We will jump into things rather quickly. Since I was at the game, I won't go through the normal recap.
Con: Early goal
If it can be prevented, you never want to allow the game's first goal. However, doing it in the first 19 seconds is all but devastating.
The Blues set themselves up for failure with how the Vegas Golden Knights scored the first goal. Cam Fowler has been fantastic since arriving for Anaheim, but his turnover set things up for a joke of a play.
The turnover was just awful. You can make a case that Mark Stone made a great play to make the steal, but the pass attempt should not have even taken long enough for him to get that close.
I think Joel Hofer should make that save too, but he also shouldn't be facing a breakaway that close for his first shot of the game.
Pro: Kyrou
At this stage, I think we all realize that Jordan Kyrou is just going to be one of those guys who will never live up to the expectations for everyone. He's almost surely going to have a 30-plus goal season but still has a vocal group of detractors.
This game showed his value though. He scored the team's only goal until late in the third period and was often one of the few players giving solid effort.
He made a nice backchecking steal to deny a shot on the empty net and keep the game in the balance.
Con: Lack of steady offense
The Blues continue to puzzle everyone. The stats just don't match how the game feels on many nights.
St. Louis ended the game with 58 shot attempts, which was more than Vegas. The difference is what they did with them.
The Blues had 22 shots blocked. They also missed the net a whopping 19 times.
In terms of actually getting shots on the net, the Blues did not have their fifth shot on goal until it was halfway through. While they ended the game with 17 shots, three of those came on one unsuccessful power play.
That means there just wasn't enough offense elsewhere in the game. Vegas played steady, positional defense and deserves credit, but the Blues didn't get enough done.
They passed up scoring chances from grade-A spots to make passes that never materialized. The heat map showed most shots came from the opposite circle, meaning they were trying way too many east-west plays instead of just getting pucks to the net from the middle and looking for rebounds.
Con: Passing choices
I don't have stats about it, but the Blues passing was really bad in this game. It wasn't just about the passes vs turnovers either.
Even the passes that connected were just awful. The amount of passes that forced guys to retreat out of the offensive zone or hit skates and toes was insane.
Even playmakers like Robert Thomas were making passes just to make them. Several guys received pucks with no option to do anything with it. It seemed like a lot of guys wanted someone else to make the play and just hoped, but they put their teammates in really bad positions.
Overview:
Back and forth we go. Where we stop, nobody knows.
I didn't think the Blues were likely to start some impressive win streak with the way they crumbled at the end in Vegas, but they picked up the extra point. You thought they'd at least come prepared.
The problem is that in the majority of their losses, it just feels like it's way too much about what the Blues are or are not doing as opposed to the opponent. I don't want to make it sound like everything was gifted to Vegas because they're a great team and did the little things to earn a win.
St. Louis didn't do enough to get anything positive though.
If you get a goal and make the score 2-1, you would think there would be a nice surge. Instead, you get four shots in the first period and four in the second.
The power plays had decent possession and zone time, but couldn't generate enough scoring chances. It's great the team scored with the goalie pulled to make it interesting, but you still only had 17 shots. That's just not likely you're going to get a result if you can't even get 20-plus shots against a team's backup goalie.
Defensively, it was a bit rough. Fowler makes that howler of a mistake and you're down 1-0 before you can blink.
Faulk was shaky all game and couldn't get the puck out of his skates on the empty net goal. The entire unit probably had one of their worst games of the season.
Now, since the Blues can't even have a good game and just fall short, they're only one game above .500 and giving the fans lots of doubt again. Things don't get any easier with Dallas coming to town on Saturday.
Personally, I hate playing the Stars just because I'm more concerned they don't allow Jamie Benn to score than actually winning. I digress though.
It's just not good enough. I understand wanting to create some magic, but the duo of Thomas and Pavel Buchnevich was near a disaster.
You could tell things were not working as Parayko got paired with Tyler Tucker for a shift or two and Oskar Sundqvist was on the top line for a shift as well. Outside of the Brayden Schenn line, everyone else was pretty bad and even that main line made some mistakes.
I'm a person that always wants to believe and have hope. Unless things change, this team just is what it is.