St. Louis Blues just played down to one of the worst defensive teams in hockey

There is nothing worse than allowing one of the league’s worst goaltenders to make what initially appeared to be one of the NHL’s higher-scoring teams look like they had not the slightest iota of what to do offensively. Yet, forgetting how to score has been a recurring theme in the games preceding last night’s loss for the St. Louis Blues. 

Once again, they ended the game with one measly goal against the Philadelphia Flyers of all teams, a squad that, prior to yesterday’s contest, had allowed 40 goals in 10 games. This is the part when I like to say “do the math,” but you can just look at those two numbers and realize that Philadelphia was giving up four goals per contest until last night. 

And the Blues didn’t just not have an answer for Ersson; they barely got any shots off at all, with just 21. The Flyers, until last night, had 279 shots against, which isn’t a terrible number, as it averaged to 27.9 per game, and the Blues stood at 278 for, putting them roughly in the middle of the league. Still, they looked like nothing but a flat hockey team against arguably the worst goaltending unit. 

St. Louis Blues can’t let this ‘playing down to’ become a trend

Playing down to an awful goaltending unit and an average team at best defensively is the last thing that a group like the Blues needs to play down to. It would be one thing if they came out of the gate unable to score, but surprisingly, that hadn’t been the case throughout October for quite a few players. 

Sure, they’re missing Robert Thomas, and that will put a dagger into how this team creates chances. But it’s also an opportunity to respond to adversity when your best forward goes down for an extended time with an injury. 

They need to figure this out now before it becomes a problem, and they had a chance to do that last night against the likes of Samuel Ersson. Right now, this team hasn't done that, with just four goals scored in their last three contests, and they have a pair of tough teams coming up on the slate vs. the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Tampa Bay Lightning. 

But hey, at least the Blues played Toronto well the last time the two squads faced off, so maybe they’ll enjoy a repeat of that success. Yet after last night’s poor performance, I wouldn’t count on it unless head coach Drew Bannister holds the antidote to whatever that was supposed to be last night.