St. Louis Blues Morning Links: The End Came Too Soon As Usual

Good morning Blues fans! Today begins the long, arduous summer without hockey, but there are not all negatives going forward as in other years.

The St. Louis Blues fell to the Nashville Predators yesterday afternoon. The 3-1 final score does not really tell how close the game was, but in the end it does not matter.

Other than being a comfort to fans clinging to the present, the final score is what it is. The Blues lost a winnable game and will no longer be playing until the fall of 2017.

For some reason, it does not feel like the end of the world as it does in other years. There are still the people overreacting, of course, but you’ll have those in any season that does not end in a Stanley Cup win.

Focusing on the game itself, the loss is a disappointing. The Blues came out and scored the opening goal in the first three minutes of the game.

They had energy, they had pop, they were taking the game to the Predators like we had rarely seen. Unfortunately, we had seen that in other first periods.

The second period told a different story. It took only 35 seconds into the second for things to be evened up.

The problem was the Blues got crossed up in their own zone. They failed to realize there was backside pressure and could not thwart a cross-ice pass.

St. Louis had been pretty good at defending passes throughout the series, but when they could not the Predators made them pay and this time was no different. While the Blues regained a little bit of pressure in the period, it never really returned.

They missed some good chances, such as Paul Stastny failing to convert a good cross pass from Dmitirj Jaskin. In the grand scheme though, they did not generate enough.

The Blues did outshoot the Predators, but it was too many one and dones. After scoring three straight goals off rebounds, the Blues couldn’t get enough pressure in front of the net again.

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That is something that will have to change over the offseason and in the coming years. No matter how fast the game gets, you will always have to find ways to get traffic in front. No matter if you had issue with the Blues game or not, that has been a problem for years.

Sadly, it was defensive breakdowns that cost the Blues the game this time and defending had been pretty good. There were way more penalties than the Blues wanted, but all of them were the right calls.

You can’t fault the Blues too much. They were trying to be aggressive and it cost them.

For the second goal, Colton Parayko got caught pinching and could not recover to stop the pass or goal. On the third goal, Jay Bouwmeester did not have the energy to recover and stop the empty netter.

It was disappointing because both of those players were two of the team’s best through the series. Bouwmeester will still get bashed because of his contract, but he did just about everything right.

The Blues now have plenty of questions. Can their current lineup, plus Robby Fabbri, take the next step without any addition?

Can you expect David Perron or Patrik Berglund to repeat some very good years? Is it fair to ask the rookies or current prospects to take key roles on this team next season?

Those questions will be answered in due course. For now, the Blues have to take pride in not giving up. It is disappointing the season ended earlier than we wanted. This season showed that there are not dark days ahead though. If players can perform to their potential and a piece can be added here or there, this team will be right in the mix again.

Here are your St. Louis Blues morning links to get your day started off right.

Following the game, you could hear the disappointment in the coach’s voice, but he was happy with his team. Mike Yeo could not be more complimentary of Jake Allen either. (Blues)

While some fans might have been ok with the season given how low the team was during the winter, there was no joy in the locker room. Especially with Alex Pietrangelo, you could see the pain on the captain’s face. (Blues)

We all knew Alex Steen was dealing with health issues due to the fact he would play games but never practice. As usual, we quickly found out what was wrong once the season was done and it was a minor miracle he could even walk, let alone skate. (Fan Rag)

All fans have their initial reactions once the final horn sounded on the 2016-17 season. In case you missed it, mine was reasonably positive given the fact our team just lost. (Bleedin’ Blue)

The Washington Capitals are loaded with offensive talent. This playoff run, it’s been one of their lesser talked about guys stepping up in the absence of others. (NHL)

With several high-profile NHL stars saying they are going no matter what, it will be an interesting winter come Olympic time. For now, the decision making might not be over as the IIHF is saying there is still time for the league to change its mind. (ESPN)

Have a great day Blues fans!