After a rather embarrassing performance in Boston, the St. Louis Blues had a chance for redemption just five days later as they faced the Boston Bruins at the Enterprise Center. St. Louis continued to puzzle people.
Overall, St. Louis had a pretty good first period. It was a solid period of hockey that had some good physicality, well-placed defending, and a Blues goal.
The Blues opened the scoring with a power-play goal, something that has been hit or miss all year. With the man advantage under 30 seconds to go, St. Louis went from goal line to high slot, where Robert Thomas fired a one-timer while falling and scored at 5:27.
Unfortunately, the Blues missed a golden opportunity to extend the lead with the power play. Boston handed St. Louis a four-on-three, and it extended into a five-on-four, but the Blues got one shot, and it wasn't all that threatening.
Still, it was a decent 20 minutes of hockey with the Blues playing more of that style we need to see from them. Then, the second period happened.
The funny thing about the Blues is that the only consistent thing from them is that they stink in the second period. The effort from the first period was still there, but they just ended up clueless about how to do anything offensively.
Once again, the Blues tried to defend the entire 20 minutes, and it cost them. They had a strong penalty kill to open the period, killing off the final 1:55 of a penalty taken late in the first.
Unfortunately, that became too much of a theme. St. Louis defended and then defended some more. They had multiple shifts where guys were out there close to two minutes because they couldn't get out of their zone long enough.
Eventually, that killed them. Boston tied it when the puck was jabbed away from Joel Hofer just as he was about to cover it, and it popped loose to the right post for Fraser Minten to score.
Less than two minutes later, Boston took the lead. Mark Kastelic had a great deflection in front, but St. Louis was gassed again, and even though Philip Broberg was in a good position, he had two Boston players around him.
The Blues finally started actually playing hockey again in the final 2:30 of the period. Nevertheless, they only had three total shots in the period.
St. Louis had a mixed bag of a third to start. The Blues looked better, but Boston had some early push.
Boston nearly tied it on a scramble in front, but Hofer got just enough with a diving stick to push it aside. St. Louis then went down the other way, forced a turnover, and Buchnevich found Thomas again, and it was 2-2 with about 15 minutes left.
Turnabout was fair play, though, when Boston retook the lead. With the Blues unable to clear the puck, the Bruins got some puck luck as a fluttering puck went off a Bruin's armpit on the back side, and it just sat right in the crease for a Kastelic tap-in.
The bounces kept going Boston's way. This time, it was a post shot by the Bruins that went over to the far half wall. Then, although he wasn't given the assist initially, David Pastrnak swatted it to the middle, where Minten got his second off a slapshot.
St. Louis pulled the goalie with over three minutes left. Pius Suter had a great backdoor chance, but it rolled over his stick on the attempt. They set up Suter again moments later, but the defenders slowed the play up enough for Swayman to get over and make the save.
Boston added an empty-net goal when Pasta hit the post, but nobody got back to help Cam Fowler, who was all alone in the defensive zone. St. Louis fell 5-2.
Con: Second period
I don't understand this team. You can blame injuries for the lack of goals, but the issues in the second period have been with this team all season, even when the lineup was full.
St. Louis can't even approach 10 shots in the second period. I don't care if you have the best goalie of all time and two Hall of Fame defenders out there - three shots in a 20-minute span is not going to cut it.
St. Louis didn't really feel outmatched in this one either. But when you can't get control of the puck until you're at the end of a shift and can't even think about converting to the offensive end, you're in a hole.
Once again, the Blues just don't know how to respond when an opponent has their push.
Pro: Thomas and Buch
If there are any two players that absolutely must step up right now, it's Robert Thomas and Pavel Buchnevich. They've both been silent in the early part of the year, so getting points from them is big.
Buchnevich looked like a guy who had completely lost the passion for the game early on. He was gliding around, accomplishing nothing. Now, in the last handful of games, he seems rejuvenated, and we're seeing the Buch the Blues got immediately after trading for him. If he's going to continue to be a top-six forward, the Blues need him to keep producing like one.
The assists are almost always there from Thomas, but they need him to score, too. He can easily be a 30-goal scorer if he tried, so getting two from him in one night is necessary.
The fact they're both playing well together is also key.
Con: Another goalie performance wasted
Normally, this happens to Jordan Binnington. This time around, Hofer gets the treatment.
Hofer allowed four goals on 30 shots. That gave him an .867 save percentage, but that's an unfair assessment of his game.
Hofer was the only reason the game didn't get out of hand in the second period. The Bruins had plenty of high-danger chances (23 for the game), but Hofer was solid.
The only play I wasn't happy with him on was the one Pastrnak knocked away. I'd like a little more urgency to get the glove, but Pasta made a good play.
The Blues' goalies just can't catch a break. They continue to play well, but there's not enough consistency in front of them with those small details that lead to pucks in behind them.
Overview:
Although the Bruins scored three in the third, it was really that second period that did the Blues in. You cannot have a period in an NHL game with only three shots and almost as few chances.
St. Louis simply allowed the Bruins to establish too much of a foothold. Even if you allow that first one, buckle down and keep it tied going into intermission.
Yes, the go-ahead goal was a great deflection, but the Blues got beaten way before that. Boston only came in with one forechecker on a line change, and St. Louis didn't get enough help, nor have enough urgency. If you get either of those, you get the puck out with ease. Instead, the Bruins keep the zone, establish all five guys, and the Blues can do nothing.
If this were just one loss, it would be fine. St. Louis just won two in a row, and if they win two after this loss, we'll forget about it.
However, the troubling thing is that there are still a lot of issues. St. Louis has only scored more than two goals one time in the last six games. They've only had more than two goals twice in the last 13 games. You can't win 2-1 all the time.
The second period continues to be a disaster. Even for a glass-half-full guy like me, you can't say they're starting to pass the eye test when the results in the second period are overwhelmingly negative.
I still think this team is turning a corner, but it's exceptionally slowly. They're forechecking more and hitting opponents like the teams we had just a few years ago. Yes, they always get hit stats, but now guys are actually blowing up opponents on the forecheck instead of a gentle rub.
In the end, you can't live on playing slightly better. Even when they were mediocre and won, they still won. The 2025-26 Blues need to win, even if it's the ugliest thing we've ever seen. They need points and wins, and that's it. No better place to start than in Nashville on Thursday.