St. Louis Blues Pros And Cons From Game 59 At Nashville

The St. Louis Blues took a rough loss to the Nashville Predators just one night prior. Their chance for revenge came quickly, though on the road in the Music City.

The St. Louis Blues needed some sort of spark against the Nashville Predators. The Blues were winless against Nashville so far this season and were 2-6-2 in their last 10 games overall, so they were desperate for points.

Things started off decently for the Blues. They were creating some decent chances on the offensive end.

Brayden Schenn had the best chance of the first half of the period. Unfortunately, he somehow missed an empty net.

Tyler Bozak hit the post. The Blues were stopped by a handful of quality saves too.

On the defensive end, the Blues were still too loose. Turnovers in bad spots allowed the Predators to get partial breaks or odd-man rushes. Thankfully, Jordan Binnington was sharp in the early going of the game.

The Blues kept coming up empty handed in the second period. They had a power play that generated next to nothing.

With about 12 minutes left in the middle frame, the Predators got on the board first. Binnington made a good blocker save initially but Nashville got a lucky goal that just snuck past him with a scoop shot from a bad angle.

Thankfully, the Blues got a break of their own minutes later. A cross-ice pass went off a sliding Preds defender and in, tying the game 1-1.

Things remained tied until late in the third period. While both teams had traded chances, the goaltenders were standing tall to deny everything.

Then, the Blues did what the Blues do lately. They could not get the puck out of their zone, they lost a board battle and then a defender partially screened Binnington and the Predators won 2-1.

Cons: Passing

For a long time in 2019-20, the Blues were confident in their offensive game. The goals were coming from everyone and it was all a feel-good story about how the offense was still clicking without Vladimir Tarasenko.

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While Tarasenko is notoriously streaky, the Blues wish they had a sniper right now. David Perron has fallen back to the shadows and the rest of the team is either snake bitten or passing up every opportunity they get.

The Blues were far too eager to pass everything they could in an attempt to set up the pretty play. That’s not how you break out of a slump.

Make no mistake, the Predators did a great job defensively to keep the Blues out of the quality areas of the ice. Nevertheless, the Blues best players are trying to shift the responsibility to other guys.

In the second period, the Blues had a pair of rushes that they choked on. One was with Brayden Schenn and Tyler Bozak.

Schenn is second on the team in goals and had a clear lane to the net. Instead, he forced a pass across ice, trying to set up Bozak, and the Blues did not even get a chance.

On another push into the offensive zone, Jaden Schwartz had a look toward goal from the near wing. Passing was by far the more difficult play, but that’s the choice Schwartz made and the puck did not get to its intended target.

Someone on this team has to take the initiative and just put the team on their back for some goals. Zach Sanford had been doing it, but he’s not a true scorer. The Blues need more from their big guys and they’re passing the buck…or the puck as it were.

Pros: Blues fans in Nashville

Say what you will about coming out of the woodwork or being fair weather or front runners. Blues fans are out in force this season and, personally, I don’t care if they’ve always been there or just came on.

Nashville is a hard seat to get for away fans these days. Yet, enough Blues fans got into the building to make their presence known.

St. Louis’ fans, though less in number, could be heard over the Predators fans. At times it sounded like a WWE crowd with Let’s go Blues alternating with Let’s go Preds.

Later in the game, the Blues fans were drowning out their opposition and you could hear Let’s go Blues over the other chant. Something has to be said for the fact a U vowel sound will stand out more than an Eh, like Preds, but still.

Blues fans have been showing up in force in just about every building throughout the NHL this year. I just hope we don’t get to the point like Chicago where ticket prices elsewhere are cheaper to get than at home.

Cons: Perron

As fans, we all love the guy. He’s got skills and is a sniper, even if he does not score as much as we might like him to.

The offense he can provide is wonderful. However, sometimes you just wonder what the heck is going through his head.

Nashville did not score on it, so some will give him a pass. Nevertheless, he may have topped even himself with one of the dumbest penalties ever.

With the Blues threatening in the offensive zone and in firm control of the puck, Perron decided to slash the stick out of the Nashville player’s hands that was trailing Ryan O’Reilly. There was no need for this because O’Reilly had a stride or two distance, but Perron went to the box for being a fool on that play.

Then, later in the game, he cost the team again. With the team down by one and looking to pull the goaltender, Perron just jumped on the ice out of nowhere.

Binnington was only halfway to the bench and seeing the replay, Perron was not even the man coming on for him. The player coming on got off as soon as they saw Binnington turn around and head to the net because the Blues had lost possession briefly. However, Perron just took it upon himself to jump on the ice and touch the puck, which clearly had to be called.

This meant the Blues only had five skaters when they pulled the goalie. Perron did not even have to serve the penalty, which he should have.

There are lots of other reasons this game got away, but the inability to think clearly in important situations by Perron is just so frustrating.

Overview

The Blues have to figure something out. I don’t care about injuries or travel or any of that at this point.

There is enough talent on that ice to be able to win these games and the team knows they can. They just aren’t.

Don’t play like crap in the first period on Saturday and maybe they win that game. Hit an empty net or actually shoot the puck instead of passing, maybe they win this game. We’ll never know because they didn’t.

At this point, we can’t afford to care who it is. If Sanford has to lead this team, so be it. If the goaltenders have to play out of their minds because the defense is allowing 50 shots, so be it.

Someone just has to step up and lead this team on the ice with actual production. There are no more moral victories. They need real victories.