer, who almost cleared the puck; however, Kings Captain Anze Kopitar kept the puck and made a spinning pass to Adrian Kempe who scored on a lightning-fast wrist shot; 1-0 Kings.

At the eight-minute mark, St. Louis took the puck up the ice, youngster Jordan Kyrou skated around the net and passed to Defender Nick Leddy who winded up and scored on a rocketed slap shot; 1-1 tied. 

23-year-old Blues Goaltender Joel Hofer made a handful of stops as the period came to an end. 

2nd Period

The second period started like the first, back-and-forth hockey. After a save from STL Goalie Joel Hofer, Kings Right Winger Alex Laferriere was called on a two-minute hooking penalty. St. Louis now had two minutes of 5v4 Hockey. After a shot that missed the net from Blues Captain Braden Schenn, LA took a shorthanded fastbreak, a shot, a recovery, and a goal from Jaret Anderson-Dolan; 2-1 Kings. 

The Blues still had just over a minute of 5v4 hockey and they didn’t wait long to pounce on the opportunity.  STL defenseman Scott Perunovich (per oona-vich) dished a pass in the middle of the ice to Left winger Pavel Buchnevich (Booch-nay-vich), Buchnevich shot and scored; 2-2 tie.

A quick and precise series of passes from Jordan Kyrou to Pavel Buchnevich, to Robert Thomas, then to Scott Perunovich. Perunovich then slid the puck back to Jordan Kyrou; he aimed, shot and scored! In the words of  Blues play-by-play announcer John Kelly, “Great passing! That was sick!”; 3-2 STL.

With under three minutes left in the second period and the Kings coming off a 4v5 power play kill, LA Veteran Drew Doughty made a breakout pass to Trevor Moore, Moore got space to pass on the boards, he dished the puck to Phillip Danault in open space, he shot and scored a top corner strike to even the score 3-3.

After some lackluster chances from both teams, the horn sang, signaling the end of the 2nd period. The score was an even 3-3 tie, this was must-see hockey.

3rd Period

The 3rd period, every kid dreams of scoring in the last seconds to end the game and win. The crowd of over 18,000 in the Enterprise Center waited nervously for the puck to drop.

No real chances arose for either team in the first 10 minutes of the 3rd period. As the clock ticked to under eight minutes, LA Stole a pass intended for Alexi Toropchenko (tore-up-chank-o), and moved into the offensive zone. Kings player Kevin Fiala shot the puck off the left pad of STL Goalie Joel Hofer, the puck then bounced onto the stick of Phillip Danault. The Goalie Hofer had to move right more than eight feet in the blink of an eye to have a chance of saving a goal. Danault shot and it was SAVED BY HOFER. “His best save of the night!” said Blues Announcer John Kelly. 

No more big chances arose, the clock ticked down to 0:00, the game tied at 3-3. Overtime was on its way.

Overtime

Overtime, first to score wins, the loser goes home with only one point compared to the winning team’s two. Both these teams are on the brink of the playoff picture as April quickly approaches. If fans were nervous before, you bet they were nervous now.

St. Louis won the face-off, kept possession of the puck for about 30 seconds, then they made a move. Robert Thomas pushed to the outside, skating around Kings defenders left and right, he took a shot and was saved by Kings Goalie David Rittich. 

LA took possession and passed back and forth as they took the puck up the ice. The Kings attempted a cross-ice pass that was skillfully broken up by Buchnevich. Buchnevich passed the puck off the boards and past the defense to Braden Schenn, he wound up his shot and SCORED! GAME OVER. 4-3 Blues Win!

Player of the game

This win marked the fifth straight win for the St. Louis faithful, the last three of those five wins coming in overtime. The blues are heating up at the right time, it’s near the end of the season and to succeed in the NHL you need momentum. And the Blues have a lot of it. 

In my mind, the player of the game on Sunday was Jordan Kyrou (Kai-roo). He tallied one goal and two assists, the Blues wouldn’t have won without him!