The St. Louis Blues came into their final home game of the 2025-26 season with mixed emotions. On one hand, it felt like just get it over with already, especially with an 8:30 game against the Pittsburgh Penguins. On the other hand, it's always sad when things are wrapping up, and you wanted them to play well on their way out.
The Blues opened things up well enough. They certainly came out with jump and some physicality. The offense couldn't get shots on, and then Pittsburgh scored first with a snap shot directly off a faceoff.
St. Louis only had one shot through 14 minutes. That's not going to get it done.
Things went from bad to worse. The Penguins got two more goals in quick succession.
The Blues had a power play, but the passing was horrendous. Logan Mailloux failed to control a puck at the blue line, and Pittsburgh was off to the races. The wrister didn't end up being a shorty, but it was 2-0.
The awful passing continued. St. Louis turned it over at their own blue line, which led to a man in behind everyone and a 3-0 lead.
The Blues didn't manage to pull one back late. Jimmy Snuggerud got a one-timer in front, and it ended 3-1 at intermission.
It looked like things were over about three minutes into the second. Another turnover led to a Pittsburgh goal, giving Jordan Binnington no chance and putting the Penguins up 4-1.
To their credit, the Blues battled back and chipped away at the lead. It began with an Oskar Sundqvist goal at 4:21 when he knocked in a rebound to put some life into the crowd.
The team got some life too . The fourth line started really getting scrappy and Nathan Walker even horse collared a guy.
The Blues killed off that penalty. Then, Logan Mailloux made up for his earlier gaffe when he laced one home at 10:37 to make it 4-3.
Last, but not least, the Blues got the tying goal with less than five to go in the middle frame . Snuggerud got his second of the game with a tap-in from the left side, and it stayed 4-4 into the second break.
As poorly as the first two periods opened for the Blues, it went that well in the third . St. Louis got two of their own in short order.
First, Binnington made a big save on a two-on-one. Then, on the ensuing rush, Dylan Holloway sniped one from the slot.
As Towel Man was trying to do his countdown, they got another. This time, it was Pavel Buchnevich with a breakaway up the middle after a Penguins turnover near the Blue line. Suddenly, before the period was five minutes old, the Blues had a 6-4 lead.
As always, St. Louis has to make it more interesting than it needed to be. A penalty on Holloway looked like it was about to be killed off, even after a full minute of zone time on the first shift. The Penguins drove the net on the right, Binnington made the pad save initially, but the rebound was jabbed in off his skate, and it was 6-5 with 7:40 to go.
That's how it would finish. The game was emblematic of the entire season, with a bad start and a fantastic finish.
Pro: Binnington
I know the stats won't show it and yes, I'm a mark for Binner and almost all goalies, but Binnington was a big reason the Blues won this game.
He came up with some key saves at the right time. This game was reminiscent of a Grant Fuhr game. Sure, you allowed more than you want, but he made those final saves and got the win
I hope this was not the final game of his Blues career. It was a solid way to go out, if it was.
Con: Early passing
I'm at a loss for what was going on, but after the first five minutes and until well into the second period, this was about as bad a passing display as you'll find. It was like the October Blues returned.
The awful passing from St. Louis directly led to at least two, if not three, Pittsburgh goals. It was hard to watch.
They were back to just blindly throwing pucks into areas when they had literally just been vacated. I've seen better passing from club college teams.
Pro: Tenacity
Let's be honest. The Blues and Penguins had nothing to play for. However, both battled.
The Blues were not even close to perfect. Single-digit first-period shots cannot keep happening.
Still, they managed to get themselves back into the game and get it done. It wasn't all pretty, but they got into some scuffles and put seven into the back of the net.
Overview:
The Blues continue to be a puzzling team. At their peak, they can light the lamp and play beautiful hockey. Unfortunately, at their bottom, they truly can look like one of the worst teams in the league.
We saw both Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in this game. When it was 4-1 Pens, half the arena wanted to just go home.
Then you find a way to outscore Pittsburgh 6-1 in the last period and a half. Who does that? The Blues do.
St. Louis has a lot of offseason questions, but at least they're going out with a smile these last few games. Maybe they can get a win against Utah's B-team, too, and end that curse against that franchise.
This was a wild game, and I'm going to be hurting tomorrow. Since it was the last home game, I'm glad I went, and it was worth going.
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