The St. Louis Blues faced off against their Central Division rival the Colorado Avalanche last night, in an underwhelming effort, losing 5-0. This marks the fourth straight loss for the Blues, tied for their longest on the season for regulation losses.
That glimmer of playoff hope is starting to dwindle. It may have been completely snuffed out last night.
Instead of the traditional three takeaways from last night’s game, let’s talk about one big one.
This is not a playoff team
Plain and simple, this is not a playoff team. There was definitive hope, but after this four-game losing skid, all hope has been lost for this team. They are still within distance, being at 23-25-4 for 50 points. Calgary is still in that last wildcard spot with 57 points, but if the Blues can't rally themselves together here, that margin will grow even further.
These losses have all come against either playoff teams or those on the cusp of it, and the Blues have been throttled in all of them. It has all been similar, with the Blues going down to a one-, two-, or even three-goal deficit in the first period of the game. This has happened with both goaltenders, Jordan Binnington and Joel Hofer.
The Blues do not have a superstar, an elite skater who can put up a point per night. Even if they weren't a point-per-game player, they need someone that the other team needs to constantly keep an eye on. There is no current Blues player that has that effect.
The rest of this season is going to continue to showcase what we already know. And the Colorado Avalanche exploited it last night. They are not a playoff team, but they are close, but not there yet.