St. Louis Blues Pros/Cons: Blues Fall Flat With Chance To Clinch Cup

The St. Louis Blues had every reason to just truck the Boston Bruins in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final. Instead of blowing the roof off Enterprise Center, they simply let the air seep out of the building.

The St. Louis Blues have always found ways to disappoint over their 50-plus year history. While the loss in Game 6 of the 2019 Stanley Cup Final will not go down as the biggest disappointment in team history, it most certainly has to be one of the most deflating.

No matter how much we told ourselves this was not going to be easy and they still had to play a hard 60 minutes, deep down, we all thought Game 6 was it. The storybooks had been written and, in the back of our minds, we were planning parades and how to get our championship gear. Working in a sports retail store and knowing the championship gear was on-site did not help either, in a personal case.

Thus, when the St. Louis Blues put forth one of their worst performances in the Stanley Cup Final, and that includes that terrible showing in Game 3, the entire night just fell flat. It was just such a slow burn toward an ultimate defeat that there was no excitement.

The Blues had one of the most emotional pregames in memory. It was not just pretty words – this truly was supposed to be our time.

The puck dropped and the team had a fantastic first five minutes. The Blues were skating hard and getting shots in. It looked like Boston was ready to admit defeat and the Blues were ready.

Then, the team lost their heads. They started looking for hits instead of the puck and it got them in the penalty box with a dumb hit by Brayden Schenn.

Ryan O’Reilly proceeded to airmail the puck out of the rink about a minute later and that was all she wrote. Boston scored on the ensuing five-on-three power play and the Blues never looked the same.

St. Louis did get a goal in the third period, but it was 3-1 at that point and the Blues gained no energy from it.

Ultimately, maybe a 5-1 loss was best. By the end of the game, fans were not even that upset. Like the game, all the energy (positive and negative) slowly sapped away.

Now, it’s back to the east coast for a series deciding seventh game.

Pros: The Pregame Festivities

I have not had the luxury of being in the building for any games prior to Game 6. Perhaps the entire thing is mostly the same. I do know the hype video is mostly the same since they play it before the watch parties too.

Regardless, the building was filled with an energy unlike I have ever seen before. The entire city was ready.

Cons: Special Teams

This was a double whammy of the highest degree. The Blues gave away momentum and never even tried to get it back, both with their special teams.

St. Louis knew they needed to stay out of the blasted penalty box, but they got suckered into it. A hit from behind went unpunished in the Blues offensive zone. Whether deliberately seeking retribution or just amped by the crowd, Schenn let the moment get the best of him.

Fans will whine that it was not a penalty. If you take emotion out of it, it was a boarding call. We can argue about missed calls elsewhere, but that was boarding and it happened right as the Blues opening push was starting to fade. So, the penalty halted all forward momentum.

Then, when it seemed like the Blues were doing a good job killing it, O’Reilly decided to shovel the puck instead of sending it down the boards. Go back and look at it, because there was room up the wall for him to, at least, attempt keeping the puck on the ice. Instead, a boneheaded delay of game penalty puts Boston up two men and they capitalize.

On the flip side, the Blues were given every opportunity to get back into this game. Boston was undisciplined by taking four penalties and could have been put in the box more than that. It would not have mattered.

Though the Blues did find a way to get some decent zone time, their power play looked as pathetic as ever. Boston did do a good job of closing the gaps, but the Blues just keep passing and passing. You could tell they were not even looking to shoot.

It would be one thing if you forced the goaltender to make some good saves on the power play, but the Blues barely even attempted getting a shot through, much less actually getting it on net.

I have honestly never seen a team look so completely different when they are a man up. Two games ago, you could literally tell the moment the Blues got off the power play. I distinctly remember the moment Boston’s player came out of the box, Jaden Schwartz looked like he had been shot out of a gun. The Blues immediately started skating faster, moving their feet quicker and cycling around with purpose. When they are on the power play, there is so little movement with any quickness, it makes your head spin.

This is reminiscent of the Nashville series a few seasons ago. You kept having chance after chance and got nothing from your power play and it cost them the series. It is a wonder this is going seven games when the Blues cannot score with a man-advantage.

Pros: Charles Glenn’s Last Anthem

Perhaps this one should get lumped in with the pregame ceremonies, but you can see where the good is coming from by now.

Nevertheless, this deserved to get singled out. Charles Glenn was on point on this evening and, despite the game itself falling flat, it was a perfect performance to go out on.

The entire evening seemed to belong to Glenn. His band played out in the main stage in the concourse. They played many great R&B classics, like Stevie Wonder songs. The hallway got so packed at one point that you could not get through, which might be some sort of fire hazard, but no matter.

Then, with his final anthem in his Blues career, he played it just right. He gave it a little flourish right where it needed it without going 90’s pop singer over the top.

There was a small tinge of disappointment that he did not let the crowd take over for a portion of the national anthem. However, knowing this was the final time he would sing in front of a crowd that large, it was fine for him to take his moment.

He soaked it up too. Glenn played to the crowd for a bit longer than normal and the Enterprise Center crowd let him know how much they appreciated the 19-plus years of service. Maybe it did not sound it on TV, but he got a great pop.

Cons: Careless With The Puck

This was not the Blues team we saw surge their way through the second half of the 2018-19 season. It might not have been mid-November bad, but this was definitely early season bad.

I cannot remember a game with this kind of importance having a team come out so poorly with puck management. It was in stark contrast to Game 4 where the Blues were in control of the puck most of the night.

St. Louis was credited with 12 giveaways, which means with how the NHL seems to count those things, the Blues likely had twice as many turnovers.

What was worse was the Blues ability to do it in the worst areas on the ice. So many of the turnovers happened at the blue line. Whether attacking or defending, the area right around the blue line is the absolute worst spot to turn the puck over. All your forces are going the other direction, making it near impossible to get back to defend.

The second goal allowed was exactly that. The goal itself was an awful one for Jordan Binnington to give up and it was completely his fault it went in. He has to make that save.

That said, Alex Pietrangelo has to get rid of the damn puck when he has the opportunity. Captain dog poo, as he has been referred to by some close to me, returned in that moment. He tried to chip the puck out and hit the official, which might not be his fault, but it was a harbinger of things to come.

Pietrangelo managed to turn the puck over again, this time right at the blue line for the Bruins third goal. The turnover basically led to a partial odd-man rush for Boston and it was all over from there.

Pros: The Blues Being In It Forever

I fully admit to grasping at straws for good things, but when you look at the overall game, it was never over until the wheels kind of fell off halway through the third. The Blues just needed something good to happen.

Whether you want to see the glass half full or empty, the truth is the Blues played almost as bad as they could. We have seen them play much worse, but in terms of playoff performances, this ranked up there. There just was no jump after that goal given up.

St. Louis wanted to pass out of every situation instead of skating. The Pietrangelo turnover was just such a situation. Prior to the givewaway, Petro had a chance to skate it up. Instead, he tried to make a long pass that got knocked back the other way.

The Blues did not want to skate. They wanted to conserve energy, it seemed.

Now, to the good part of this. The Blues were never out of the game during the important parts.

As bad as St. Louis looked for long stretches, they were right there if they could have just scored one goal. Boston’s top players were showing up and the Blues had cracks in the foundation, but it was still 1-0 forever.

The Blues played like crap and it was still 1-0 until they had to open up.

The positive of that is that means you only have to clean up your own garbage. The Blues don’t have to worry about what Boston did in this game because it was only what the Blues allowed them to do. That does not take credit away from a strong showing by Boston, but it was not like the Bruins owned this game from start to finish, despite the score.

One more Blues hockey game, as opposed to whatever we saw in Game 6, and St. Louis still has every chance to be champion.

Overview

The one good thing about being at the game is not having to hear NBC suckle at Tuukka Rask’s teat. The guy is deserving of praise as he is one of the main reasons Boston is where they are, just like Binnington is the reason the Blues are here.

That said, he did nothing in Game 6. I’ve heard so many comments about brick wall this, stone wall that. He made two or three good saves and the Blues did nothing else.

Give Boston’s defensive effort credit if you must. The kept the Blues pinned to the walls, so there was almost nothing resembling a dangerous chance that actually ended on net.

But, people only want to focus on numbers. Apparently 28 saves is going out of your mind and single-handedly leading your team to a Game 7.

Maybe it is just the fact of being there live, because I do know people that watched on television that saw a lot of things differently. However, I never saw anything that led me to believe this was some superior goaltending performance.

Rask made a great glove save in the second period and maybe one or two other key stops, but the Blues never threatened with any sustained pressure. They could have had 50 shots, but from where the shots came from, it was always going to end up like this.

The disappointing thing was the goal doing nothing. Even the crowd did not get that true celebratory moment since it had to come from review. There was a bigger initial pop for a miss in the second period than what actually got called a goal in the third.

Overall, it was just a deflating night. By the end, my friends and I all agreed that we did not even have the energy to be mad.

Yeah, it stinks to spend that kind of money and lose, but it never even felt like a Stanley Cup Final game after those initial first moments. You never got any buildup from St. Louis that got you back onto the edge of your seat.

The Blues literally sucked everything from a crowd that was a powder keg the entire day.

But, they have bounced back all season long when faced with great adversity. Now, we will see if they can bounce back in the face of the greatest adversity they might ever face in their careers. One more game, do-or-die.