The St. Louis Blues had a good initial bump from their coaching change having won two in a row and earned a rare shutout too. Things got off to a bumpier start when facing the Philadelphia Flyers for the second time.
Not long after having the most shots in a game this season, the Blues reverted to their lack of offense. They only managed six shots on goal in the first period and got scored on too.
The Flyers struck first almost halfway through the period. They scored on a backdoor tap-in after going zone to zone and outracing the Blues through the neutral zone. When the goal was scored, the Blues did not have a shot on goal yet.
The second game was more of a mixed bag. The Blues were better offensively, in spurts, but struggled defensively too, depending heavily on Jordan Binnington.
The Flyers had a grade-A chance in the first half of the period, seemingly having another backside goal set up. Instead, Binnington got over and made a spectacular mid-air glove save to keep it 1-0.
The Blues had some odd-man rushes, but couldn't sustain a ton of offense. Meanwhile, they got fatigued on the other end, taking two late penalties and giving the Flyers about 30-45 seconds of zone time even at five-on-five.
It seemed destined to be 2-0 going into intermission as the Flyers had an open net on the doorstep. However, Binnington made the initial stop on a wingside drive to the net and then sprawled along the goal line and made a stunning glove save.
The Blues couldn't hit the net as much as they needed, but they were generating momentum in the third. They had sustained zone time and felt threatening.
Finally, the Blues made a wish at 11:11 of the period. After winning a puck battle in the corner, Dylan Holloway drug the puck back for a wound-up wrister from the slot and it was 1-1 with a roof shot.
That didn't last very long though. Less than a minute later, the Blues turned the puck over at their own blue line and the Flyers drove the net. Binnington threw off the initial shot with a snow angel save attempt, but Philly scooped in the loose rebound and it was 2-1 Flyers.
Binnington kept bailing out the Blues late in the period. He stopped back-to-back breakaways with St. Louis getting caught throwing too many into the attack.
The Blues earned a power play with 2:10 left, but struggled to get shots on goal. It seemed like the game would end with a loss in regulation since the Flyers kept blocking everything, but they finally got a shot and generated a rebound on a backside. After a scramble, Jake Neighbours finally jammed it underneath the goalie and we headed to overtime.
Unfortunately, the Blues would have to settle for just a point. The Flyers scored just 28 seconds into the overtime.
It was a freak play. The Blues came into the offensive zone with Robert Thomas and numbers with speed. Unfortunately, Thomas fell down along with a Flyers player and Travis Konecny blindly swept the puck out of the zone.
That sprung a breakaway for the Flyers. Binnington had come up huge all game long, but it was one chance too many and Philly ended the game with the win.
Pro: Finding a way
The Blues have long been a team that did absolutely nothing when they pulled their goalie. More times than not, they've given up a goal within the first 15 seconds of the net being empty.
In this game, they played the situation perfectly and got rewarded. Instead of initially pulling the goalie, St. Louis kept the five-on-four advantage and that paid dividends as the Flyers almost got a breakaway, but they couldn't just shuffle it down the ice and that allowed Jordan Kyrou to get back and help.
Then, once the goalie was pulled, they utilized the numbers advantage to keep the zone and generate chances. Instead of just settling for long shots, they got the puck into dangerous spots and were able to finally jam it in.
Con: Too many dangerous chances against
Even if the Blues had won, the biggest problem they had in this game was they just allowed too many great looks. It was an odd situation that was more reminiscent of the early season Blues instead of how they've looked the last two games.
Binnington faced two breakaways late in the third period and a couple others throughout the game. He faced odd-man rushes and several backdoor plays too.
It's great to have a goalie you can depend on to bail you out, but this reminded us too much that this team can easily give up seven or eight goals if their goalie isn't on.
Pro: Jordan Binnington
Springboarding off the last point, it's great that Binnington was on during this game. The Blues weren't bad, but they don't even come close to earning a point if he doesn't bail them out.
He made two saves that will be candidates for save of the year in one period alone. He was about as on as any goaltender we've seen.
Nobody is stopping that first goal since it's a backdoor tap in. The second goal was bad luck since he covers the net for the initial chance but the defense didn't clear the opposition and no goalie could get back up that quickly once they snow angel.
Binnington looked like he may have lost a little swagger when the team was near the tail end of Drew Bannister's term. He looks much more like himself now.
Con: Turnovers
You can tell the Blues feel better about themselves, especially with Jim Montgomery in charge. However, they're still coughing the puck up at the absolute worst times.
The Blues were charged with 21 statistical giveaways. That's amazingly poor. Giveaways is something that depends largely on the guys in the booth, but that's still ridiculous.
Not only did they turn it over too often, but it led to two of the three goals. St. Louis continues to cough it up around both blue lines, leading to chances the other way and this season it almost always ends in the back of the net.
Overview
This game wasn't disappointing because it was a loss. You're going to lose games even if you're a true Stanley Cup contender.
The game was disappointing because some of the team's old habits started popping back up. We're only three games into Montgomery's tenure, so the hope is that coaching bump has not already worn off.
I don't think it has, but it proves that this team has plenty of flaws and the man behind the bench was not the biggest problem. Montgomery injected some confidence into the guys, but the things they do wrong are still the things they do wrong.
You can't set up your opponent that many times with turnovers. If not for Binnington, this is a blowout the likes of which we saw against Ottawa and Washington.
We saw Steve Ott in the intermission say it was taking the team too long to get their legs under them. This is not an old team and a team that should have a clue how they've played to win and how they've played when they lose. Why is it still taking them half a game to get going?
Ultimately, this game doesn't matter a whole lot. You got a point and are still right around .500, which is where you were beforehand.
For now, we have to hope the bad habits were just blips and not a true return to that form. I still anticipate this team to bounce back and forth because that's what they've shown is their true nature.
As long as you get points and pick up an extra win here or there, they can still scramble into playoff position. You just can't have too many more nights like this where you only even got into overtime solely based on your goalie.