When the St. Louis Blues beat the Edmonton Oilers, we thought they might have righted the ship. They proceeded to get blown out in the very next game.
The question was whether we would see something similar against the Seattle Kraken after the Blues beat the Buffalo Sabres. In the early stages, it looked good.
St. Louis still had some issues, but the effort was definitely there. Guys were moving their feet and being strong with pucks.
That earned them their first goal of the game. Jordan Kyrou pressured on the forecheck and forced a bad pass up the middle of the Kraken zone. Dylan Holloway had peeled back into that pass lane, intercepted the puck, and scored from the slot to make it 1-0 at 5:30 of the period.
About four minutes later, St. Louis was up 2-0. With the Blues on the power play, Dalibor Dvorsky missed on a sweep shot when the puck went through the five-hole, but across the crease and wide. It came back to the rookie, and he fired in front again to see it go off the defender and in for the two-goal lead.
The Blues couldn't capitalize on a late first-period power play. Meanwhile, they also needed Joel Hofer to make some key, late saves to keep the lead into intermission and then again early in the second.
Unfortunately, the Blues tried to bend and not break in the second, but they came close to breaking. The Kraken tied things up in the middle period by outshooting St. Louis 15-5.
Ryker Evans scored on a slap shot from the left that snuck under Hofer's blocker at 8:28. Then the Kraken tied things with a power play goal where they snuck it past Hofer after he made a pad save and then just missed getting the save on the rebound.
The third period opened up shakily with St. Louis being weak on some zone exits, but they managed to keep the Kraken from getting any shots. The Blues retook the lead just over five minutes in.
There was a drive to the net by Philip Broberg that missed the net, but the scramble led to the goalie having no stick. After another scramble in front of the net, Jordan Kyrou lifted it over the goalie and into the right side netting for a 3-2 lead.
The Blues didn't have much offense, but neither did Seattle. It remained a one-goal difference until late, when Seattle pulled their goalie.
Hofer showed some stones and tried to score from below his own goal line, but he just missed by a foot or two. The Blues inability to score on the empty net would cost them as the Kraken would tie the game with 1.7 seconds left.
Fans had hope for a regulation win when the league initiated a review process. Despite the fact that the player in the crease kicked Hofer's stick, they upheld the goal, and it went to overtime.
Overtime once again proved why three-on-three is absolute fecal matter. The Blues lost the opening faceoff and never again touched the puck.
The Kraken just kept leaving the zone and reloading. Eventually, the Blues got crossed up. Shane Wright drove in on the left, cut back to the forehand, and popped it over the glove shoulder for a 4-3 Seattle win.
Con: Overtime
I will never not hate three-on-three overtime. I don't want to hear any of this trash about the open ice and constant movement, blah, blah, blah.
You know what game has constant movement? Soccer. And most North Americans consider that one of the more boring sports. I do not share that opinion, but you can't tell me that one sport is boring because they move and go backwards and come again, but somehow the NHL is great because it's overtime that does the same thing.
How in the world is it good for the game for an overtime to be decided with one team never having the puck? Don't say it's on the Blues to go get it because you're all but forced to not be aggressive defensively.
Pro: Kyrou
It would be nice if players would remember how they got success and just do that all the time without needing punishment. However, it has to be said that the benching worked.
Kyrou was one of the Blues most effective players in all three zones. He was getting sticks on pucks instead of taking penalties.
He was actively trying to get pucks to the net, which resulted in a goal. Kyrou was also getting in lanes, forcing bad passes by Seattle and just being a nuisance defensively.
Cons: No goalie interference
Goalie interference has to be the most inconsistent call in all of sports, and that's saying something. We've reached a point where it's more subjective than a handball in soccer.
Toronto can give whatever legalese answer it wants. I guarantee they counted the goal because it went bar down, so they're simply guessing that there was no save opportunity.
The point is you're not supposed to be allowed subjectivity with certain calls. They can say it did not change Hofer's positioning, but the puck went in on the blocker side of the net, and the offensive player's skate moved Hofer's stick, thus moving the blocker. That's changing the position of the piece of equipment he would use to make a save attempt. You can't guess that the puck is going in anyway.
Yes, the Blues should've finished the game off long before that, but the reality is the exact same play can happen two weeks from now in a different game, and they'll call it interference. There has to be some sort of uniformity.
Overview:
This game continued to show the inadequacies of the Blues in 2025-26. They had no business losing this game, and yet, here we are.
Take the non-call out of it; the Blues had to finish this game off. You're up 2-0 and then get outshot by a 3-1 margin in the second period?
The Kraken's best period is the second period, but they're still one of the worst offensive teams in the league. That's the exact moment when you put the pedal to the floor and run them over, put it in reverse, and run them over again.
Instead, because the Blues either let up or just didn't have an answer for the Kraken's push, St. Louis was probably lucky to get out 2-2 after 40.
Then, you regain the lead and just can't find that insurance goal. They're ability to finish games off remains horrible, even if, before this game, they've been good at late scenarios.
Hofer goes for a goal and, while I like his courage, that's probably an icing you don't need when only up a goal. Thomas missed the net, someone else missed the net, and the Blues also took another late icing. I've never seen a team so incapable of playing an angled pass off the wall or just chucking the puck up near the scoreboard so you get it out, but don't ice it.
I've spoken enough on overtime. It's trash and the ending of this game was trash.
The league shafted the Blues, but they lost the two points on their own. I've said left and right the Blues will not make any coaching changes, but at this point, if they keep this up, the only reason Jim Montgomery might stay is that Doug Armstrong won't want to change coaches again before he leaves.