St. Louis Blues: The Blues At Islanders Report Card

The St. Louis Blues went to New York to face the Islanders in the final game of their recent road trip. It wasn’t a great game as both teams seemed flat and I’ll blame that on the time of the game.

The St. Louis Blues played better on Long Island than they did in Montreal, but that isn’t saying much. Sure, we got the point and they all matter, but as I’ve been saying in previous report cards there are some concerns.

I didn’t get to see the live game broadcast, but thanks to DVR I did watch it and to me, it wasn’t so much what the Isles did to win the game as it was what the Blues didn’t do to win. I don’t want to come across as a negative Nancy, but the offense, although getting goals, is not encouraging.

I say this because we’ve been outshot nearly every game. Aside from the second period of this game, they’ve yet to really tilt the ice, which we saw them doing in the second half of last season. It’s no surprise to me that we’ve lost these last two games.

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The Blues just haven’t been good. At best, we’ve been average. The defense and offense have been soft every game so far this season.

The Blues have beaten one team with a winning record. I thought the win against Dallas was a good statement game, but it turns out the Stars aren’t who we thought they were. Not yet anyway.

The Leafs are the only team with a winning record we’ve beaten and we’ve lost two games to teams with losing records.  One came in OT and we were crushed by another in regulation.

I’m speaking of the Isles and Canadians. The Ottawa game showed off some of our deficiencies, but the Blues pulled it out. Montreal appeared to capitalize on those deficiencies and the Isles just hung around until they showed up enough for the blues to beat themselves today. Let’s get to the report card.

Offense- C

Vladimir Tarasenko finally got on the scoresheet and with a goal and on the power play at that! I thought when that happened it was a done deal the Blues were going to win, as they seem to do when he scores.

Unfortunately, the tally to make it 2-0 on the power play wasn’t enough. The offense just didn’t generate much in this game.

They were outshot again by the opposition and my cohort, Todd Panula, pointed out that it may be like three games or four now that the offense has failed to get a shot on goal in the opening 5 minutes of play. Not a recipe for success.

Brayden Schenn scored another, albeit via a lucky bounce that the official scorers couldn’t get right for quite some time. It’s early in the season and no one is firing on all cylinders, except maybe the Avalanche.

Defense- D

Once again the defense allowed players to slide into the soft areas and get into the backdoor unabated and unchallenged. The breakouts were sloppy, especially in the 3rd period. It was maddening to see the Islanders hanging out for the backdoor play.

Jordan Binnington has to be getting tired of seeing them there and his defenders doing nothing to get in their way. Alex Pietrangelo was minus-2 on the day.

I don’t expect the team to be perfect every night. There are going to be games where certain players aren’t themselves and the team will need other guys to step up. That’s professional sports.

What is concerning to me is the trends that are beginning to appear already early in the season. When will the defense start to become the shot suppressing defense we all know here in St. Louis?

Goaltending- B

Binnington did his part again. He did allow his first real weak goal of the season when New York made it 2-1. Again, it’s going to happen so nothing to fret about here. When you’re constantly being left out to dry and having to turn away pucks on a break due to another turnover by your offense or poor breakout by your defense you’re going to have a long season.

The Blues are coming home and they will face the Vancouver Canucks. We all remember what Elias Pettersson did to the Blues. If the Blues don’t get the turnovers, poor breakouts, and team defense under control Binnington will face a lot more rubber all season and Elias Pettersson and Brock Boeser won’t need much to get it by him.

Special Teams- B

The power play scored a goal and even looked better than they have. They generated some chances and converted on one of them via Tarasenko’s goal to make it 2-0. They failed to put the nail in the coffin in the third period though and allowed some good chances against again.

The penalty kill killed off the Isles only chance and the kill has been solid so far this season, so that is encouraging. They are filling lanes and pressuring the puck when the opportunity arises. It’s been the bright spot of this early season.

Coaching- C

The team once again was flat at the start and seemed dysfunctional for periods again. I’m confident Craig Berube and his staff will get this stuff situated. He will bench who he needs to in order to send a message and will find a way to fire them up. I just hope it happens before we find ourselves in a hole.

I’ll wrap it up by saying again it’s early in the season. No need to panic, as I’ve said, no one is firing on all cylinders, except maybe the Avs, who unfortunately are in our division. Nevertheless, the St. Louis Blues have some work to do.

This doesn’t seem like a hangover. It feels more like lackadaisical play than anything.

Larry Robinson of the Blues said it during the Montreal game. “The hardest part after winning the Cup is the following year figuring out how to let go of and not feed into everyone telling you how good you are.”

I believe the Blues have a little bit of that going on right. Drinking a little too much of last year’s kool-aid.