After winning two in a row on home ice, the St. Louis Blues headed north to face their rivals, the Chicago Blackhawks. Having a couple of days off between games, St. Louis had some early jump.
The Blues have been pretty good at scoring first and did so in this game, in the fastest time all season - 27 seconds. Brayden Schenn drew in the defense that assumed he would try a tough-angle shot, and he found Tyler Tucker for a goal near the slot.
The first four minutes of the game were some of the best hockey the Blues have played all season with effort, speed, and tenacity. Unfortunately, despite having a brief five-on-three and two consecutive power plays, the Blues only got three shots, even with extended zone time and possession.
That bit them in the rear when the officials called Colton Parayko for hooking just moments later. Although the Blues' penalty kill looked alright, the Blackhawks connected on a cross-ice one-timer to tie it 1-1 at 9:26.
The Blues had another power play in the final five minutes. Like the others, there was decent possession, but no shooting lanes available because teams have studied the Blues and know they buckle under pressure. It remained tied into intermission.
St. Louis had a great chance in the first couple of minutes of the second period. Cam Fowler set up Jordan Kyrou with a right-to-left-wing pass, but Spencer Knight made a good save on the back-door chance.
Jordan Binnington answered with a point-blank save moments later. The Blues' defense helped him out since they denied a rebound chance even though Chicago collected the loose puck.
The chances continued as Kyrou had a breakaway about six minutes in. He muscled his way past the defender and looked as though he had tucked it under the pad, but Knight got his skate down enough to keep it out.
St. Louis then got screwed as Logan Mailloux got called for high-sticking. It was the Chicago player who sticked his own teammate, but the rules continue to make no sense in hockey since you can't review something like that for "reasons".
That fake call cost the Blues as the Chicago power play stayed hot. After a couple of saves, the puck came to the left point, and the Blackhawks got it through a little traffic, off the tip of Binnington's glove, and it was 2-1.
There was justice as the Blues tied it just 41 seconds later. Off a turnover, Otto Stenberg drove towards the goal line and somehow snuck it past the goaltender from a tough angle.
That was short-lived as Binnington struggled on the next one. It was a clear line of sight, although a hard slap shot from Connor Murphy, that snuck over the pad and under the glove. It's a save he makes 99 times out of 100, but it's been a rough year.
The second period continued to degrade with a Chicago goal with 7:33 left. Another shot from the point went off a Blues player in front, changing from a glove side shot to a blocker side goal, and it was 4-2.
It started becoming a shooting gallery as the Blackhawks were feeling it. Binnington had to use the paddle to poke away one drive towards his crease, and then Chicago barely missed over the net.
That luck didn't hold as Chicago got another deflected goal to make it 5-2 in the final three minutes. Jason Dickinson held his position on the Blues' defense and tipped it past the stick for the three-goal lead.
The Blues had an "opportunity" to get back into the game with an early third-period power play. They had no shots in 1:20, and then Dalibor Dvorsky got called for a trip where the Chicago player jumped into the air and fell.
The Blues nearly allowed a goal as Chicago had two players drive right to the net with barely a touch on them. Once the Blackhawks went on the power play, they went up five-on-three when Binnington swatted a rebound out of mid-air and got called for delay of game.
Chicago added another power play goal when the Hawks whistled another wide open shot off the post and in for a 6-2 score. Chicago stayed on the power play despite a misconduct call against Tyler Bertuzzi.
St. Louis got a shorthanded two-on-one, and Pavel Buchnevich shot it right into the left pad. Knight didn't even react, but still made the save.
The Blues had an opportunity to get another one just before 11 minutes in. A shot from the left snuck through Knight, but clinged off the post, and then Brayden Schenn had his stick lifted just as he was about to jab it in.
It went from bad to worse with about seven minutes left. The bounces kept going Chicago's way as it went from right wing to a player on the left, who kicked it back across the goal for an easy tap-in and a 7-2 score.
There was a small blip of joy as the Blues got a goal from the returning Nathan Walker. He knocked it out of mid air to put it back across the goal and make it 7-3 with 6:41 left.
That was about it, with nothing of note the rest of the game. The Blues once again failed to win three in a row with a rather embarrassing loss.
Con: Special teams
Special teams has been a burr in the saddle of the Blues all season long. The broadcast crew pointed out they had 13 power play goals in their first 22 games, but it's been all downhill since then. They have the third-fewest power play goals in the league as of this game.
Conversely, the penalty kill feels like it has been mediocre to bad all year. That continued in this game. Nothing seems to work whether they attempt to cover a zone or pressure.
Say what you will about the goaltending, but the reality is this game came down to special teams. Chicago scored on three consecutive power plays, and the Blues went 0-5.
Con: Goaltending situation
I won't sugarcoat things. This was not Jordan Binnington's finest performance, but he's not to blame for the loss because out of the goals, there was really only one he should have had - maybe two, if you want to be very picky.
But the entire night was just bad. Binnington was under siege, and the defense didn't help. Then he lets in a bad goal to make it 3-2. Maybe that let the air out of the team.
He had bad luck with the deflections and tips. He had bad luck with the delay of game penalty.
Then the Blues actually try to change goalies, and nobody knows what's going on. Chicago has short benches, so Joel Hofer wasn't on the bench, but even after a lengthy delay, he never came out of the tunnel. Binnington stayed in, and there was another stoppage where he could have been subbed out, but they showed a zoomed-in picture of Hofer peaking around the corner.
I don't know if it was miscommunication or what, but it was a bad look for the coaches, Hofer, and everyone involved.
Pro: Early game
When the Blues were having issues earlier in the season, a major gripe was their lack of readiness and scoring early in games. This game was exactly what you wanted.
Not only did the Blues come out ready to go, but they scored. Not only did they score, but they got the fastest goal of the season for their team.
As mentioned in the recap, the first four minutes were some of the best hockey this team has played. How it went so far downhill when you open the game so well is beyond me.
Overview:
I'm clueless about this team. I literally can barely describe what the issues are now, let alone how they fix them.
On one hand, I can easily say with a straight face that Binnington was not the reason they lost. At least three, if not four, goals were deflected and completely changed the direction of the shot, giving him no chance. One of the goals literally went tic-tac-toe to where nobody could react to it.
On the other hand, Binnington had a bad game and didn't look comfortable. He made a mistake that led directly to a goal, but got bailed out by an early whistle. The defense was not nearly physical enough to knock any of these guys who got the deflections away from the puck.
So many Blackhawks drove right to the crease with no resistance or barely being touched. The Blues outhit Chicago, but got wrecked in almost every other stat. They were destroyed on faceoffs, outshot (especially in the second period), obliterated in special teams, and on and on.
Chicago is improved, but in two of the three games the Blues have played them, you'd think they were Stanley Cup contenders. They allowed 15 goals in the two losses to the Blackhawks. Considering they allowed fewer goals even in the travesty that happened in Colorado, it's mind-boggling.
Things were there for the Blues. They could have kept the heat on the wild-card teams and jumped over Winnipeg and Nashville in the standings. Instead, they drop back below .500 by a couple of games and go back to the drawing board with another back-to-back scenario coming up this weekend.