The St. Louis Blues hit the official midway point of the 2024-25 season in an odd position. They had played pretty well over the last 10 or 15 games, but there was just too much inconsistency to get well above .500.
They already had somewhat of a clunker in their last game, falling to Columbus. Now, they faced a Minnesota Wild team fighting for the top division spot while the Blues were trying to avoid falling back to .500.
Things got off to a rather dismal start in the first period. St. Louis found themselves down 2-0 in around two minutes.
For the first goal, Minnesota worked it around the perimeter and Zach Bogosian took a slapshot from the right point. Colton Parayko screened his goaltender, so it snuck in past the blocker before Jordan Binnington could react.
Less than a minute later, Jon Merrill snapped one over the glove of Binnington for a 2-0 lead. Before the goal, Binnington was run into, but it was not called and the play continued which meant it couldn't be challenged for goalie interference since the collision did not impact the goal.
St. Louis played quite well after that. You might even argue they were the slightly better team the rest of the period, but they would only get one goal for their efforts.
St. Louis came in on a rush play with less than seven minutes left in the period. Dylan Holloway looked shot, made a nice pass across the zone and Pavel Buchnevich fired it short side to make it 2-1.
The second period almost opened in nightmare fashion. The Blues were extremely fortunate not to surrender a goal in the first 50 seconds.
One shot slid through Binnington's pads, but went off the post and along the goal line before Parayko knocked it away. Minnesota almost immediately got another chance at the near post, which was barely stopped by Binnington.
The Blues went down the other way and drew a penalty. Of the faceoff, St. Louis used the screen and Jordan Kyrou whipped one in for a 2-2 score.
St. Louis turned the corner quickly. Less than 90 seconds later it was 3-2 after a long stretch pass from Tyler Tucker sprang the breakout and Oskar Sundqvist fed Jake Neighbours for the wrister.
The Blues kept their foot on the gas, doubling their lead before five minutes had elapsed. St. Louis continually kept the puck alive during a scramble and Ryan Suter fed Robert Thomas from the right circle to the goal line and, somehow, Thomas found a hole to make it 4-2 and force the goaltending change.
The Blues pressured more, but Marc-Andre Fleury managed to make the stops. Then the Wild cut the lead back to one around the midpoint of the game.
The play looked potentially offside, but in the end, the skate was on the line. Joel Eriksson Ek managed to snap one through Binnington and it was 4-3.
Minnesota completed their portion of the comeback early in the third period. They tied the game on a shot from the left circle with Binnington not taking a great angle and it beat him to the blocker side.
Then before the four-minute mark, Philip Broberg broke his stick on a routine zone exit pass and the Wild completed a cross-ice play to make it 5-4.
Tucker almost tied the game around eight minutes in. He hit the post on his first shot and then a second chance was saved and held.
St. Louis pulled the goalie with 3:20 left in the third. Up to that point, the Blues had generated a good amount of zone pressure, but the shots weren't grade-A material.
Much like they did all period, the Blues possessed and passed it very well, but they just could not pull the trigger on anything very dangerous. Minnesota finished it off with an empty-net goal with 32 seconds left.
Con: Binnington
Anyone who has followed this space long enough knows that I never blame the goalies fully. That said, it just wasn't a great night for Binnington.
Lots of stuff went wrong in front of him. His defenders continue to be some of the best attackers for the other team as they're the ones screening him.
Nevertheless, he needed to stop two, if not three of those goals. The goal that tied it 4-4 was a good shot, but Binnington was not playing a very good angle. Pucks are allowed to beat you short side, regardless of what fans want to believe, but he just left way too much space open.
Most people probably wouldn't say much about the goal that came after the missed interference. Again, it's a heck of a shot, but I just feel like Binner didn't do enough to get back to his spot. It's really hard to tell because he's got to gain composure, grab his stick and try to make the save, but it just felt like he could have had it, perhaps.
The Ek goal just looked odd too. It came from in close, so there's not a ton of reaction time, but his positioning seemed to indicate he thought to pass for a split second and then attempted to readjust.
Pro: Offense
This one is pretty simple. The offense did their job, overall.
33 shots is good. You got four goals and all four came from guys you expect to lead your team.
Buchnevich needed to get a goal, not just points. Kyrou continues to be hot and you get goals from Neighbours and Thomas too.
Given the way the game went, technically, you needed more from your offense. However, in most games, four goals should be enough and you need to do better in the other facets of the game.
Con: Bad starts
I've already laid out blame for Binnington where it was justified. The rest of the team also can't have their heads up their rears to open up periods.
In both the first and the third periods, it was poorly executed plays by the Blues that led to early Minnesota offense. This team cannot be relied upon to come out of the locker room focused and strong for some reason.
Minnesota deserves all the credit in the world for making the goals. They're a good team with good talent.
However, you're fresh and the game just started. How do you allow the Wild to just string together passes to get that first goal?
Why does Thomas turn the puck over just 20-30 feet from his own goal in the third period? That was the kind of turnover you make when you're fatigued and a guy chargest you, and he should not have been tired since the period was not even two minutes old.
You can't put yourself down 2-0 before you even get going. You can't let the opponent score almost immediately in the final period of regulation.
Overview:
Another winnable game goes by the wayside for this maddening team. This roster continues to confuse and bewilder fans.
It's just been a very odd year. We all knew the playoffs weren't guaranteed, but you'd like to see some things get strung together for full 60 minutes and then for multiple games at a time - positive things anyway.
You get either goalie standing on their head and the offense isn't there. The defense does ok and you get some goals and both Binner and Joel Hofer turn into Swiss cheese.
We see hard forechecks for a shift or two and then everyone lays back. You get solid zone exits and then someone makes a dumb play to turn it over in the worst spot.
These are all things that have happened across the season. If you focus on this game alone, it's just not good enough.
Four goals and dominating on faceoffs should get you two points. You fall behind 2-0 very quickly and then race out to a 4-2 lead yourself. How do you not find a way to close that down?
It's results like these, coupled with the losses to mediocre and bad teams in other games, that will prevent St. Louis from making the postseasons. What's disappointing is this team, at its best could steal a series and maybe go for a surprise after that.
If you can't get a string of wins and get multiple games over .500, you're just not even going to give yourself a chance to make it in the final month. It's just going to be too much of a hill to climb.
Minnesota is a good team. We didn't need to expect a win in a vacuum. However, when the W is on a plate for you and you trip over the dog on the way to the table and the whole thing crashes to the floor, it's all the more disappointing.