The St. Louis Blues have made a habit of coming from behind and winning the second game of back-to-backs. As we have seen lately, they rely on their resilient ability a little too much.
The St. Louis Blues seem to be paying for their early success with their injured players out. The problem is that the team is just making too many mistakes right now, which does not automatically mean the return of Alex Steen or Vladimir Tarasenko would make things better.
The Blues mistakes are not being made by rookies or guys with lesser roles. It is some of their better players, including some of their best defenders that are costing them games and points right now.
For the second game in a row, St. Louis got off to a quick start in terms of effort. For the second game in a row, they came up empty handed.
Anaheim scored the first goal and the next three of four to grab a 3-1 lead through two periods of play. The problem was they did not earn any of those goals.
You cannot take credit away from the Ducks. They finished off the chances given to them, but the Blues basically served up each goal.
The first one was a turnover that led to an easy back-door empty netter. The second one was a miscue below the endline and the puck deflected off a skate back out front. The third was a terrible shorthanded goal.
For the second game in a row too, the Blues had no business scoring their goal either.
Nothing seems to be clicking for the Blues right now. They had a high volume of shots, but they regularly hit the goaltender in the chest. They create some chances, but too often it is one and done or the goaltender sees things too easily.
There is simply no traffic in front on offense. The defense continues to be a mystery, with the team’s better players making the mistakes. Sadly, the power play did nothing to help either.
The Blues were not awful and maybe that is even more frustrating. Ultimately, they fell 4-1 after an empty net goal for the Ducks.
Cons: No reward for good start
For the second game in a row, the Blues came out hard, fast and crisp. They were creating chances and looking good.
Apparently we need to go back to when the Blues were sluggish to open the game and not getting a shot in the first five minutes. St. Louis seems to have more success that way.
Despite creating some good opportunities and testing John Gibson early on, the Blues allowed the first goal for the second night in a row. St. Louis not only allowed the opening goal, but fell behind 2-0.
The second goal was quite egregious. The Blues got careless with the behind the back passes and Jordan Binnington got caught unaware after he left the crease and the puck came back out front off a skate. The Ducks just had to tuck it into an empty net to double their lead.
The Blues managed to stop the bleeding over the next few minutes and create more chances for themselves, but you simply cannot continually think you are going to manage to come back from multiple goal deficits.
Pros: Some decent luck on the first goal
For a good amount of the first quarter of the season, the Blues have just been good. They’ve gotten a few bounces here or there, but most of their goals have been coming on the Blues skill.
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That has not really been the case the last couple games. Against Columbus, the Blues first goal was one that likely should not have gone in had the goaltender defended it correctly. You can say the same thing about the Blues opening goal against the Ducks.
The Blues did a good job of gaining the zone, which is a prominent feature in even creating a chance. However, the shot from Vince Dunn was nothing special despite John Kelly initially saying it was a great shot.
Dunn’s wrister was partially screened, but Gibson saw it enough that he should have made the save. Instead, it snuck just under his right knee.
With the way the game began for the Blues, you will take a goal to cut the lead in half any way you can get it. I don’t care if it banks off a mouse that managed to crawl out on the ice. As long as you break the ice, so to speak.
Cons: Another shorthanded goal
The Blues are really good at doing things that disgust fans, whether they manage to win or lose. One thing is not holding onto leads, which we saw against Columbus. Another thing, which happened against Anaheim, is giving up shorthanded goals.
The shorthanded goal allowed was only the third given up according to hockey-reference. However, it sure as heck feels like they have given up a lot more.
The Blues power play has been so much improved that you thought maybe they’d figure that stuff out. No dice.
This one falls in the lap of Justin Faulk. Faulk had the puck on the right wing and tried the tried and never true drop pass. The Blues reliance on that thing is known league wide by now and, like a quarterback who can’t read the defense, Faulk eyed his target the entire way and the pass was easily intercepted.
Jordan Binnington did all he could to make the save, but it was not going to be stopped. It was a ridiculous play and another example of a bad pass setting up the Ducks for a juicy opportunity.
Faulk was not the only one to blame since bad defensive plays led to all three of the Ducks first goals, but he was front and center on this shorty for Anaheim.
Ultimately, this goal might have cost the Blues. We will never know since they only mustered one goal of their own, but 2-1 in the third feels a lot different than 3-1.
Overview
Clearly, there was not much good to glean from this game. As mentioned in the opening, the Blues were not awful. In fact, they were good for some stretches.
The frustrating part is they continue to hand teams points and wins. The Blue Jackets were not better than the Blues and neither were the Ducks.
However, the Blues gifted both teams goals. Their offense did not show up either. It is hard to win games when you give up cheap goals and can’t score your own.
Klim Kostin and Sammy Blais put in some good effort, but when you are falling back on effort for positives out of a game, you won’t get very far.
The sky is not falling, but because we have become spoiled with this team, these losses are a little harder to take. Nobody plays perfectly in all 82 games and the Blues were always going to hit a skid. We have just become so accustomed to them digging their way out of holes that it is shocking to the system when they don’t.
The worrying thing is you can count on one hand – maybe one finger – the amount of full 60 minute games the Blues have played. Hopefully the next one will change that tune.