The St. Louis Blues were riding high after a come-from-behind win against the Edmonton Oilers on Monday. Surely, that would carry over onto the road against the Washington Capitals, right?
Of course, we cannot have nice things. So, that was far from the case.
St. Louis had basically no offense in the first period. They had two shots on goal until the final few minutes, when they added three for a total of five in the first period.
The Blues also relied heavily on Jordan Binnington. He stopped 11 of 12 shots, with the only one to get by him being a deflection from Tom Wilson in front. However, the team in front of Binnington was horrendous. They allowed the Capitals to control the puck for almost a full three minutes.
The game should have been out of reach after 20 minutes, but the goaltending kept it close. Instead of rewarding their netminder, the Blues were just as inept in the second period.
Washington was not able to get as many pucks through, but the ones they did were grade-A. The Caps got three goals on their first three shots of the period, including Alex Ovechkin's 900th goal.
The goal was symptomatic of what's gone wrong. St. Louis forced a missed shot, but it hit hard off the end wall and right to Ovi. Binnington had gone out to cut off the angle on the initial drive, but couldn't get back in time to cut off the post on the backhander.
On the third goal, St. Louis was embarrassing. They couldn't clear the puck up the wall, lost a puck battle, and then just stood still as Anthony Beauvillier wiggled himself through two defenders, faked out Binnington, and just put it into an empty net.
John Carlson scored, uncontested from the slot, as the defense continued to look clueless. Binnington got the hook, which was probably more merciful than an indication of his play.
St. Louis had chances, but failed to score on two second-period power plays. Then the Capitals got a fourth goal when Logan Mailloux inexplicably dove and touched a puck that would have been a hand pass on Washington if he let it go. The gaffe put it right on Beauvillier's stick, and he roofed it over Joel Hofer's blocker shoulder to make it 5-0.
St. Louis outshot Washington 10-8 in the second, but it really made no difference. Logan Thompson hardly had to make any big saves, really.
The Blues gave fans a glimmer of hope in the third. Alexey Toropchenko scored a shorthanded goal 37 seconds in to, theoretically, make it more respectable.
That barely lasted as Washington restored the five-goal lead at the nine-minute mark. Wilson got his second of the game as he was right in front of the net, and neither defender was in a position to do anything as Wilson collected a rebound and just tucked it around Hofer.
Pro: Fourth line
I try to be as positive a person as I can, but this team is impossible. When your fourth line is the only bright spot, you're doing a lot wrong.
Outside of the fourth line, you could maybe make a case for Brayden Schenn actually trying hard. Even then, he only gets included because of his fight and mixing it up.
Walker, Toropchenko, and Bjugstad were the only ones who actually moved with purpose. They skated hard and looked like they wanted it. That was somewhat rewarded with Torpo getting the shorty.
Con: Mailloux
I'm not jumping on the social media bandwagon that this kid is a bust and the trade was bad. However, even if you look at Mailloux in a vacuum, it has not been good.
He's out of his element right now. We were promised a good puck mover, a decent skater, and a streak of nastiness. Not only have we seen none of that, but you can just tell he's struggling in his own head.
Mailloux is a young kid who had fewer than a handful of NHL games to his name, and suddenly, he's traded and plugged into a team in a country away that had playoff aspirations. I think the change has affected him more than we would've thought.
The mistake on the potential handpass just shows how lost he is right now. There's no way that any hockey player who wasn't "domed up" makes that mistake. The Blues may need to send him to the AHL to build some confidence if he's waivers-exempt.
Con: Power play
0-3 isn't terrible, but this team is clueless on the power play right now. They have no goal other than hoping someone else will do something.
National broadcasters don't see teams week in and week out, but even the TNT crew noticed how stagnant the Blues power play was. Juxtapose that with Washington, who was constantly moving and creating space, and it looks even worse.
Dalibor Dvorsky is the only one who is willing to shoot right now. You can't score like that, and it's just wasting time.
Overview:
I could go on and on; there were so many bad things in this game. I don't blame the game on Binnington or Hofer, but even they weren't good enough.
In an ideal world, Binnington would've been sharper and snapped his way back towards the post on Ovi's goal. Instead, he heard the puck hit the end wall, likely thought it would ricochet out, and didn't get a strong push off. That allowed the league's best goal scorer to have room to shovel it across the goal line and in.
Hofer couldn't do much on his goals allowed, but he still doesn't look comfortable. A puck trickled behind him, and the Blues could have easily allowed a penalty shot with all the defenders trying to push it away, while Hofer found it.
Could Binner or Hofer play better? Sure. But you can't tell me two of the stronger goalies in the league on a talent level are the reason the Blues goals-against average is worst in the league.
Up until this game, I was placing a lot of blame on the forwards in the defensive zone, and the defenders were just getting left on the hook for the public. In this game, the defenders were largely at fault.
There were miscues on assignments for the forwards, but the number of times the Blues D-pair was standing straight-legged like pillars in front of the crease was worrying.
Mailloux is clearly gripping the stick too hard at the moment, which causes whoever he's paired with just as many problems.
Justin Faulk looks like he wants to be anywhere else at the moment. Colton Parayko has a bad shift for every two decent ones, while Cam Fowler and even Philip Broberg were mediocre at best.
Getting blown out is getting old. We all love hockey, but this isn't even fun right now.
Sure, it would be more frustrating if you lost 2-1 because you had a chance to win, but getting embarrassed is just depressing. I don't care if you have the next Martin Brodeur in net; you're not winning if you're scoring one goal, and you're not winning if you're allowing five or more goals almost every game.
Something has to change with this team. Monty isn't getting fired, and he's not the problem, just like Craig Berube wasn't the problem. The players need to stop worrying about bad luck and something bad happening for every mistake, and just play.