The St. Louis Blues were searching for some form of offense against the Los Angeles Kings. The Blues had been shutout in two of their last four games, including a 3-0 loss on Monday to the same Kings squad.
Despite this, the Blues came out hard in the first period. They had the first four or five shots on goal before allowing one against.
St. Louis almost doubled the Kings’ first period shots and they were buzzing around the net, despite more solid netural zone defending by LA. Unfortunately, like Monday, they could not solve the Kings goaltending.
Some of it was poor puck luck. Mike Hoffman had a good look, but the puck was barely tipped on the way through or else it might have gone in. Zach Sanford randomly decided to be selfish and take a shot when Austin Poganski was open in the slot for the one timer.
Regardless of their efforts, the Blues came up empty handed through 20 minutes of play. While they were better at creating some decent chances, you still did not get the feeling they were all that close to connecting on something. It was going to take something lucky or gritty.
The second period was much of the same. The Blues had their chances, but nothing particularly special. There just was not much time or space.
St. Louis was doing a decent job defensively. However, that did not matter in the end as the Kings struck first.
Jordan Binnington, who has struggled with rebound control, had one fired off his right pad. The puck went right to the slot for a tip in by Alex Iafallo despite the fact St. Louis had both defenders on either side of him.
That goal felt like it was going to seal the deal. The Blues went into their shell and the Kings started forcing their way into the game.
St. Louis’ defense backed off with a little less than four minutes left and it cost them. Jordan Binnington got beat underneath the glove and the Kings took a 2-0 lead.
The third period, the Blues were all but useless to start. There was absolutely no sustained pressure and the Blues had another injury on their defense.
As the period progressed, the Blues started to have a little push, but couldn’t accomplish anything. They had a delayed penalty on LA and had the puck for 3:36, but barely got a shot through.
The Blues would score on the power play, to finally end what was an embarrassingly long scoreless streak. It was all for nothing though since they could not capitalize again and lost 2-1.
Cons: 90% of the game
Like the previous game, the Blues just could not do a darn thing for the vast majority of the game. We heard all sorts of nonsense about great saves, but that’s broadcaster jargon.
The Blues hit the Kings goalie in the chest nine times out of 10. Their passing was just terrible.
St. Louis was just feathering the puck into any area they could, hoping someone in blue would be there or catch up to it. The ones that were actually on target were either behind the player or in their skates or to a player that had two defenders right on their back. That’s not a winning recipe.
The Blues had no plan to get past the Kings defending. It was all based on hopes and prayers.
The start of the game was good, but the Blues got discouraged and allowed the Kings to get their feet under them by not getting an early one. Credit has to go to Los Angeles for their discipline in their system, but the Blues cannot blame injuries. The guys that hit the ice are not playing well enough.
Pros: Final eight minutes
It’s easy to say and it’s impossible to just do it out of the blue, but St. Louis has to find a way to play an entire game. They dominated the final few minutes of the game, but there was nowhere near that kind of energy for the entire contest prior to that.
St. Louis finally had jump and started moving their feet. Their passes were on target and they were winning puck battles.
The pressure with that delayed penalty was amazing. It was also frustrating because it makes no sense that St. Louis can play so well with six men on the ice, but their power play is just awful.
Trying to focus on the positive, the Blues were finally smart about everything. While the Kings still got some blocks, the Blues were ripping the puck when needed in those final minutes and holding it when there was nothing available.
The fact the Blues can find another gear that late in the game has to be seen as a good thing.
Overview
The Kings won this game, pure and simple. They had a game plan and worked it to perfection for the second game in a row.
That said, the Blues are not doing enough. Yes, they are missing some of their most important players, but we’ve seen them go through injuries before and they still played a certain style.
You can’t say there is not effort. There is just no intelligence to their play at all.
Everyone is relying on someone else to make the play. It’s as though they’re all filled with anxiety and hoping someone else will put the team on their shoulders.
St. Louis might not possess elite level speed, but it’s easy to defend when you know the Blues won’t even try to challenge you. The book is out on the Blues because any pressure in their face and they don’t make the right play.
That’s why the power play is so bad. Penalty kills just pressure the heck out of the Blues and they mess the bed.
Los Angeles is on one heck of a hot streak. The Blues just did not do enough to push them though.
There was not enough push. In 120 minutes of play in two games against the Kings, you could probably say the Blues actually played their style for maybe 10 minutes. That’s pretty sad and injuries have little to do with that.