The St. Louis Blues were unable to compete against the Central Division champs from last season, losing to the Colorado Avalanche, 6-1. It wasn’t a pretty showing from start to finish.
There are things to associate this loss with, as the offense was not clicking as well as it did against Dallas, and the defensive top pairing of Philip Broberg and Colton Parayko could not handle Nathan MacKinnon. But one thing proved to be the final nail in the coffin for this game and likely the rest of his Blues career.
Goaltender Jordan Binnington was awful.
What went wrong?
First off, this was the Colorado Avalanche. They are a fast group of highly skilled players in every facet of the game. You can make an argument that the entirety of the roster has an X-factor ability to them.
The Blues had a tough time with them last season, being outscored 11-5 and only winning one of the three matchups. That seems to be the case again, and unfortunately, Binnington was peppered in this game.
Binnington saved 30 of 36 shots, and he could not keep up the momentum with the Avs top-notch offense. Even if Joel Hofer was in net, the outcome would not have been much better.
For much of his career, Binnington has always been regarded as one of the best puck-handling goalies in the NHL. But he didn't have a great night playing the puck in this one, as he was burnt not once, but twice for it. The first one to Artturi Lehkonen was really bad.
OH NO! Binnington tries to pass the puck, but Lehkonen with great hand eye coordination bats it down and scores 😳🚨 pic.twitter.com/uJB4SxHmFv
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) October 4, 2026
Where do we go from here?
From here, the Blues have a bit of a problem. This was a bad loss to have, and this team was hoping for Binnington to at least put up a bit of a better showing. Now, it looks like this team can really only depend on Hofer, who would have likely gotten the start if it had not been the second game of a back-to-back on the road.
Binnington's fate has basically been sealed. Even if he were to give the Blues a good number of good starts going forward against more lackluster opponents than Colorado, it wouldn't make much of a difference. These kinds of games, against the best of the best in the NHL, were where Binnington succeeded and played at his best.
Now, that loss could be considered as one of the worst in his esteemed Blues career.
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