The St. Louis Blues were on their way to a smooth sailing 5-1 victory at the beginning of the second period. Then, the unimaginable happened, and after the Nashville Predators swapped goaltenders, the Blues would lose this game 6-5.
This was a collosal and utterly embarrassing letdown. Let's get into this.
What happened?
This is on the minds of just about everyone who calls themselves a Blues fan, follower, or admirer. Even the players and coaches have to be asking, what in the world happened in the last 35 minutes of this hockey game.
You could say that the Blues played their best hockey of the 2025-26 season in the first 25 minutes of the game. Pavel Buchnevich got on the board twice, Jake Neighbours got back on the scoresheet, and Philip Broberg helped out from the blue line. Wait a minute, does that say Colton Parayko with a goal attached to his stat line?
Everything that could go right, did. Until, it didn't.
This has happened before
There have been four 4-goal blown leads this season. #stlblues account for two; each in regulation, remarkably.
— Lou Korac (@lkorac10) February 3, 2026
10/25/25 at DET: led 4-0, lost 6-4
tonight at NSH: led 5-1, lost 6-5
12/23/25 SJ trailed 5-1 at PIT, won 6-5 (OT)
last night TB trailed 5-1 vs. BOS, won 6-5 (SO)
This is a perfect representation of the understandably high expectations given to this Blues team at the start of the season, and how lowly they have become through 56 games. We all believed that the run down the stretch last season was a welcoming sign for successful hockey in the future, but it was false hope, and this Blues team is nowhere near ready to be a contender.
Even when the offense kicks it into high gear, they cannot seem to finish the fight.
Where do they go from here?
This was supposed to be a nice two-game road trip to Nashville and Dallas. The Dads and Mentors are with the team for these last two games prior to the Olympics, and everyone is seemingly ready for the reset to happen. But this monumental loss has to be a permanent stain on this team's identity.
There is no break to fix what just happened. At this point, the only option that General Manager Doug Armstrong has is to sell this team off, one piece at a time.