Penguins Crush Blues In Lopsided Affair

In the Blues’ worst game of the season, they were embarrassed on national TV by the defending Stanley Cup Champion, Pittsburgh Penguins. The Pens are very hot as they stand at 7-1 through eight games, but that’s no excuse for the Blues not to play hard. To be frank, the Blues looked competely awful and were flat-out dominated. Pittsburgh outshot St. Louis 43-23 and won the game 5-1, and for the Blues fans who were watching on TV … It wasn’t pretty. It was actually pretty painful to watch.

This is exactly what I talked about a few days ago. The Blues are WAY too inconsistent. They come out flat in the first period every single game, and they have really only one good FULL game. The rest have been sloppy. The Blues need to go out there and work hard night-in and night-out, and so far that hasn’t happened. They aren’t getting enough shots on goal, their offense looks very slow, and they are making too many mistakes. Quite frankly, I don’t think you can blame Chris Mason either. He let in give goals, but he wasn’t getting any help whatsoever. When the opposing teams blasts you with 43 shots and the puck is in your zone the majority of the game, you are going to let in some goals no matter how good you are. Chris Mason needs some support. This offense has a ton of potential; it is supposed to be the team’s strong point because the Blues have a ton of good players … But so far they just aren’t showing it. Aside from a few players, the offense has been weak. I would say that Andy McDonald, Paul Kariya, Jay McClement and Keith Tkachuk have been the only good forwards so far this year, and that’s it.

I have to call out the young guys. David Backes, David Perron, Patrik Berglund and T.J. Oshie have been invisible. They aren’t getting shots on net and they aren’t scoring. I had high expectations for all of them and they have been disappointing so far. Brad Boyes has to be mentioned also. Where is he? This former 40-goal scorer has one goal this season. One. He is this team’s primary sniper, so he has got to step it up. It’s still early, but the offense has been disappointing. Cam Janssen and Brad Winchester aren’t doing their jobs either; they aren’t being nearly physical enough. Janssen should have dropped the gloves and fought Eric Godard in the Pittsburgh game to give his team a spark, and he didn’t. That’s the only reason he’s on the team, so I do not understand why he has not fought yet or even tried. He obviously has no skill at all, so I want more hits and fights out of him.

I like to call myself a realist. I give the Blues major props when they deserve it, but I will also criticize them when necessary. I’ve been very leniant on here so far; this is the first time I’ve really criticized the team on this blog. But it has to be done because their play is inexcusable. Another thing to think about is that Detroit won’t let go of a two-goal lead very often. The Blues were able to beat them both times in Sweden, and really, Detroit should have held onto those two games. If they did, the Blues would be 1-5-1 right now, so they can’t get used to falling behind and trying to come back because that just won’t happen very often. I mean, that sums it up right there. It seems to me like the Blues have forgotten how to play hockey since returning to the United States. They had better pick it up and start playing better. It would be different if they didn’t have a lot of talent on the roster, but they do. I know the Blues are capable of being very very good, and that’s why it’s frustrating. I know that they will turn it around soon, but I just hope that starts tomorrow night vs. Minnesota, who is 2-6. These are the types of games that the Blues have to win.