It seems like a recurring theme for the St. Louis Blues: goalie plays well, gives team chance to win.
Let's just say the only reason the Blues were even in their 4-2 loss in the third period against the Philadelphia Flyers at Enterprise Center on Monday night was because of Joel Hofer.
It's hard-pressed to find anyone in the Blues lineup on Monday that stood out aside from the goaltender.
Sure, there were a few solid individual efforts, but Hofer was on top of his game and deserved much better than the teammates in front of him gave.
It started pretty early when he stopped Garnet Hathaway with his head off a 2-on-1, and that was a prelude of things to come and followed it up stopping Owen Tippett's breakaway attempt moments later.
Unfortunately for Hofer, it was Tippett who broke a 2-2 deadlock with 5:33 remaining in the third.
"I was having fun," Hofer said. "It's a good league. You're not going to win every game, but obviously you want to win every game and try your best. ... I was obviously seeing the puck well. Not much else to it."
Blues captain Brayden Schenn summed it up succinctly.
"I don't think we were at our best tonight," Schenn said. "Our goalie was good and gave us a chance to win."
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