St. Louis Blues Pros/Cons 2024-25 Game 7

The St. Louis Blues were not a good team against the Central Division in 2023-24. While you could point to a multitude of things, that was a big reason they missed the playoffs.

The Blues already lost in convincing fashion against the Minnesota Wild, so they tried to get things going against the unbeaten Winnipeg Jets. Both teams came in with the same amount of points becaude the Jets had played two fewer games.

The game started evenly enough. It was sort of a ho-hum open to the game with both teams trading some shots, but no grade-A chances for either in the first half of the period.

Nevertheless, the Blues were doing some good things. They were putting pucks on net instead of overpassing and also getting bodies to the front.

That paid off when St. Louis got the first goal of the game just over halfway through. Robert Thomas peeled around the zone and let go a wrist shot from near the blue line. Connor Hellebuyck kicked the rebound to his right and Brandon Saad cashed in to make it 1-0.

St. Louis almost doubled the lead with 1:35 left in the first. Another rebound off a shot from the left came right to Dylan Holloway, but he shot it right into the logo of the goalie.

Special teams became the story of the second period. The Blues failed to score on around 90 seconds of power play time to open the period.

Then the Jets tied the game about nine minutes in. The Blues put the league's best power play on the ice and though St. Louis did a good job of killing off the first part, Winnipeg deflected a point shot to make it 1-1.

Minutes later, Jordan Binnington bailed out the team. The Jets set up a perfect back-door one timer, but Binner flashed the glove and kept it tied.

Unfortunately, though the Blues were playing reasonably well, they would cough up the lead. The Jets continued to drop passes to the blue line and bomb away and that led to the goal. Zach Bolduc screened Binnington just enough so that the puck whizzed by his shoulder and it was 2-1.

In the final three minutes, Kyle Connor continued to be a Blues assassin. From the left wing, he roofed a shot over the blocker shoulder and it was 3-1 heading into the intermission.

Although the third period didn't start great, the Blues did get the next goal. Ryan Suter dumped the puck in and then won it back on his own forecheck. The top line cycled the puck quickly and Saad knocked in the rebound after a Jordan Kyrou shot to make it 3-2.

St. Louis got an important power play with around 8:36 left in the third, but they could barely trouble the goalie. They did force a decent blocker save early, but their best look was a Bolduc one-timer that missed the net.

St. Louis made a valiant effort of it, but just couldn't generate enough chances to be dangerous. They were inches from tying the game in the final minute, but the puck wouldn't settle enough for Brayden Schenn to knock in on the near side, so it ended 3-2.

Con: Offense?

On the one hand, I have to give the Blues credit. I've been complaining about their quality over quantity mentality for shots and they finally outshot their opponent.

The problem, within the context of this game alone, is what did those shots accomplish? The Blues had 28 shots compared to 24 for Winnipeg, but it felt like Binnington had to make far more quality saves to even give the Blues a chance.

Additionally, though there were more shots, the Blues continue to miss or pass when the moments are crucial. I already talked about Bolduc's miss, but the Blues overpassed late in the game, costing them a rush chance and failed to generate much of anything on their power plays.

Pro: Brandon Saad

I will still argue that Saad should not be on the top line. I understand why he's there since he provides a more defensively responsible element compared to Thomas and Kyrou, but he just doesn't fit the top line at this point in his career.

However, in this game he delivered. Both Saad's goals came from examples the rest of the team needs to follow.

He got to the front of the net, made himself a nuisance and was in position for rebounds. Some guys won't do that because they think Hellebuyck will swallow those shots up, but every goalie has nights where the puck bounces off and you need to be ready for that.

Saad was ready. He's more than capable of unleashing hard wristers from the wings, but you still need guys to get to the net and Saad did that in this game. The rest of the team needs to follow suit and they've been much better this season.

Con: Power play

A coach can only make so much difference if the players can't figure it out. The trouble is that we're all still guessing if the issue is the players or the scheme.

The worrying thing, even though the power play occasionally looks better, is how dismissive it is to opponents. Winnipeg is quality on both sides of special teams, but the Blues couldn't even hold the zone.

They'd get it in, maybe generate a shot that missed or got blocked and the Jets would quickly get it out. There was no cycle, no tiring out the defense or even coming close to a backdoor play.

It was just far too easy for the Jets. You can't be one and done and either miss, get it blocked or barely trouble the goalie. The Blues tenacity to regain the puck on the dump ins is good, but you have to have zone time eventually.

Overview

This game was disappointing, but not unexpected. The Jets are off to a good start and have some talent to make noise.

The part we all wanted happened with the Blues scoring first. They've barely had a lead at all this year, even though they have four wins. Finally, they score first and hold it into the intermission.

The second period, which has been pretty good to the Blues this season, was just really bad on this night. It wasn't as though the team played poorly, but the Jets made them pay for every little mistake.

Binnington really had no shot on any of the three goals, though you might still like him to save that second one even if Bolduc did take away his vision for a brief moment. St. Louis had some zone time and got some shots, but they weren't getting close to the rebounds or missed the net. It wasn't for lack of effort, but there wasn't a pushback.

The end result reminded me of the Vegas game. You like the ability to get back into the game late, but it's just too much to ask against really good teams. Some nights you just won't get enough opportunities and the Blues just didn't generate enough over the course of 60 minutes to deserve the win.

They're not leaps and bounds behind the Jets, but they're not at their level at the moment. The work ethic is finally back, but we're not seeing enough of the talent coming through. Pavel Buchnevich is often a ghost, Schenn works his butt off but isn't really a threat to score often and there isn't anyone on this team that you believe will score every time down like you worry about with some of the scorers the Blues play against.

Overall, it's not that bad a loss. However, the Blues are 0-2 against division opponents and that was a big reason they missed the playoffs last year. You need points against the teams you're directly competing with for playoff spots.