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St. Louis Blues: The Blues Are Unable To Win Big Games

By Jason Martin

ST. LOUIS, MO - NOVEMBER 9: (EDITOR'S NOTE: This image has been photographed in black and white.) Vladimir Tarasenko #91 of the St. Louis Blues and Ryan O'Reilly #90 of the St. Louis Blues prepare for warm ups prior to a game against the San Jose Sharks at Enterprise Center on November 9, 2018 in St. Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Scott Rovak/NHLI via Getty Images)
ST. LOUIS, MO - NOVEMBER 9: (EDITOR'S NOTE: This image has been photographed in black and white.) Vladimir Tarasenko #91 of the St. Louis Blues and Ryan O'Reilly #90 of the St. Louis Blues prepare for warm ups prior to a game against the San Jose Sharks at Enterprise Center on November 9, 2018 in St. Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Scott Rovak/NHLI via Getty Images) /
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The St. Louis Blues are not a good hockey team right now, they are unable to win important games, and it is a trend that dates back to last season.

The St. Louis Blues have not been able to string three or more wins in a row this season and have been unable to win the big games when they need to. More specifically, games within their division.

Since the 2017-2018 season, the Blues are a combined 12-20 against opponents in their division and have already lost three this season to the Chicago Blackhawks who finished at the bottom of the Central Division a year ago.

This is not good enough. St. Louis is in the NHL’s toughest division and dropping points to teams they see over and over again is simply inexcusable. It’s one of the most cliche expressions in sports, but it still holds true, “if you want to be the best, you have to beat the best.”

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The Blues, for some reason this season, have seemingly been unable to beat anyone, let alone some of the top teams in the league.

We thought the team had turned things around multiple times this year. St. Louis went into Toronto and dominated one of the best teams in the league on home ice, only to fall against the Winnipeg Jets the following game.

After that, you rattle off your first winning streak of the season. Beating the reigning Western Conference champion Vegas Golden Knights and your archrival Chicago Blackhawks back to back, only to get embarrassed on home ice against the Minnesota Wild.

Then the Blues turned to Chad Johnson to try and right the ship after the bad loss to the Wild, and he played exceptionally well. This sparked yet another goalie controversy among Blues fans. He took the opportunity and allowed just one goal in two games against the Carolina Hurricanes and San Jose Sharks.

The Blues, at this point, have won four of their last five games, and things have seemingly started to settle down. This was until St. Louis had to play back to back games against Central Division opponents, losing two in a row to the Wild and Blackhawks.

Now, as we sit on November 15, everything seems to be falling apart, and the Blues find themselves at the bottom of the Central Division and the Western Conference.

Many, including myself, are calling for Mike Yeo’s job. He is in his second full year of coaching the Blues and his record against teams in the Central is bad, and anytime you lose to teams in your division, you dig yourself a hole that is hard to climb out of.

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It’s hard to pin the Blues failures against good teams on just one specific thing. You could start with the lineup decisions, and maybe circle around to goaltending, but whatever you say is the prime reason why the Blues aren’t winning, it needs to be fixed.

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