The St. Louis Blues are quickly approaching a point where there may not be enough games left to make up ground in the playoff race. Games like they had against the Dallas Stars don't help matters.
The Blues came in knowing they had tiny margin for error. The Stars are playing for home-ice advantage in the first round and, maybe, a division title.
St. Louis should be fighting for their very playoff lives, but you wouldn't be able to tell that with the way they've started. One game after giving up a goal to Vegas 19 seconds in, the Blues still didn't have a perfect first period against Dallas.
The first period did the Blues in. They only allowed two goals and both came in the opening frame.
Dallas opened up the scoring about seven minutes in. A fortunate deflected pass split the Blues backcheck and Evgenii Dadonov jabbed one under Jordan Binnington's pad to make it 1-0.
St. Louis had some shots, but couldn't get much going. Then the Stars doubled the lead about two and half minutes later on the power play.
The Blues had done a good job killing it until the end. Unfortunately, with three seconds left in the power play, the Blues got caught puck-watching with three guys lined up on the near side of the zone. Robert Thomas tried to dive backward to break up the cross-ice pass, but the backdoor play was made and it was 2-0.
St. Louis outshot Dallas in the first period, but those stats were deceiving. Almost none of the Blues 12 shots were anything dangerous.
However, that changed in the second and third periods. St. Louis outshot Dallas in each period after and they were the better team.
They created chance after chance and were playing well. They also blew a lot of opportunities too.
Despite 21 shots combined in the final 40 minutes, the Blues got shutout. They fell 2-0 in a game that was oddly both the right result and also hard to swallow due to the Blues tenacity at the end.
Con: Failure to connect
The first period was a disappointment because it was all fake numbers. The Blues did have 12 shots, but they didn't create havoc, they didn't screen the goalie and they did not get those shots from quality areas.
The last 40 minutes were disappointing because the Blues did all those things and could not score.
Give plenty of credit to Casey DeSmith because he earned his shutout. However, the Blues failed to capitalize on several plays that may have, perhaps for sure, beaten the goalie.
In the second period, the Blues connected on a backdoor play to Robert Thomas. Somehow, he put the puck directly back across the crease into the back of the goalie's pad instead of on an angle that would have gone into an empty net.
Pavel Buchnevich fanned on a great shot opportunity as the puck slid off the heel of his stick. Brayden Schenn somehow let the puck sneak under his blade right before he would have had a nice shot look too.
The Blues clanged the post twice in the third period and more in the game overall. They missed the net and went just wide on some fantastic looks.
Full credit to DeSmith for his saves, but the Blues simply have to convert some of those.
Pro: The second half push
It sucks to get blanked and the Blues rue some of their misses. However, while moral victories are pointless, we can't ignore the fact that if the Blues played 60 minutes like they did for 40 minutes, they'd win way more than they lost.
What we saw in the second and much of the third is what we need to see from this team way more often. I understand you can't do that night in and out without some hiccups, but the dead periods are way more frustrating when you see how this team can play when they dig their heels in.
The second two periods were much like the positives from the win in Vegas or the wins over Calgary. It showed the Blues can be as good, or better, than the top teams in this conference. They simply lack the consistency and the will to stay that way right now.
Con: Opening goal
I've reached a point where I hate mentioning anything about goaltending. All it does is fan the flames of discontent.
However, I try to be semi-impartial and call it as I see it. With that in mind, the first goal was not great by Binnington, nor anyone on the ice.
The deflection was a bit fortunate to split two Blues players perfectly, but there just didn't seem to be much reaction. It took two passes to go zone to zone and then a partial breakaway.
Watching the replay, I think Binnington played it as though it was going to be a hard cut towards the right (his left) post. Instead, Dadonov kept the puck a little more in the middle and just snuck it underneath. It didn't help that Binner went for the poke check either and when he missed, the paddle was of no consequence on the play.
Overview:
What this game highlighted was something that we've all known for a while, or at least most of us. Coaching was not the issue.
St. Louis is now on their third coach in two seasons, two of whom are probably in the discussion for the top five coaches in the league. Yet this team still has the same issues.
They talk the talk and can't walk the walk. They don't start games well with consistency and now, when things go bad, they often hang their heads for at least a period.
They're not capable of having a bad play or bad shift and nipping it in the bud. It almost always takes until the intermission for them to be able to fix anything.
Jim Montgomery is now finding out with regularity that this team has a lot of mental flaws. He's searching for answers.
In the postgame, he said they would try to change up the flow just to get anything a little different to start. That may include doing morning skates at the practice facility instead of Enterprise Center just to get guys out of their rhythm.
You can tell things aren't going well when a coach that has led teams to President's Trophies and deep playoff runs is grasping at straws. This team defies logic.
Unlike the old Dennis Green quote, this team is not who we thought they were. Somehow, they're both better and worse, which is maddening.