Where to begin? There are a lot of good things that happened last night against the Red Wings. There were a couple of unfortunate things too, but what most people are talking about is the Zebras. We’ll get to them, don’t worry.

What we witnessed last night was a very good game that had an outcome that shouldn’t have happened. The Blues were the better team all night but Detroit is very talented and can come back in a flash. They proved why they’re one of the best teams in the league with that comeback in the third. They tied the game on consecutive shots with a dazzling pass by Datsyuk, a pass that only he can make.

The Wings controlled the pace in the first but the second was owned by the Blues. Detroit couldn’t handle the physical presence that the Blues brought. They were routinely pushed around by T.J. Oshie and David Backes. Ryan Reaves had his fair share too, but we’ll get to him in a moment.

Brian Elliot saw his shutout streak ended in the second half of the third period. He had 227:38 streak stopped by the mule Johan Franzen. It was nice for all the fans to give Elliot a standing ovation after the first goal. It’s a shame that neither Halak or Elliot won’t get any love for the Vezina trophy. Both will be knocked for not playing enough games but it’s hard to argue against what they’ve done but I digress.

On to the Zebras!

Anyone can say that the ref’s are blind and don’t know what they’re doing but last night was something different. I’ve ranted about them before and we’ll get into a few examples but tonight not only affect the Blues, but Chicago and Nashville. Last night might be the one and only time that all three teams and fan bases felt the same way and probably would’ve banded together to carry the zebras out for a barbecue.

Last night the zebras were so inconsistent and down right blind when the play was right in front of them it was unreal. We saw Alex Steen get TWO different roughing minors! TWO! Steen is not a dirty player and he does get his hands dirty when he has too, but not to the point of two very questionable roughing calls.

The Ref’s  let the teams play but they did nitpick their calls. Steen was just the first example.

Johan Franzen punched Backes in the face right in front of the ref! How could he NOT call that!? That right there is the very definition of roughing!

Ryan Reaves definitely was given the zebra treatment on a hit on Brad Stuart. If they called a boarding minor, OK I could understand that. But a major penalty with a game misconduct? Are you fucking kidding me!?!

One of the reasons I waited this long to post this, I wanted to see if Reaves was going to get a Shannaban and/or a fine. It was announced a little bit ago that he won’t receive either. Like myself, there are a LOT of Blues fans that are shocked by this. Shannahan has had some questionable calls and his punishments have seemed to be a little more severe when the Wings are involved. The fact that Reaves received neither is a testament that Shannahan completely disagrees with the call.

It’d be nice for him to post a video on why he didn’t give him anything but we all know that won’t happen.

The one thing that Reaves’ major/misconduct did was add some fire to the shorthanded Blues and it was burning hot!

Frenchie caught a pass at center ice and took off alone against Jimmy Howard and he added is 20th goal of the year with a top shelf flip that made Scottrade explode! It was an ultimate up yours to the zebras! It really felt like it was personal between the team and fans against the refs. That goal was going to happen no matter who they were playing, it just so happened to be against Howard and the Wings. Which made it just that much better!

Andy McDonald came back just 3 minutes later to put the Blues up 2-0 and Scottrade was the loudest I’ve ever heard it! I’ve seen some pretty big overtime winners in the playoffs and for Big Al’s number retirement and last night beat all of them!

We all know that that was short lived but last night was a win. It showed that the Blues have the fight in them and they can take it to the big boys. Nobody was going to stop Datsyuk and his magic puck. He’s done that for years and that’s one of the many reasons that Detroit has been on top for so long.

If this game happens next week, there wouldn’t have been a talent show to end such a great game. I don’t know how much longer they game would have lasted in sudden death because all four goals came within a 10 minute span, but I sure wanted another 20 minutes.

For the Blues to lose that way was criminal. Literally.

Yes the Blues lost and yes the top seed might be out of reach now but we saw a rejuvenated Blues team that played well enough to win but had a few things trying to stop them. Does the fact that they’re 3-3-4 in their last 10 bother me? Yes.

If the Blues play that way through the playoffs, zebras or not, I like where their going and it’s going to be a fun ride!