Pierre Turgeon Returns...and the Blues Win Again

by Mark Bausch

posted December 3, 1999

The Blues defeated the Nashville Predators last night (12.2.99) 3-1, in a typically-played NHL game in the final year of the twentieth century. With Pierre Turgeon scoring all three goals (the last of which was an empty-netter), Lucky Pierre made the most of his return from an enforced injury absence.

Turgeon quickly showed the form that had made him the Blues best player in the first portion of the season (before he was injured), in what may very well be the Blues best season...EVER.

Listen in as Turgeon describes his effort vs. Nashville...and then listen to Blues coach Joel Quenneville talk about his team's effort vs. the Predators.

Post-game, the Blues' Coach Q looked like the proverbial cat that swallowed the canary.

Not a cocky expression, though. After all, it's just December.

But you just get the sense that Quenneville believes that this is the kind of team that...oh, perish the thought.

But without any psychobabble, the reason that the coach seemed happy, in retrospect, seems obvious--Quenneville's Blues had won a hockey game, the type of hockey game, that they might have lost last year.

The win was the team's twelfth successive game without a loss at Kiel Center.

But as Quenneville points out, it was the way that his team won that, in his eyes, was so impressive: smart, positional hockey...played by all four lines and a sextet of defensemen.

Sure, Nashville is a far cry from the NHL's powerhouses...but this year, San Jose and the Blues lead the league in points!

No doubt Quenneville and his hockey bosses at Kiel hope that the Blues are playing smart, positional hockey well into May of the year 2000.