The St. Louis Blues came into their game against the Los Angeles Kings on the wrong side of the equation. The Blues were coming off a loss, while the Kings had won four straight.
The Blues came out with a decent amount of jump. They were defending well and didn’t allow a shot against for almost half the period.
Offensively, St. Louis was nothing special. They got a few early shots on, but nothing that really challenged.
The Kings got the first power play if the game and capitalized. While St. Louis killed off most of it, the Kings popped one in after a scramble play where the Blues could not gain control of the rebound.
The Blues got some decent zone time in the first, but it amounted to nothing. Like against Arizona, everything was kept to the perimeter.
Things got worse in the second. The Blues offense dried up almost completely.
Brayden Schenn had a partial breakaway, but the puck slipped away before he could bury it. They only had one shot on one of their power plays.
The Blues were relying far too much on Jordan Binnington. He played well enough, but a lack of help offensively and defensively did not help.
Eventually the Kings got a second goal late. Zach Sanford mysteriously gave the puck up in his own zone and that led directly to the 2-0 lead.
The third period was not entertaining, despite what the announcers said. It was very boring despite a lot of zone to zone action.
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The Blues got more shots, but nothing was from a dangerous area. The Blues just seem either defeated or like something is wrong with them.
They cant turn on the energy until the last five minutes. It’s too late by then.
LA scored an empty netter late in yhe game and win 3-0
Cons: Stuck on the boards
This was not a problem against the Kings alone. It was very apparent in this game though.
No matter how much pressure the Blues generated in terms of zone time, they couldn’t do anything. It was like they were stuck on the outside.
Any push toward the middle was immediately met with teo defenders. In theory, that leaves someone open, but you could never see the open player, even on TV.
Injuries are playing a part, but the Blues just seemed unwilling too. All you’re doing is hoping for something to happen instead of making it happen.
Cons: Sanford
Sanford earned his spot a couple years ago. Since then, he hasn’t done enough.
At this point, he’s hanging on. I camt imagine him being in the lineup if the Blues had a full compliment of players.
He had no business passing to an exhausted Justin Faulk when he could have chipped it out of the zone. He constantly gives the puck up or just tosses it into an area wheyher there’s a teammate or not.
He’s not getting physical either. That used to be a big pary of his game, but now he just avoids it.
Sanford cant be taken out now, so he has to be better.
Overview
The Blues have to find a way to be better. Whether theyre banged up or sick or mentally drained, they can’t keep going like this.
The four goals against San Jose not withstanding, the offense is just not doing enough. The defense is being ground to dust because they have no relief.
Nobody looks right. Even as well as Binnington played, his rebound control is off and his body language is weird.
Ryan O’Reilly looks gassed all the time. Jordan Kyrou and Faulk are the only players regularly playing well but even they make mistakes. Its not good to depend on two or three players to be perfect or else.
There’s nothing you can do about the injuries. There is still something you can do about the effort provided for 60 minutes.