The St. Louis Blues knew they needed a quality game against the Detroit Red Wings to get themselves back on track. While they have not played well on home ice, the Blues have been more solid on the road.
They continued that trend with a good opening in Detroit. St. Louis was playing well in the first, getting every puck to the net they could and outshot the Red Wings 13-4 in the first 20 minutes.
They also grabbed the lead. St. Louis made it 1-0 with a power play goal at 7:43. Kyrou took a few strides in from the point and wired a shot into the upper corner.
St. Louis doubled the lead about five minutes later. This time, it was a deflection goal for Jake Neighbours that was all about the fantastic pass from Justin Faulk to put it right on Neighbours' stick for the backdoor play.
The Blues wasted little time getting more goals. Just 59 seconds into the second period, Pavel Buchnevich scored on the redirect. The power play goal came from the right point to Buch in the slot, and just a nice tip to put it in.
Neighbours put himself on hat trick watch when he scored at 3:12. Not long after that, Jake the Snake put the fear into fans when he took a slapshot off the leg and went into the wall, but despite barely making it to the bench, he did remain in the game.
Unfortunately, the Blues took their eye off the prize late in the second period. Detroit got on the board with a power play goal at 7:42 to make it 4-1, but it was two goals in the final 1:36 that really killed.
The third goal was very close to a high stick on the tip-in, but it ended up 4-3 going into the third period. The Blues weathered the early storm in the third, but the refs also helped the Wings with some weak calls, too.
Detroit would tie the game, and they earned it. The Blues turned it over at the offensive blue line, and Alex DeBrincat went coast to coast, backed off all the Blues, and then fired it low to the blocker to make it 4-4.
Not long after that, the comeback was made embarrassing. A lazy shot from the left point went off Brayden Schenn's pants, changing from a glove save to a goal on the blocker side and a 5-4 game.
St. Louis nearly tied the game on a back-door play with about five minutes left. Kyrou was stopped on the one-timer and the rebound chance.
That would be the last great chance for St. Louis. They did hit a post, but Detroit put it on ice with just over a minute left when they scored an empty net goal from near their own goal line. Detroit would win 6-4 with six unanswered goals.
Pro: First period
When you're coming off slow starts and poor performances, you want your guys to show up and show some fire to open games. That's what we saw in Detroit.
The Blues outshot Detroit 13-4 in the first and had 21 total attempts towards the net. You get two goals from guys you're counting on to be big scorers, too.
The power play got going, and the defense kept Detroit in check. It was as good a first period as we've seen from the Blues in the last few games.
Cons: Third period
We can harp on the last two minutes of the second, and should, but it boiled down to the third period in the end. You're still up a goal in the final 20 minutes and just need to reestablish yourself.
Instead, the Blues only had one shot on goal in the first 11 minutes. While they did finish the third with eight shots, many of those came at the end of the game when Detroit was doing nothing but defending.
While the power play was good overall, they couldn't really force a good scoring opportunity with the lone power play in the third period.
Pro: Power play
I already mentioned the lack of a goal in the key third-period situation, but overall, the power play was doing well. They were shooting the puck and getting rewarded for it.
You get a fabulous shot from Kyrou where your sniper takes charge and fires a goal. Then you connect on the play the Blues were trying to force against the Utah Mammoth, where they fired pucks to the bumper position. Buchnevich with a nice deflection, and the Blues had timely goals early, to establish what was a great lead at the time.
Con: Rebound mentality
Even when the Blues have been a poor team, they often have had a never give up, always push back mentality. The last two games have not been there the way you'd like.
Against Utah, the Blues were the team trying to come from behind and were doing a good job, if not for the four-goal deficit in the first. It was the Mammoth that found ways to score to keep the Blues at bay and keep their lead intact the whole time.
Flip the script and the Blues could not get that timely goal to snuff out hope for the Wings. Detroit kept chipping away and eventually tied it and then took the lead.
Even if the Blues keep it tied, I think they find a way to win that game. Once Detroit got the lead, it was over. Yes, John Gibson made that robbery of Kyrou, but the Blues just didn't seem to have that sustained run of play to answer the bell once they were behind.
They needed that goal like the ones the Mammoth got to keep themselves in the lead.
Overview:
If this were just one game, you'd shrug your shoulders and say it was bad luck. The puck kept hitting the ref and going right to Detroit on plays that could have led to offense for the Blues. The third goal for Detroit was inches away from being a high stick.
On the flip side, there are just too many trends. The turnovers are costing the Blues far too often.
Detroit had at least two goals off Blues turnovers, with the DeBrincat one being the backbreaker. St. Louis has allowed 13 goals in the last two games and has allowed five or more goals in four of their eight games.
Goalies get their share of blame, and Joel Hofer hasn't been good this season, but Jordan Binnington couldn't really do much in this game. He made big plays to keep Detroit off the board, including a kick save to deny a back-door tap-in. However, his stats will continue to look poor when the Red Wings only have 27 shots on him and get five goals.
Playing a full 60 minutes continues to elude this current squad. They finally came out hard in the first period and then lost it in the second half of the game.
That does give you a better chance to win than having a slow start, but the reality is they can't sustain things for an entire game. Detroit is a good team so far this season, but the Blues showed that they're better when at their best.
Unfortunately, they've shown they're as bad as anyone in the league when not at their best.