St. Louis Blues: Pandemic Ruined Repeat Chances, One Way Or Another

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EDMONTON, ALBERTA – AUGUST 21: Alex Pietrangelo #27 and David Perron #57 of the St. Louis Blues leave the ice following a loss to the Vancouver Canucks in Game Six of the Western Conference First Round during the 2020 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at Rogers Place on August 21, 2020 in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. The Canucks defeated the Blues 6-2 to win the Round One playoff series 4-2. (Photo by Jeff Vinnick/Getty Images) /

Before the playoffs, during and after, we found reasons the St. Louis Blues might not repeat. The pandemic played a big role in that, in more ways than one.

The St. Louis Blues got beat by the Vancouver Canucks in the 2020 NHL playoffs. There is no credit to be taken away from the opponent who went out there, did their job and won the games.

However, there are reasons that contributed to the Blues going home early. Some might label them as excuses, but excuses are more things that could have been overcome, whereas reasons are simply things that were out of anyone’s control and contributed to the team’s demise.

One of the main things that seemed to cost the Blues against the Vancouver Canucks was a lack of energy. They just didn’t have the legs, or the jump or the drive that we saw in the 2019 playoffs.

That was a huge reason they won the Stanley Cup. On paper, you could make an argument that the Blues were the less talented team in every playoff round they faced and yet they won because of a relentless style that simply wore other teams out.

That was missing in 2020. Some argue that the pandemic break was to blame, but all the teams faced the same issue.

The pandemic was to blame, but not in ways that would affect every team.

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