St. Louis Blues: Win Streak Goes The Way of the Dodo

Well, we all knew the St. Louis Blues’ win streak wasn’t going to last forever.  However, one would have figured maybe seeing it end in Vancouver, after the long trip.  Instead, the Calgary Flames ended the Blues’ streak as soon as the western Canadian trip began.

What was so disappointing about the game was not that the Blues lost, but how.

For whatever reason, the defense did not show up to play.

Sure, there were crazy bounces and fluke plays like the bad hop off the corner boards that left Jake Allen standing behind the net when the puck was in front or when he was interfered with and the referees decided it is ok to bump the Blues goalie – because, you know…it’s a crime to be a Blue.

No, the game hinged basically on the Blues’ powerplay deciding to hand two goals to their opponent for no reason.  Two giveaways – both to Michael Frolik – ended up in shorthanded goals and that was the big key for the Blues’ loss.

The offense was clearly in the game, but at random times.  You would figure if a team scores four goals, especially as well as the Blues had been rolling, you would win.  It was not to be on this night.

St. Louis let the bad habits from their winning streak creep up on them and it finally cost them.  It seems strange that a team near the bottom of the league would end up punishing the Blues for the mistakes they had been doing all week instead of top teams like Chicago, Anaheim or Dallas but that’s the way it goes sometimes.

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The game just didn’t seem destined to go St. Louis’ way from the get go.  Joe Colborne scored on that fluke play where the dump in deflected out in front of the net instead of around the boards as Allen believed it would.

The Blues tied it up immediately on Scottie Upshall‘s great effort play to chase down the puck when the entire Flames team seemed to assume it was going to automatically be offside.  Then Paul Stastny scored the first of his two goals and the Blues seemed to have a bit of momentum.

However, despite that you just didn’t quite get the feeling that they were in control the way they had been last week.  The first shorthanded goal by Frolik seemed to signal when the wheels would fall off.

The Blues never looked downright awful, but they just never had that jump and seemed to be playing like a team that was overconfident given their win streak and the perception of their opponent.  Calgary made them pay for that.

The Flames scored after a turnover with a poor pass from the near boards and was finished off by Sean Monahan, then Mark Giordano scored on the potential goaltender interference play (let’s face it, if the situation was reversed the Blues would likely not have been given that goal) and finally the Blues capped off the second period with a breakaway goal for Monahan that saw the Blues’ defenseman caught flat-footed on a long stretch pass.

Give the Blues credit.  They didn’t give up.  Kevin Shattenkirk‘s powerplay goal and Stastny’s goal let the Blues back into the game.

"Stastny goes five-hole for his second goal of the night in tonight’s @warriorhockey Play of the Game. #STLvsCGYhttps://t.co/4AwsmdXh34— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) March 15, 2016"

Unfortunately, the defense and the team passing just never got it going.  Another shorthanded goal for Frolik was set up by a terrible no-look pass from Troy Brouwer in the neutral zone and Frolik made the exact same move to score on Anders Nilsson.

The game was capped off by an empty-netter but by that time, the game had already been decided.

Negatives:

The Blues looked like a team that expected to be handed a W for showing up.  What is worrying is that has been their problem in the playoffs.  They get a couple wins under their belt and seem to think they can set the cruise control.

The Blues having so many turnovers and breakaways against just cannot happen.

The offense was a bit of an enigma.  Yes, they scored four goals but it was nonexistent at times too.  The Blues only had 17 shots through two periods and somewhat showed how poor the Flames can be since they scored two goals on those 17.

Positives:

Paul Stastny.  Stastny hasn’t showed the scoring prowess many Blues fans expected since his arrival but he scored two goals on this night.  He has looked strong on the puck and is looking like he has finally really settled into this team.  It does help that Stastny seems to have gotten comfortable with Fabbri and Brouwer as well.

The bounces won’t always be this bad.  The Blues did benefit from some of the craziness on Stastny’s first goal, but pucks don’t usually bounce off the corners like they did on the Flames first goal.  The Blues don’t usually play as poorly the next game and they had a lot of bad luck too, so they should bounce back against Edmonton.

At least the Chicago Blackhawks lost by a larger margin to the LA Kings, so they remain three behind St. Louis and Dallas.

Next: Do Blues Fans Overrate Sobotka?

Looking Forward:

The Blues have to bounce back against Edmonton.  The game against the Oilers is just as much of a trap game as the Calgary one, given the recent upswing for the Oilers and their place in the standings.  So, the Blues have to come out and crush them from the get go.

The Blues have put too much effort into getting to their spot atop the standings and can’t let poor performances against bottom feeders spoil that.

Here’s hoping that this is a one-off and not another losing streak on the heels of a winning streak.