Blues got the pick-me-up they needed from Husso to fuel 6-2 win over Rangers, halt skid

Goalie makes two tremendous first-period saves, boosts team that had 

lost four straight after three successive failed power plays, including a 5-on-3

By LOU KORAC
ST. LOUIS -- It was a sequence that was not working out the way the Blues had hoped.

And for a team in a bit of a rut, playing against a quality opponent in the New York Rangers, the ones that put the Blues in this funk to begin with, things could have snowballed in a bad way.

(St. Louis Blues/Scott Rovak)

Blues goalie Ville Husso (35) pushes to his right as he is about to make a

tremendous right toe save on a shot by Rangers forward Dryden Hunt.

But then came the save, the one that fueled the fire, the one that brought life and energy to a bench sorely needing it, and that bench took it and ran with it. Or they were shot out of a cannon.

Either way, it fueled a 6-2 win over the Rangers on Thursday, ending a four-game skid (0-3-1) and put some positive energy back into the Blues (33-17-7).

As for the sequence, the Blues were given a tremendous opportunity to break the ice against Vezina-leading netminder Igor Shesterkin when they had a 5-on-3 man advantage for 1:07. After failing to score on it, a sequence coach Craig Berube said "wasn't very good," the Blues failed on a third power-play in the game's first 10 minutes. 

The Rangers (36-17-5) gained some momentum and life themselves. They had been outshot 10-0 to begin the game, and then came the chance to break on top.

A 2-on-1 developed, producing a give-and-go with Ryan Strome, with Strome saucering a pass into the blue paint for Hunt. But Husso said "no-no-no," in Dikembe Mutombo-like fashion. The Blues goalie kicked out his right toe just in the nick of time to keep it a scoreless game.

Had the Rangers scored there, the Blues are down 1-0, and a team that had been fighting it the past three-plus games or so, who knows where this could have led Thursday.

"Any time you're in kind of a funk, you need someone to step up and he stepped up huge there," Blues center Robert Thomas said of Husso. "I think it brought a lot of momentum to us. Right after that, we started attacking, we started having chances. That was a huge play for us.

"Starts have been something that we haven't been good at for a little while now. We would have liked to get a power play goal there early, but still a good way to start and it all starts with 'Huus' making some big saves."

Imagine had Husso not made that save? What kind of mindset would have it put the players in had they fell behind 1-0 when they were doing a lot of things right up to that point? It could have been deflating, demoralizing.

It was a key moment in the game.

"Yeah it was," Berube said. "We got 10 shots or nine or eight on the power plays. The 5-on-3 wasn’t very good, but the other ones, guys are shooting and attacking. And then Ville makes a big save. He made some big saves all night.

"When we had a breakdown, it was a doozy tonight and he made big saves."

Not only did Husso do it once, he did it again. This time, on Artemi Panarin with 5:30 remaining in the period. The Blues had already built momentum off the first save, but they really thrived when Husso kicked out the right pad on Panarin's backhand that could have made it a 2-1 game.

"I went to my left, then back to my right," Husso said of the save on Hunt. "I think I went down and then I just tried to get something out there. I was lucky that it hit my toe.

"... Those are skilled players (Panarin) and just need to be patient and kind of wait to see what they do and go from there."

They built a 3-0 lead on goals by Thomas at 13:05, Ivan Barbashev at 13:50 and Thomas again at 15:41. 

The vibes felt good, and positive thoughts were back, all from erasing and eliminating a couple instances of a lack of execution, and the goalie coming up large.

"You know as a goalie, you want to make those saves," Husso said. "Then today we scored right away. So it's big, make a save and then you score so the game is 1-0 there and I think guys did a good job today, scoring and getting into the house. It wasn't easy for their goalie and nice goals from us."

"I think what’s important too, is the guys didn’t lose momentum after the power play," Berube said. "Sometimes frustration sets in, you get upset about it. They didn’t do that. They were fine, kept playing."

And even after the Rangers got a late first-period goal from Strome to make it 3-1, the Blues dusted that aside quickly and chased Shesterkin from the game when Ryan O'Reilly scored 15 seconds into the second for a 4-1 lead.

Game. Set. Match.

"Yeah, it’s important to get a lead," Berube said. "But what’s important is the second period, coming out, scoring right away. And keeping going. I thought late in the second period it was a little sloppy and we were a little loose because of the score. But the third I thought we were better again."

The Blues had to start somewhere. There's no place to go but up when you go four in a row without a win. Could this be a building block? The Blues hope so.

(St. Louis Blues photo)

Blues forward Ivan Barbashev clutches his fists to the crowd after scoring

one of three first-period goals in a 6-2 win over the New York Rangers.

"I think we've been in that situation a lot before," Thomas said after matching his career-high in goals with 10. "Every team's going to go through stretches where they can't seem to win a game or the puck's bouncing against them, that kind of stuff, we're not working as a team. But those kind of parts are critical in a season to either make or break, and our team's found a way to come together closer as a team and sort through it as a team. I think that goes a long way for the guys in the room and those things showed on the ice. I think that's the biggest thing."

"I feel like every team goes through like tough times," Husso said. "We were lucky that it was only a couple games and we just need to get better every day and every game matters right now. Big points every night so we just need to grind and get those wins."