Kevin Lorenz posted on February 04, 2012 10:10
The nine-day break may have slowed down the Blues, but only for a moment in the first period. After that it was all St. Louis and G Jaroslav Halak in a 1-0 victory over the Los Angeles Kings.
The Blues broke the seal in the second period. Matt D’Agostini skated through a Drew Doughty check against the boards before finding Jamie Langenbrunner alone in the slot. Langenbrunner didn’t miss with a one-timer for his fourth goal of the season. After the game Langenbrunner gave credit back to D’Agostini.
“It was a pretty easy one. He (D’Agostini) did a great job skating and getting by the defense. I didn’t have much to do but put it in.”
Through two periods Halak only faced fourteen shots, but he was on his “A” game, making some in tight saves on rebounds and a Dustin Brown breakway.
With five minutes left in the third, Halak continued to close the door, robbing Justin Williams after a rebound came to him on the backdoor. And those were only some of the saves Halak made in the third, a performance worthy enough to put him on Sportscenter’s Top 10 without dunking over anyone. In Halak fashion, he couldn’t help but mention the team defense’s role in his twenty-two save night.
“Some nights I need our guys to step up and score some goals but that wasn’t the case. The defense came up strong.”
The Blues have begun a stretch that sees them play four out of seven on the road, a situation that will be difficult for them, if only because they haven’t endured a long road stretch all season. Having played just twenty-one games on the road they are 8-10-3 all season. It all begins tonight in Nashville at 7.