The Blues have been swinging between two very different versions of themselves over the last two weeks. In their last five games, they were shut out twice, held to a single late goal in the third period, and then scored a combined nine goals in the other two.
They finished the stretch with 10 goals scored, averaging only two per game. While that number alone seems small, what becomes even more unsettling is that nine of the 10 goals came in two wins. The three losses from the team, Pius Suter's late goal against the Rangers, spoiled a third shutout in the dying seconds of the game.
Despite its recent uptick in production, the power play provided little help at Madison Square Garden, going 0-6 and bringing their five-game stretch to a 12.5 percent success rate. For a Blues team working to be relentless against their opposition, the man-advantage has done little to help them add to the win column.
Broberg and Thomas carrying the load
Most of the offense that has shown up over the last five games has come from two players. Philip Broberg has logged over 26 minutes per night, more than five minutes above any other player, and finished with a goal and three assists. Blues team captain Robert Thomas has matched Broberg's offensive production with four points of his own while winning 55.2% on the faceoff dot. When those two are producing, the Blues have looked like a top-10 team in the NHL. When they have been stopped, the team has looked far from it.
The middle of the lineup has gone quiet
The drop-off has been noticeable. Mason McTavish, who opened the season on a strong run, has gone scoreless over the last five games with a minus-7 rating. Dylan Holloway has not managed a single goal on 15 shots. Connor McMichael has recorded only one assist and a minus-4 rating. Buchnevich, Berggren, and several other members of the team have all found little to no luck offensively. Right now, the offense is either coming from the top or not at all.
With the exception of players like Jimmy Snuggerud and Justin Barron, if Thomas and Broberg are not scoring, the Blues are finding it awfully difficult to win hockey games. When those players have been contained, the rest of the group has been ice cold, and almost too easy to neutralize, even on nights when the shots were there.
Five games may be a small sample size, but the NHL is unforgiving, and the difference between a playoff berth and not could come down to a single stretch of games where goals went unscored and points were lost out on. The Blues have shown how quickly they can produce offensively but are also showing all too often that when their primary line drivers are shut down, so goes the rest of the lineup. Until more players are able to find their offensive game, this back-and-forth offensive game could become all too familiar as the season moves along.
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