The St. Louis Blues have struggled to open the 2025-26 season. While it's been a varied amount of things, poor starts have been to blame in plenty of bad games.
That was the case in this game as the Blues allowed not one, but two goals in the first 60 seconds of the game. The first goal came just 39 seconds in when the Blues failed to get the puck out of the zone. Everyone shifted as the puck went left, which left Bryan Rust open on the right circle, and he snapped a wrister high to the glove side.
Pittsburgh doubled the lead 55 seconds into the game. This time, a quick pass up the wall got around the pinching Philip Broberg, and then Pittsburgh scored on the breakout when Anthony Mantha just shoved Jimmy Snuggerud away and tapped it into an empty net for a 2-0 score.
This time, the Blues found a way to battle back. Nick Bjugstad scored at 4:15 to finish off a drive to the net set up by Nathan Walker.
St. Louis tied the game on a similar play with a little over four minutes left. This time, it was Dylan Holloway who won the puck at his own blue line, Brayden Schenn took it into the zone, and after faking a pick, Jordan Kyrou dove to the net for the back-door play and a 2-2 game.
The end of the period signaled what was to come, though. St. Louis was hanging on for dear life as the Penguins pressured.
That continued into the second, with the Blues looking two steps slow. The Penguins regained the lead when Evgeni Malkin clamped his armpit on Walker's stick, and then the Pens scored on the six-on-five with another glove-side shot from the left circle to make it 3-2.
The Blues woke up a bit after that, but they failed to convert on a power play of their own. St. Louis did get some looks, but couldn't find the finish.
Yet another poor start led to a two-goal lead for the Pens. A shot from inside the right point got deflected in the slot, and it was 4-2.
The Blues continued to battle, bringing it back within a goal before the five-minute mark. St. Louis had a two-on-one, and Mathieu Joseph snapped it to the blocker side instead of sending the pass across, and it was 4-3.
The Blues kept creating, swinging the shot totals in their favor, but they couldn't tie it despite a power play and some good four-on-four play. Those missed opportunities killed them as the Pens would take advantage of another mistake.
Colton Parayko got crossed up on a zone hold-in and blindly slid it through the middle of the zone. Rust's one-time pass found Sidney Crosby on a breakaway. Joel Hofer made the initial save, but Crosby chipped in the rebound.
Almost immediately, the game was put on ice. The Blues tried to pull Hofer, but turned the puck over right when the goalie got to the bench, and it was 6-3 off the empty netter.
Con: Bad start
It's all well and good to show some comeback ability, but it's just a completely different game when you're always behind. The Blues have to find a way to get leads.
Too many games this season have seen the Blues come out poorly. It's like they're beer league players just trying to get their legs under them for a few shifts.
Sometimes it is just luck and sometimes it's poor play, but the Blues simply cannot keep giving up goals on the first shot of the period, much less the first shot in a game.
Pro: Joseph
The guy may only have the talent to score 15-ish goals, but I wish more players had his drive. He knows that he's got to earn everything, so he's out there playing every shift like it's his last.
For a big guy, he's got deceptive speed and used it on the team's third goal. I like the decisiveness to shoot, too, when most of the playmakers would have tried to force the pass.
Con: Hofer
This one isn't about his play, but what he's going through. Hofer just can't buy a situation that will build his confidence.
Hofer really didn't play poorly, but he's got some of Jordan Binnington's early-season luck from last year. No matter how he played, things just wouldn't go right.
What's the guy got to do? He made some decent saves, but only faced 24 shots and allowed five goals.
It looked like he made a big save by stopping Crosby on the breakaway, only for Sid the Kid to just calmly golf it into the empty net on the rebound. The first shot of the game is a wide-open shot from the right circle, giving him next to no chance.
Another wide-open chance came from the left circle. Those are shots that you have to hope it hits you because, at the pro level, you're barely going to see it, much less have reaction time.
Overview:
I'm sure Jim Montgomery has to be at a loss right now. I know I am.
There are flashes and glimpses of what this team can be. However, the mistakes and poor play are becoming more and more commonplace and are becoming habits rather than exceptions.
It's easy for us at home to say they have to have better starts, but what specifically is going on to create the slow opens? You know the coaches are telling them the right things, but they're not being implemented, no matter what line you put out there.
The offense is doing a pretty decent job. They scored four goals in Detroit and should have had more. They got three in Pittsburgh and could have had more.
You can't allow 19 goals in three games and expect to win. Blame whoever you want - the defense or the goaltending - but you have to keep pucks out of the net.
The Blues aren't necessarily backing down, but 17 hits against the Penguins isn't really the kind of physicality I'd like to see. I know the old-school days are done, and it's really early in the year, but I'd just like to see St. Louis dominate a team.
We saw it for about 38 minutes in Detroit, but they couldn't sustain it. We saw it for a couple of shifts here and there in Pittsburgh, but every mistake ended up in the back of the net or close to it.
No time to dwell on it at least as the Blues come home to face Detroit on Tuesday.