Blues-Canucks: St. Louis, Ty Conklin, Stand Firm in Win Over Vancouver

Last night's game against the Vancouver Canucks could have gone either way. The Canucks had many scoring opportunities and were consistently shelling Ty Conklin with a ton of shots.

Even though they won, I saw a lot of things that I didn't like in St. Louis. They did not give Conklin much help defensively.

I thought that this game showed defensive weaknesses that may help explain why the Blues are at the bottom of the standings. Most people say that it's the offense that the Blues are having trouble with, but it wasn't really struggling last night.

The defense is what almost lost this game. Thankfully for St. Louis, Conklin was able to keep the puck out of the net and bail them out when they made a mistake.

They were giving the Canucks too many opportunities to get back in the game. They forced Conklin to make a ton of great saves.

The first big mistake that I remember is the shorthanded goal that the Blues let in. There is no way that the Canucks should have had a player alone in front of the net when they're shorthanded.

Another big mistake came with about a minute-and-a half left in the game. Bernier was able to shoot a one-timer at an open net. However, Conklin was able to swing his pad and send the puck in the netting. Most of the time, that would have been a goal.

My point is that Conklin was on fire last night. He only let in one goal on 30 shots, and a lot of those had a good chance of going in the net.

If the Blues want to start winning more games, they're going to have to play offense like they did last night, and play defense a lot better than they did last night. Most of the time, that defensive effort is not going to cut it.

See more of my NHL opinions at Tips for Hockey