St. Louis Blues: Pros And Cons From Game 37 Against Edmonton

The St. Louis Blues took on the Edmonton Oilers for the third and final time in 2017. Much like the night before, the Blues showed good energy, but struggled to get their rewards.

Pros:

Tage Thompson again.

My apologies if these pro/con series are starting to sound like a broken record. The power play is usually that dreadful that it has to be mentioned each time.

However, it is rare to get a pro for multiple games in a row if your name is not Brayden Schenn. So, Thompson deserves the honor.

He keeps impressing and outworking his opponents with different attacking styles each time down. This game, he showcased a strong drag move and nearly scored when everyone was assuming he’d dish it off.

On top of that, he scored his first NHL goal to give the Blues a 1-0 lead.

Unfortunately, they could not hold it. That should not take away from his individual performance though.

Cons:

The Blues offense.

The team deserves credit for keeping up the pressure much better than they did in Calgary. However, you cannot give them a pass.

The offense is just not doing enough right now. You cannot keep depending on your goaltenders to pitch shutouts or only allow one goal.

Obviously, you hope for those things. However, the Blues have been requiring it of their goalies to win lately. The last time St. Louis scored more than two goals was December 10 and it required OT for that.

Pros:

The Blues ability to battle back, initially.

You can argue whether they should have even had to battle or not. That’s an argument for another time.

The bottom line was the team did not get down after they allowed the tying goal. The Blues kept at it.

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They regained the lead, much like on the first goal. It was a one-timer from the slot, an area the Blues have failed to take enough shots from lately. Patrik Berglund fired a hard shot to regain the lead. The bad thing is that lead did not last either. So, the Blues were forced to battle again.

Cons:

The late game defending.

For the second game in a row, the Blues let their foot off the gas at the end of the game. They finally found a little bit of offense and then could not keep anything out.

The Blues could not even keep either of their leads for more than a couple minutes. It was bad enough to let up the goals, but they did not really make the Oilers earn them either.

Each time, the Blues were flat on their feet. The second tying goal was an outlet pass that needs to be defended and the Blues ended up letting one of the best players in the game score on a back door play.

The game winning goal was sickening. There were literally five Blues players within one or two yards of the scorer. Every single Blues player was facing the puck carrier behind the net except for Jake Allen.

You know things are bad when the usually jovial Darren Pang is actually calling you out for your ridiculously bad defending on a play. As he said, you are not going to score from behind the net. You have to know where the shooters are coming from in front.

Overall Thoughts:

A waste of a good effort.

The Blues played well. Jake Allen played well. The posts played well. In seriousness, Allen deserved much better, the same as Carter Hutton deserved better in Calgary.

The offense was not enough and the defense was garbage at the end of the game. It is human nature to ease off when you think things are going your way, but that is when you push through.

The Blues have wasted good efforts for two games in a row now. Against Calgary, it was a good effort from one line. Against Edmonton, the entire team played well enough to win for two and a half periods.

It’s a slap in the face when you finally break the deadlock and then all of that goes to hell. We all love our Blues, but this is simply not good enough and that cannot be our overall thoughts game in and out.

I had a conversation with a family member and their point was the Blues have to tread water until they get healthy again. I do not disagree, but the players are playing like they’re a drowning victim on Baywatch.

Next: On The Eighth Day Of Bluesmas

They’re struggling even in water they could probably put their feet down in. Edmonton has talent, but they are not a good team so far this year. The Blues needed to win that game.

Right now, the Blues are living off their previous deeds. You can argue this was their first loss to the Oilers, and 2-1 is fine. However, it really is what have you done for me lately, so nobody cares what happened in those other games.

St. Louis is now winless in this Canadian road trip. A win in Vancouver would be a soothing balm, but the burns will still be there even then.