The St. Louis Blues came into their fourth meeting of the 2018-19 campaign against Chicago needing to reverse some negative trends. Like their previous game against Minnesota, they did not play bad but did not play good either.
Stop me if you have heard this one before. The St. Louis Blues lost a one goal game to the Chicago Blackhawks.
For the third time this season, the Blues lost to Chicago and lost by one goal. Through four games played against one another, the Blues are 1-3 and all three losses to Chicago came by one goal. Oddly enough, the one win was a 7-3 shellacking.
Like all the other games against the Blackhawks, the Blues played well enough to win had one or two bounces gone their way. They did not play well enough to win based on pure hockey play at all though.
That has become the story of this young season so far. The Blues are clearly not a terrible team, but they are nothing like a good one either.
There was no spark out of this team and that is disappointing considering this was one of the fiercer rivalries the Blues had just a season or two ago. Now, if you did not tell me it was Chicago against St. Louis, you would not really know by the way the teams go at each other.
Also, the Blues continue to be a statistical anomaly. If you only look at the box score, you would say the Blues were just unlucky since they outshot Chicago. That could not be farther from the truth though as the Blues rarely tested the Chicago net and never with any sustained pressure.
Speaking of pressure, it has to be mounting on the front office. Even if Joel Quenneville is not interested or the Blues are not, we are treading into waters deep enough to drown the Blues if there is not a significant change made soon. At this point, a coaching change might not matter, but the problem is none of it seems to matter to the entire team at the right time.
Pros: Vladimir Tarasenko
Vladimir Tarasenko has been getting a bad rap in St. Louis for awhile now because too many have unrealistic expectations. He is going to get his goals, but they come in bunches and that does not satisfy everyone.
So, when your best player does not score, most people will say he did not live up to expectations in that game. I say that’s horse you know what.
Tarasenko was one of a small group of Blues that played hard the entire time. That was never more evident than the end of the game.
For whatever reason, he seems to turn his game up against Chicago. Normally that is through goals, as he is a Blackhawks killer. On this night it was though the small things.
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At the very end of the game, with his team trailing by one, he sprawled out on the ice to poke away a sure goal had Chicago retained possession. Only moments later, he blocked a Patrick Kane slap shot with his hand, again keeping his team in the game.
Normally, you don’t want your superstar risking injury in such a way, but the effort is much appreciated. While he could not get the goal, Tarasenko was doing everything else in his power to help the team and that is something they could all learn from.
Perhaps the partnership with Ryan O’Reilly is paying dividends in those areas, even if not on the score sheet. O’Reilly hustles and gives it his all every time out and if that is spreading over to 91, maybe we will see a more complete player like they need.
Cons: No Offense/Overvaluing Crawford
As a member of the goaltender’s union, it is rare I take any credit away from a netminder. That said, the gushing over Corey Crawford was puzzling in this game.
I am not going to say he played poorly or did not make a couple big saves, but the announcers on radio and television acted like he stole this game. That is hardly the case.
The only real chances the Blues had were the Tarasenko chance where Crawford made a great sliding post to post save and then an O’Reilly back door chance. Other than that, there was very little to speak of.
The Blues did outshoot Chicago 28 to 19, but they had no real chances. Most of the Blues shots came from distance or from the perimeter.
Most teams, especially the good ones, will let you have all the shots you want if they are not from danger areas. That’s why it was so silly to give Chad Johnson so much credit against Carolina. Like Crawford, he made some key saves, but most of those high number of shots were not quality chances.
For a team that has proven it can score and score in bunches, getting shut out is almost embarrassing. You would like to give Chicago credit, and they deserve some, but it just was not there like it needs to be.
This was a team that had not won in eight games and had the worst penalty kill in the league over that time. The Blues made them look more like the old Blackhawks than the current struggling ones.
Pros: Robert Thomas
Who knows what 2018-19 holds for this kid. It is going to be difficult to find a spot for Robert Thomas outside the fourth line when all the forwards are healthy, unless they move him to a wing.
Regardless, he is starting to look more and more like a bona fide NHL player.
In this game, he was wheeling and dealing and cutting back away from pressure and keeping the puck the entire time. There were some times where he should have shot or passed quicker, but that will come with time. For now, you like to see the confidence growing in a young player.
What is more, the game no longer seems too big for Thomas. There were a few worries there at the beginning, but maybe it was a lack of playing time.
No matter what level you are at, it is hard to go from playing 15-plus minutes to under 10 and still expect an impact. Perhaps Thomas was squeezing the stick too hard as the saying goes.
In this game, he looked like he knew he was staying in the NHL (even though that was already determined) and could just settle in and do his thing. Once we get this kid a goal, I think he’s really going to gain some confidence.
Just as important, against Chicago, he knew where he needed to be. It seems like it should be second nature, but young players tend to roam in the NHL at first. Thomas was positionally sound most of the night and that allowed him to be more involved all over the ice.
Cons: Where is the spark?
As I mentioned in the open, nobody would know this was a divisional rivalry if you did not know it going in. This might as well have been a random game against an Eastern Conference team.
Where is the spark on this team? It’s not anywhere to be found right now.
When I say that, I mean there is a difference between effort and leadership and “spark”. I think the captaincy and letters on the sweater are over blown. Make anyone else on this team captain and you’ll have most of the same issues.
Also, leadership is not always the problem when you are talking about the players. O’Reilly and Brayden Schenn have set countless examples to follow in on the ice play. Tarasenko did the same with the small things he did as well.
There are just too many games where nobody follows suit and this game was one. Jaden Schwartz looked out of sorts. Alex Steen played decent defense, but had no impact in the offensive zone. Pat Maroon is trending the wrong way big time and the rest of the team were just sort of out there.
What is this team going to do going forward? We all wanted to have that deep four lines where all 12 guys could score, but this team is not giving the staff any reason to go that direction. Guys like Chris Thorburn or Jordan Nolan are not skilled, but play certain roles. Maybe the Blues have to have that sort of guy to get them going.
Or maybe they are just lost even with it. They had Ryan Reaves – as good a locker room guy, on the ice leader and instigator as you will find – for years and that made little difference. Who knows if one player like that could make a difference.
You would like to see someone on this team just do it. Maroon should be stirring things up if he is not going to get the top-nine minutes. Bozak should be jabbing opponents when the ref is not looking. Steen might not be a big trash talker, but he needs to be stirring up the opposing bench.
It seemed like guys just went through the motions and did not find that extra gear. That’s not necessarily laziness or lack of effort. This was not that kind of game. When you cannot get up for your biggest rival, it sours the soul though.
Overview
It is hard to believe we are not almost halfway through the season with as poorly as this team is making us think about them. Each loss seems to make it harder to think things will actually turn around.
What is becoming more worrying is that the answers are becoming fewer and murkier.
We said offense was not the problem and then they get shut out by a team letting in goals for fun. I do my best to stick up for certain players and then fate decides to stab them in the back anyway.
There is such dysfunction in terms of cohesion and flow with this team, you begin to wonder if a coaching change would really have an impact. Any time there is change, there is a change in play as we have all seen, but can Quenneville or anyone really get them to play with more spark? That is something that has to come from within.
There are going to be fans that say we only lost by one and they did not play that badly. Those fans are not wrong, but I am tired of looking for the good in losses.
You had your biggest rival against the ropes. They had not won in forever, were ranked last in several key categories and you lost and could not score. Yes, it came off a fluke goal, but you have to score to win too.
It was such a waste of a game. Good games by Jake Allen, O’Reilly and Tarasenko went for nothing. Right now, the Blues feel like the hamster on the wheel. They spin and try as they might, but go nowhere.