St. Louis Blues Pros/Cons 2024-25 Game 2

The open to the 2024-25 St. Louis Blues season continued to be strange. They began with an afternoon game in Seattle, where they won despite being awful fo the first half of the game.

The Blues had a slightly better start, but the results were slightly the same. St. Louis had many more chances, with over 20 shots on goal in the period.

Yet, it was the Sharks that got the scoring started. Just over seven minutes in, Macklin Celebrini got his first NHL goal when a centering pass went off Matthew Kessel's skate and in for a 1-0 lead.

Luckily, the Blues answered before another two minutes elapsed. Pavel Buchnevich tied the game when his pass went off a Sharks defender and in.

The Blues luck, or lack thereof, against the Sharks kept up from 2023-24. Despite being outplayed, the Sharks took the lead with under three to go in the first. Celebrini faked the wrap around, which fooled Hofer and the pass back out front found Tyler Toffoli for a 2-1 lead.

The Blues almost tied it with Buchnevich hitting the post in the final two minutes. The game remained a Sharks lead, despite the 22 shots being the most by the Blues in a first period since 2014.

The Blues offense dried up in the second. They had no shots through seven minutes and screwed up a rush play by attempting too many passes instead of just getting a clear shot from Jordan Kyrou.

The lack of anything cost the Blues as they fell behind 3-1. The Sharks got the power play, the Blues failed to clear the puck and eventually San Jose cashed in on a backdoor play.

The Blues managed to kill off another Sharks power play minutes later, but the Sharks got more chances. Luke Kunin rang one off the post just moments after the game went back to five-on-five.

St. Louis finally got a power play late in the second period. They went tic-tac-toe on the first shift and got denied with a big save on a Kyrou one-timer. Then it was 4-1 after the Sharks banked one off Joel Hofer's skate from below the goal line.

The Blues showed some life in the third period. It was sparked by the fourth line.

Radek Faksa made it 4-2 when he banked a wraparound attempt off a defender's stick. Ryan Suter got his first as a Blue with a wrist shot goal from the high slot to make it 4-3 about six minutes into the third.

With time ticking away in the third, it felt like the game was slipping away with the Sharks getting in all the lanes. However, Justin Faulk managed to get some space with a drag move on the left circle and shot far post to tie it 4-4.

The Blues only took 45 seconds to end it in overtime. They had the bulk of the possession the entire time and it was a drive into the zone and bullet shot from Brayden Schenn to get the winner 5-4.

Con: Second period

In a reverse from game 1, the Blues were pretty lackluster in the second period. It was across the board, too.

The Blues had a mere five shots in the second period and didn't get their first shot until the period was almost eight minutes old. While they did create a great look on the power play, the Blues also passed up opportunities too. You want your scorers to be selfish sometimes instead of CONSTANTLY going for the backdoor pass.

Defensively, it was a mess. The Blues weren't as slow looking as they were to open in Seattle, but they just look out of sorts. Guys are puck watching or putting themselves out of position.

San Jose got some lucky bounces, but the Blues didn't do enough to prevent any pushback from the Sharks.

Con: Hofer's rebound control

Whether it was a lack of work in the first period or just one of those things, Joel Hofer was not great in this game. He had a lot of bounces go against him that a goalie simply cannot plan for, but it wasn't the goals I was worried about.

Hofer was terrible at controlling his rebounds. I'm sure the pads are new, but it seemed as though easy shots were exploding off his pads instead of being something he could manage.

It wasn't a huge problem until the fourth goal. Just overall, Hofer didn't seem very comfortable with the way things were bouncing or the angles.

Con: Power play

I'm honestly not trying to be a downer about things early in the season. I think given the possession and movement, this can be a decent power play this year.

However, in this game the puck movement was fantastic...except it didn't do a thing. It's great to have one-touch passes that find the mark and making passes that are laser beams.

When you still can't, or don't, get shots on goal due to that passing, then what was the point? This isn't a training exercise. You're supposed to be able to get goals on power plays and all the puck movement in the world doesn't do a thing if you're not getting shots through.

Pro: Fight back

The Blues execution was not great for 60 minutes. We saw hints of what went wrong in 2023-24.

However, there was a different attitude. Instead of putting their heads down, the Blues just found those little moments to get it done.

Instead of allowing only bounces against them, they forced some lucky bounces their way too. Like the Seattle game, it wasn't the best performance we are going to see from this team, but they kept at it and earned a win.

Pro: A different storyline

Springboarding off the fight back, we've seen in this game and through two games that this team is capable of being much better than 2023-24. They have found ways to get it done.

The Blues are still a middling defensive team in the grand scheme of the league, but they've improved. St. Louis didn't allow a shot in the final 10 minutes, which is a key to any comeback attempt.

St. Louis didn't tie a game in the final minute of play during the entire 2023-24 season. Just two games in, they've already tied and also won a game in the final minute of regulation and then overtime.

Overview

For the second game in a row, there was a lot to dislike about how the Blues played. Yet, they got two points out of it.

The first period was good from an overall offensive standpoint. You pepper their goal with shots and have energy. Unfortunately, you still end up with a deficit.

The second period was trash. Credit to the Sharks for taking the game to the Blues, but c'mon. How do you get outclassed for 12 minutes and then also give up a shorthanded goal just when you're starting to look ok?

The weird thing was there was no great feeling of momentum in the third. Things just kind of happened and the Blues actually took advantage.

It wasn't like there was this swell of offense and the Blues were just relentless. They simply got some chances and cashed in.

Essentially, they did what we had expected them to do last season and they just couldn't - they beat a team they're technically better than. San Jose is a shiny new toy with all their rookies, but they're still a bottom feeder. The Blues got done what they needed to get done.

It was nice to see the new guys lift this team up. Ideally, you want your stars to be stars, but you need everyone to contribute over the year and it's off to a good start.

Getting your captain to slam the door shut on this game was the cherry on top. I've seen much better games, but any time you stay up past midnight, it's at least worth it to see the victory.