The St. Louis Blues 3-0-1 went into Montreal to face the 1-1-2 Canadians. In the Blues last 3 games, they managed to win without playing their best. Would it continue in Montreal?
Much like the four games to start the season, the St. Louis Blues did not play their best hockey. In fact, the Blues probably played their worst hockey in this early season.
Unlike the first four games of the season, the Blues were flat for the entire game in this one as opposed to a period or so in the other four. Jordan Binnington was able to keep them in two of those games to win and Jake Allen did just enough against Ottawa for the offense to out score their opponent for that win.
Binnington alone wasn’t enough for the Habs. Binner made some great saves and did a lot in keeping the Blues alive for the first two periods, but he couldn’t hold up and make up for the poor performance of the rest of the team.
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In the post-game interviews with the players and coach Craig Berube all you could hear was, “We weren’t good enough. Montreal was the better team tonight and wanted it more.”
Now I am not saying the ship is burning or that we have some serious issues, but there is a trend occurring over the first five games of the young season. It can lead to some concerns if not corrected soon.
The Blues are not ready when the puck drops at the start of some periods. At first, it seemed it was the second periods they came out flat, but in this last one, they didn’t seem prepared at all.
Bernie Federko said they looked tired and that is probably true with all the extracurricular stuff going on with the Hockey Hall of Fame. I can understand and see that. What I can’t understand is why it has occurred in the other 4 games. Let’s get to the report card.
Goaltending- B+
Binnington did everything he could to stop the Habs in this game. He made some spectacular saves to keep the Blues in the hunt for the win but was eventually overwhelmed with the amount of odd-man rushes and short-handed opportunities the team was allowing.
The only thing Binnington did that kept him from an A was leaving just enough room for the puck to squeak in between him and the left post. It was a tough goal to give up and I am certain 99 out of 100 times Binner has that puck.
Binner is the real deal. There is nothing in his first few games to suggest he was a flash in the pan. The guy is reading plays like Martin Brodeur in his hay-day! Great news for the Blues.
Defense- D
Vince Dunn scored on the power play, but other than that the defense was not what St. Louis Blues hockey is known for.
From ill-advised and late pinches to poor reloads, the Blues gave up way too many odd-man rushes and grade-A scoring chances. It was not a good night for the team defense.
They were able to kill off the Habs power-play chances, but that was about the only bright spot to the defensive game of the Blues last night.
Offense- D
Sammy Blais continues to impress as he notched another goal from a tough angle that leads me to believe he just might be an All-Star in the making. Yes, the sample size is small and he’s only done it for a short period of time, but the signs are encouraging.
The top line scored a goal via Brayden Schenn again, but aside from that, they were as ineffective as the rest of the team. Vladimir Tarasenko went another game not registering a shot, but did manage to assist on Schenn’s goal.
The offense never got their forecheck going. They were slow in covering for the defense when they pinched leading to the odd-man rushes. Puck possession was terrible with turnovers galore.
The offense may have been able to get by in the first four games like this, but it was bound to catch up to them. It did, tenfold, against Montreal.
Special Teams- C-
The penalty kill did their part in killing off the Habs power play opportunities and the power play converted on one of their chances. So why the low score?
The Blues power play continues to allow the opposition to get more and better scoring chances than we can with the man advantage. Too many times in this game, like the others, the power play allowed breakaways and grade-A chances to the opponent’s penalty killers.
It’s inexplicable and ridiculous the amount of times our goaltenders are asked to make a save on a power play. It’s embarrassing. The Blues coaching staff did go with a different look on the top unit by getting Robby Fabbri off the unit and plugging in Blais.
Coaching- D
There was a point in the game where Montreal went up 5-3 and it appeared Binner was interfered with. To me, it was worth the challenge as it gave Montreal a two-goal lead in the third period. I don’t think it would’ve ultimately changed the outcome of the game as the Blues were just outplayed all night. I still would’ve liked to see the challenge.
The power play. The power play. The power play… This needs to be an area of focus for the Blues in practice and soon. I believe the other issues can be rectified easily and shouldn’t require much time in practice.
The power play, on the other hand, deserves a few full sessions of practice to start ironing out what the problems are. Review the tapes and see where we’re missing opportunities to move the defense and take shots.
The coaching staff will continue to carry the burden of a low-grade until this area starts to improve. I’m not asking them to score every time. I just want them to not lose momentum, give the other team’s penalty kill better scoring chances than we get with the extra man. Simple request.
I’ve mentioned in the last four games that the Blues have failed to put together a whole 60 minutes in a game. Statistically, it can be argued that the Blues shouldn’t have won any of those games. Last night’s game was reminiscent of the early 2018-19 season. I don’t expect this to be the way it goes all year. No need to hit the panic button on 2019-20. The problems are correctable and are in no way indicative of a bad team. It just may be a tired one.