The St. Louis Blues will look to bounce back after a demoralizing loss against the Edmonton Oilers on Wednesday night in Winnipeg against the white-hot Jets.
The St. Louis Blues have not gotten any better over the first three months of December and find themselves at the bottom of the NHL in the standings. The “lose for Hughes” campaign is almost underway and St. Louis may be closer to selling off the entire team than they are getting back in the race.
Wednesday night’s game should have never reached overtime, and whenever you allow players like Connor McDavid time and space in a three-on-three scenario, it almost never ends well for the opposing team.
Winnipeg Jets (3rd Place In Central)
Record: 17-8-2
Last 10: 6-3-1
Season Series: WPG Leads 3-0
Point Leaders: Blake Wheeler (36), Mark Scheifele (32)
In three tries prior to tonight, the Blues have been unable to defeat the Jets. It started on opening night on October 4 when the Jets demolished the Blues, something that many fans thought would not happen again.
Regardless of the Blues struggles this season, the Winnipeg Jets are a legit contender in the Western Conference. Led by Wheeler and Scheifele, the Jets still have names like Patrick Laine (who scored five goals against the Blues in their previous matchup with St. Louis) and Kyle Connor.
More from Analysis
- St. Louis Blues and Cardinals Similar In All The Wrong Ways
- St. Louis Blues Pros/Cons From 2022-23 Game 82 At Dallas
- St. Louis Blues Pros/Cons From 2022-23 Game 81 Vs Dallas
- St. Louis Blues Pros/Cons From 2022-23 Game 80 At Minnesota
- St. Louis Blues Pros/Cons From 2022-23 Game 79 Vs NY Rangers
There are some reports out of Blues camp that Alexander Steen could be ready to return to the Blues lineup after missing the last handful of games.
Even though Steen does not have the offensive potential as Jaden Schwartz, the return of a veteran player to the Blues lineup can only help the team.
Jake Allen continues to impress in net for St. Louis and although it may not be the smartest idea to trade him, he still needs to get every start in net.
With so many players on the shelf due to injury, secondary scoring is going to be key against the Jets tonight. Not only that, the Blues will need to play a near-perfect game in order to beat the Jets in their barn.
Head coach Craig Berube can only scramble the lines so much before even more blame needs to be placed on the players. Maybe it is not more blame that comes next for some Blues players, the smartest thing to do next would be to trade these players that the team is disspointed in, instead of saying the same line every. single. night.
We are way beyond calling this game a must-win, but at this point, the Blues need to decide if they want to lose for Hughes, or start winning games in succession.