St. Louis Blues Pros/Cons 2024-25 Game 6

If you remove the first periods of their first six games of the season thus far, you'd have to be pretty impressed with the St. Louis Blues in 2024-25. However, their continued slow starts are a little worrying.

We knew that Carolina was going to take it to the Blues. That's their style.

They come in hard on the forecheck and when they have the puck, they swarm and barely let it out of their offensive zone. They did just that, but the Blues inability to get anything going the other way was concerning.

The Hurricanes wasted little time cashing in too. They scored the game's opening goal just 1:21 in.

The Blues were fortunate to get out of the period only trailing by a goal. They got outshot 19-4 and you wouldn't really classify much of those four shots as great scoring looks.

The intermission seemed to do the Blues good. They got their legs under them earlier and calmed down defensively.

Their tenacity paid off when Mathieu Joseph cashed in midway through the game. He charged into the high slot, picked up the loose puck off a blocked shot, spun and scored to make it 1-1.

Barely a minute later, the Blues went up by a goal. Zach Bolduc had a good block on a zone exit by Carolina and Jake Neighbours sniped one from the right wing for the 2-1 lead.

The Blues continued to miss the net a lot and their power play was ineffective, but they kept the pressure up.

Philip Broberg tucked a short pass to Dylan Holloway as they drove the net. Holloway's shot got tipped over the goalie and he managed to poke it in as it came down, which put the Blues up 3-1. They kept that going into the third period.

Things opened up awkwardly in the third period. Joel Hofer got tangled up and took a spill below the goal line and only a Colton Parayko block kept the puck out, but he shot it out of bounds, resulting in a penalty.

The Hurricanes scored on the ensuing power play. They worked the puck around quickly and a shot from the point beat Hofer over the glove since he was screened the whole way.

Hofer made a great glove save on a three-on-one after Parayko got beat on a pinch. However, moments later, the Blues turned it over just outside their blueline and the Hurricanes tied it on a slapshot through the five-hole to make it 3-3.

St. Louis kept their head in the game. Parayko made up for his mistake by connecting on a long stretch pass to the attacking blue line and then Kasperi Kapanen went backhand-forehand for a 4-3 lead with around 15 minutes left.

The Blues had to kill off a penalty with about nine minutes left. They managed to do it with relative ease this time.

It wasn't a terribly pretty end to the game. The Blues didn't have much offense and relied heavily on the defense, especially when Carolina pulled their goalie. St. Louis failed to score with the empty net, but held on for the 4-3 win.

Pro/Con: Sporadic offense

You don't look a gift horse in the mouth - nobody knows what that fully means, but it essentially means you don't diss good things. However, it still has to be noted that the Blues ups and downs were canyons apart in this game.

The first period was literally no offense. Four shots on goal and barely any zone time of note.

Even in the first half of the second period, it was a much improved offensive game, but the Blues couldn't get it on target. Their best looks either hit the post or missed the net entirely until they actually scored.

Then, they capitalized on everything. After having nothing to show with their first 10 shots, the Blues scored on three of their next four shots.

Pro: Oiler connection

Often, you don't want to put too much focus on players, especially new guys. It might not be sustainable and could just be that bump you get from being on a new team.

However, the impact that Broberg and Holloway have had, especially in this game, cannot be denied. Broberg now has at least a point in six-straight games, which ties him for the most in team history for a new player.

Holloway scored and just had the puck slip away on a breakaway. He could have easily had two goals and continues to play well no matter what line the Blues play him on.

Who can say if this is sustainable, but the Blues will definitely take it right now.

Con: Power play

When you win the game, clearly not scoring on the power play didn't cost you. Even so, it was not even a remotely positive factor on this contest.

The Blues went 0-4 with the man advantage. That happens at times, but they had one shot on goal - one shot.

In eight minutes of being five-on-four, the Blues only hit the target one time. That's just sad.

The power play didn't look dismal on their final opportunity. They had decent zone time and worked the puck around better, but still did not manage to hit the net.

That's not sustainable. You can't have long-term success if you're not even challenging defenses or goalies while they're shorthanded.

Overview

St. Louis is now 4-2 on the season, so you can't complain about their record. However, how they're getting it done is a little dangerous.

They're continually getting outplayed in the first periods of games to a point where it's almost laughable. For me, I'm not sure if any period has been quite as bad as that opening game, but things just aren't there for this team at opening puck drop.

The ability to battle back is fantastic. You want that mentality to think you're never out of it and the workmanlike attitude to stick with it. But you cannot bank on that all the time because sometimes the tank is going to be on empty.

The personnel is different due to some injuries, but the power play is still worrying. They look ok one game and just a disaster in the next.

The Blues are still relying on their goalies way too much. These guys are in too good condition to think they'll get worn down, but 30-40 shots against a night is putting pressure on your netminders.

Overall, outside of the first period, this was an entertaining game, but an odd game. The Blues had four shots in the first and third period and then managed to score four goals on six shots during the middle of the game.

Take the result, move on and be better. That's what we need from the Blues.