The St Louis Blues are slipping and nothing has been able to stop it.
With their 2nd consecutive loss to Detroit by a 5-2 score at home on Tuesday, St. Louis fell to 3-6-1 on the season and 6th of 8th in the Central Division, picking up their 5th straight loss in any capacity- a trifecta defeat of sorts. Now the attention turns to a home meeting with Vancouver, who they solidly beat 5-2 north of the border back on October 15th. In the net for the Blues in that game was starter Jordan Binnington, and with the most recent track record, it's looking like backup Joel Hofer might start to see more calls to the net. Binnington has been the netminder for all but one of the Blues' 5 consecutive losses, with Hofer playing in goal in a 6-3 defeat at Pittsburgh.
The goaltending is something that's plagued the Blues for quite a while now. Binnington is good, but he's far from the best in the league, while Hofer has much less big-league experience. Other than that, the offense is doing modestly, with 3 goals scored in the last 4 games. Here's the problem, though- that's a total amount, and when you think about it, that's a pretty severe lack of offense. It doesn't help that two of the Blues' biggest offensive contributors have been out due to injury, either- Jake Neighbours was recently put on IR and won't be re-evaluated for at least another month's time, while Robert Thomas has missed the last handful of games with a lower-body injury, and that will include tomorrow night's contest against Vancouver.
This will be a bit of a grudge match between two teams still trying to find their footing. St Louis ranks 21st in goals scored average, while Vancouver is in the bottom 5 of the league at 28th. The Blues are 2nd last in goals allowed, with an average of being scored on 4 or more times, while the Canucks land inside the upper half of the league with 3 per game, good for 12th in the NHL. St. Louis' power play is still decent for the most part, with a 12th ranking of their own, while the Canucks' man advantage is 25th. On the opposite side, the Blues have the 26th-best penalty kill, while Vancouver is 22nd.
Things couldn't be any worse for the Blues right now, which was especially proved by their most recent defeat, that 5-2 loss to Detroit. That game was especially stinging since in the previous contest between the two, St Louis had jumped out to a 4-0 lead before the Wings stormed all the way back, eventually winning 6-4 in regulation. And that three-goal difference has also stung, since that's the average margin of victory by opposing teams over St Louis during this 5 game skid. The Blues have now called up AHL star Dalibor Dvorsky, their 2023 2nd round draft choice, to help right the ship. But with the amount of line changes that have had to be made ever since Neighbours' and Thomas' injuries, it could be a little while before St Louis gets a solid footing.