The St. Louis Blues 2025-26 season has been a little odd to start. The Blues had a 6:30 pm start for a game out in Vancouver. Then, they turn around and drop the puck close to 9 pm at home in a game against the Chicago Blackhawks.
The first game of the season against the hated rival got off to an even stranger start. Chicago took the lead at 3:02 when Joel Hofer literally passed it directly to a Blackhawks player who then deposited it into an empty net.
St. Louis tied it less than 90 seconds afterward. After they came up empty on a rush play, Colton Parayko scraped the puck away from the goalie on his belly, and then Jake Neighbours chipped it in to make it 1-1.
Hofer continued to look shaky, though. It was 2-1 Chicago at 5:23 when Lukas Reichel just fired one towards goal from a tight angle, and Hofer did not have the post sealed off.
Fortunately, Hofer rebounded to make eight saves in the period, and the Blues would tie it. Dylan Holloway slipped into open ice on the left wing and then wired a wide-open shot past the glove hand to make it 2-2 with about five minutes left in the first.
St. Louis killed off the final seven seconds of a penalty to open the second period and then almost - perhaps should have - taken the lead. The Blues found Jordan Kyrou on a backside play, but the sniper was denied with a diving glove save.
That failure to score came back to bite them. Before the period was three minutes old, the Hawks took the lead again after Connor Bedard intercepted a rim around, fed it in front, and a deflected shot beat Hofer on the blocker side to make it 3-2.
Chicago doubled the lead on a rush play at 4:32. Frank Nazar somehow drove the net on the backhand and was allowed to switch to the forehand, where he clanked one off the post and in to make it 4-2. Jim Montgomery still decided to keep Hofer in there despite allowing four goals on 12 shots, or so it seemed. Monty waited until the TV timeout and then put in Jordan Binnington.
The defense was not doing much to help anyone. Binnington immediately faced a breakaway, which he stopped, and then a flurry of whacks. Unfortunately, it was 5-2 shortly after when a knuckle shot went past the glove-side elbow from the right wing.
St. Louis finally started creating a few chances late in the period. Thomas and Pavel Buchnevich were denied with good saves with around three minutes left.
The Blues continued to try changing the momentum, this time by reinserting Hofer back into the game in the third period. They had a good first few shifts, but couldn't score the early goal that would have cut into the deficit. Instead, the Blackhawks popped in a rebound to make it 6-2.
It went from bad to worse. With the Blues trying to pressure, Thomas took a high-sticking penalty, and Chicago scored on a backdoor play just seven seconds into the power play, and it was 7-2.
St. Louis got a rare bit of good fortune with 8:32 left. Tyler Tucker flung a wild shot near the net from the left point, and it went off the defender's shoulder and in to make it 7-3.
Chicago got it right back with their own lucky bounce. It went off the Chicago forward, off Philip Broberg's stick, and then to Ryan Greene's first NHL goal and an 8-3 score.
Con: Hofer
Every goalie in the NHL can win a game for their team on any day. However, any goalie can cost their team as well.
Hofer did the latter in this game. He's had plenty of games where he stole the win for the Blues, but he was not on at all in this one.
The errant pass that led directly to the first goal of the game just showcased how the whole night would go. He just never looked set, and even the saves he made looked shaky, and though he was fighting things.
There was a save in the first, and then the first goal in the third when Hofer had no clue where the puck was after the initial stop. It just was not his night as he allowed six goals against on 18 shots and seven goals on 21 shots.
Pro: Holloway
While almost everyone had an off game in this one, Holloway was the only one that was a fairly consistent bright spot. His goal was emblamatic of how good he can be when he just whizzed it by the goalie before he could even react.
Then, smashing a Blackhawks player into the boards on the forecheck got the crowd into it in those early moments before the game fell apart.
Con: Defense
While I rarely blame a game on the goalie, this one is on Hofer by quite a bit. That said, the Blues didn't do their goaltender any favors.
Chicago was allowed way too much time and space. Guys were slow closing down, reaching too much, and standing around.
If this game was on local television, I'm sure Bernie Federko would've regaled us with tales of how it's tough to play that first game after a long-distance road trip. Even if that's true, the reality is that St. Louis didn't bring their game.
If your goalie is off, you need to have his back by not allowing break outs and rush plays. The Blues just went through the motions at times once the game was 4-2.
Overview:
Everyone has bad nights, but this resembled the early-season Blues of 2024-25. St. Louis got embarrassed and played down to a lesser opponent.
Chicago has enough talent to take it to teams. They're just learning to have consistency and toughness. The Blues just put it on a silver platter and played the role of practice cones instead of opponent.
I'm not trying to take things away from the Hawks. They went out and got it done. But the Blues didn't even mount much of a counteroffense.
They did enough to get it tied in the first period and you'd think they'd push the reset button in the second and take it to Chicago. Instead, it disintigrated within the first couple minutes of the middle frame.
I don't think this game is emblematic of what this team is or how they'll play at home the entire season. But, two games into the home portion of the 2025-26 season have shown the Blues aren't good in front of their home fans or wearing these new home uniforms.
Whatever the reason, it better get fixed soon.