Vladimir Tarasenko helps Blues grind shootout win at LA Kings
LOS ANGELES – Vladimir Tarasenko wasn’t a dynamic offensive force against the Los Angeles Kings in a 2-1 shootout win on Saturday.
Many Blues games involve some sort of Tarasenko highlight, but Saturday showed him trying to find holes through a tight checking contest to get the game-tying assist. Coming into the game, St. Louis had lost five in a row – a stretch where they had gone 0-2-3.
This was an important part of the 24-year-old Tarasenko’s evolution. He has the skill, but at the Kings, one day after the Anaheim Ducks pushed him around, Tarasenko showed he had the type of game to help his team grind out points.
“He’s not a small man, he’s a big boy and can take care of himself, but we have to make sure we’re standing up for him and making sure he’s not having liberties taken on him,” captain David Backes said. “He does a great job fighting through that and can create offense unlike any player I’ve seen on my team for sure.”
In Southern California, Tarasenko has needed to work for all his scoring chances.
In Los Angeles, Tarasenko weaved his way through the brawny Kings to set up Alex Pietrangelo for a goal at the 12:33 mark of the second period. Though Pietrangelo put the puck in the net, the defenseman credited Tarasenko for making the play. This tied the game at 1-1.
“Vladdy, he draws a lot of attention when he has the puck, especially when he makes a move to the middle,” Pietrangelo said. I think his passing ability is underrated. He’s one of the best passers I’ve seen, so he draws a lot of attention. He had two or three guys on him, which left me wide open.”
He had partial breakaways in the third period and overtime, but couldn’t convert on either. In the third period he shot the puck high and wide, and in overtime, he fired a shot right into Kings goaltender Jonathan Quick. In the shootout he couldn’t convert with a breakaway low to the glove side.
Against the Ducks in a 4-3 shootout loss on Friday, the young sniper didn’t pick up a point and fought forward Ryan Kesler, who was matched up against Tarasenko the whole game. Tarasenko didn’t pick up a point.
Even with the grinding performance against the Kings, Blues coach Ken Hitchcock talked about making a change with Tarasenko’s line. Tarasenko played with Jori Lehtera at center and Robby Fabbri at wing.
Tarasenko leads the Blues with 44 points in 43 games, which puts him on pace for a higher output than last year where he had 73 points in 77 games played. St. Louis ranks third in the Central Division with 55 points.
“I think we’re going to need the line to play better. He’s going to have to – we’re going to have to talk about an adjustment when we get home for Vladdy with who we play him with on the road because he’s a target on the road,” Hitchcock said. “I get the match at home, I get to do the things I want to do with him that helps him and helps us but I don’t get the match on the road. He gets everybody’s attention, the line gets everybody’s attention and het gets the five best checkers every night and we have to talk about that.”
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