Blues' Pietrangelo has his share of admirers - STLtoday.com

DETROIT • The first of the gushing compliments about Blues defenseman Alex Pietrangelo was dropped in December 2010 before a Blues-Detroit game.

"It looks like he's been touched by a wand by God," Red Wings coach Mike Babcock said.

Five months later, Pietrangelo suited up for Team Canada at the 2011 world championships. His coach was Ken Hitchcock.

"He has the same puck patience characteristics as Nick Lidstrom," the future Blues coach told reporters that May. "He's calm when he should panic … he has that quality about him that's very, very unique where he does not panic when he's under challenging situations."

Now in his second full NHL season, the only part of Pietrangelo's story not to advance at the same progression is his age. The same week he turned 22 years old, the defenseman scored the game's lone goal on a brilliant sequence in Thursday's 1-0 win over Edmonton. He added two more assists in Saturday's 4-2 triumph over Buffalo, giving him 13 points in a career-long nine-game point streak.

Tonight in Detroit, where the Blues and Red Wings will battle for the No. 1 spot in the league, there will be few players more pivotal to the outcome than Pietrangelo, who will have his two admirers on opposite benches.

"You're watching the emergence of a really good player," Hitchcock said. "There's not many defensemen where you say this guy's got a chance to be a (No. 1 defenseman)."

But the Blues need Pietrangelo to keep delivering. The Blues are 8-0-1 in their last nine games, with their last regulation loss a 3-0 defeat in Detroit on Dec. 31. The Red Wings bring a six-game winning streak into tonight's matchup.

After a slow start offensively, Pietrangelo has eight goals and 24 points, a pace that would match the 43 points he posted last season. He has three goals and 10 assists during his scoring streak, with 12 of those 13 points coming in the second and third periods.

"I don't really feel too much pressure on me right now, (but) I like having that pressure on me," said Pietrangelo, who leads the Blues in ice time per game (24 minutes, 8 seconds) and plays more shifts (32.6) than anyone in the NHL.

Hitchcock says there are few young defensemen in the league as poised as Pietrangelo in their own zone. His plus-18 rating matches his total of 2010-11, and he has just four penalties all season, including two that came in one game. Pietrangelo played 19 games without an infraction before drawing a whistle Jan. 7 against Colorado.

"His stick alone makes him a top player," Hitchcock said. "He makes so many little plays that get us out of trouble from the red line back (in the defensive zone), he's been terrific since the day I got here."

Offensively, however, Hitchcock says that Pietrangelo was keeping his head down too much.

"When I first got here, he was a little bit nervous on the offensive blue line," Hitchcock said. "He had his head buried. Now he's up, he's faking, he's looking at the net more and he's seeing more of the ice."

In his first 37 games this season, Pietrangelo averaged 2.1 shots per game; in his nine-game scoring streak, he has averaged 3.9 shots, highlighted by a season-high seven against Minnesota on Jan. 14.

"I kind of found myself second-guessing my shot in the first half," Pietrangelo said. "Watching some video, I caught myself passing off when I could have shot it. Ever since then, it's really been a turnaround."

Now, Pietrangelo looks like the all-around player he established himself as last season.

"The difference has been he's eliminated that pressure on himself to carry over the season that he had last year," said Carlo Colaiacovo, Pietrangelo's defensive partner. "Last year was probably a sign to him that he was capable of doing it and now he's just telling himself that he is at the point where he can take it and run with it."

Thursday's backhanded, wrap-around goal for a 1-0 win over the Oilers was evidence of Pietrangelo's belief system growing.

"The game is on the line â€" how many 22-year-olds are going to make that play?" Hitchcock said. "That play he made in that time, in that framework, that's a great play."

With a point tonight against Detroit, Pietrangelo would tie the franchise record for a consecutive-game scoring streak by a defenseman, set by Jeff Brown in 1992-93.

"It's been while since I've been concerned about anybody (breaking records), but he definitely has the potential," said Brown, who also owns the team mark for single-season goal total (25) and power-play goals (12) by a defenseman. "It's simple â€" his hockey sense. He's so smart out there, he's a half-play ahead of everybody and that's what makes the great players great. It's something you can't teach. You add his ability and skills and you've got yourself a complete defenseman who is going to be a great player for a long time."