The St. Louis Blues ended their recent home stand with one of their worst games of the season against the Vegas Golden Knights. They needed some desperation to start a long road trip against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The Blues got a rare bit of good luck to open the game. Just 1:50 in, they were up by one after Nathan Walker and the fourth line pressured in the offensive zone and scored on an own goal where Toronto knocked it into their own goal, and Walker got credit.
That luck disappeared on the Leafs' first goal. The Blues did the right thing and blocked a shot from the point. However, the puck went right back to Jake McCabe, who hoisted a shot from the point that went into the upper corner of the goal on a screened Jordan Binnington.
St. Louis relied on Binnington to be sharp. He stopped nine of 10 shots in the first period while the Blues only had four.
The offense continued to be basically non-existent as St. Louis only had a total of seven shots about 12 minutes into the second. Toronto gained the lead about nine minutes in when St. Louis lost track of the back side during a Leafs change, and they found the open man for a wrister before the defense could challenge.
The Blues finally got their offense going and also sprang some life into their game with a power play goal to tie. Dalibor Dvorsky continues to make a big case to stay on the NHL team by scoring on another power-play one-timer to make it 2-2 at 13:18.
St. Louis didn't score on their second power play later in the period, but the offense had at least come to life as they finished the period with 16 shots. The Blues continued to create chances, outshooting Toronto 8-2 in the third period about halfway through.
The game opened up a little in the final five minutes. Toronto had a great look from the right circle, and Binnington made an old-school kick save, and then the Blues went the other way, and Jordan Kyrou just missed off a shoulder save from the left wing with about three minutes left.
The game went to overtime, giving the Blues points in six out of their last eight games. Sadly, it ended in the most Blues way possible.
Overall, it was a fairly defensive overtime. Until the game ended, nobody had an official shot on goal.
The problem was that the Blues had great opportunities and blew it. Philip Broberg charged in on net, only to pass it off to Pavel Buchnevich, who lost it in his skates. St. Louis did a similar play late in OT, which forced Dylan Holloway to fumble the puck and almost led to an odd-man rush the other way.
In the end, Toronto sprang a stretch pass to John Tavares, who was outmanned one-on-three. He drew all three Blues towards him and, amazingly, St. Louis lost the board battle when Tavares kicked the puck to a streaking William Nylander, who faked out the opponent and tucked it around the post for a 3-2 win.
Con: Last goal
The Blues finally broke me. I float between an optimist and a realist, but in about 30 seconds, this team transformed me into an angry pessimist.
I have not yelled at my TV for years, but once they allowed that overtime goal, I unleashed profanities and felt the blood rushing to my face. It's juste pathetic how it went down.
I don't want to hear flowery nonsense about how they played better, even if it's true. The bottom line is that it's embarrassing to have three guys around the puck carrier and lose a board battle that ends the game.
Buchnevich continues to be snake bitten as his help on the wall was useless, and he may have been better off leaving Broberg alone. Meanwhile, Holloway goes down below the goal line, which leaves the entire zone wide open.
Even Jamie Rivers pointed out that Holloway needed to be in the slot where he could easily defend in the case the Blues lose the puck. Instead, everyone is rushing to get to the puck after you lose it, and nobody can do anything to defend Nylander. It's about as sad an ending to a game as I can remember.
Pro: Dvorsky
He's a rookie, and mistakes will happen along the way. I also realize three goals isn't lighting the world on fire.
However, Dvorsky is playing well and does not look lost in the moment. He looks like he belongs in the NHL.
Maybe he'll need a game off here and there, but I don't see how the team can justify sending him back to the AHL the way he's played thus far. I understand that may be the easiest roster move to make when Jake Neighbours comes back, but Dvorsky has been one of the few bright spots and gives a weak power play a legitimate threat from the circle.
Overview:
Trying to get my mind back to the realist side of things, I believe what's so frustrating about this loss is that the Blues actually did play better. Aside from the statistical offense in the first period, the Blues played a full 60 minutes in almost every aspect.
Yet, they're finding ways to lose. I don't want to take anything away from Toronto, which got it done, but the Blues lost this game more than Toronto won it.
St. Louis had the same number of shots as Toronto and outshot them in the second and third periods, but they lost. They won the faceoff battle, won the special teams battle, had almost as many hits, fewer turnovers, and more takeaways. Still, they lost.
I'm not blaming this loss on Buchnevich, but we've reached the point where he needs to sit. Just to see how the team plays without him. He was a minus-three, meaning he was out on the ice for every single goal the Leafs scored. He skated better, but continues to mope through some of his frustration.
The team defense, not necessarily the defensive pair, continues to be confounding. Binnington has been great, and Hofer has turned things around, but their stats continue to be horrible because the defense plays well enough to limit shot totals, but gives up grade-A chances or second chances due to failure to clear the puck.
Thomas picked up an assist, but the Walker goal is a fluke. Where are the scorers, and why is it such a struggle to get those guys to step up in big moments? I'm not picking on any one person either, but Jake Neighbours has been out almost a month, and he's still tied for the lead in scoring.
I don't know what to think about this team any longer. They're just close enough in certain ways to make you believe they're just going through a rough patch, and it can turn a corner at any moment. They're also consistently poor in enough ways to think this is just who they are. They're looking more and more like the 2024-25 Nashville Predators, where, regardless of what this team should be, they just won't get it going.