The St. Louis Blues played the Dallas Stars just four days prior to this late-January matchup in St. Louis. The Blues were the better team for stretches, but let the points slip away with 60 seconds left.
They were hoping for a better fate at home and started reasonably well. They outshot the Stars 3-1 in the early going, but their power play looked horrendous and got zero shots on their first try.
St. Louis had a pretty good first period, but it was a lot of the same. Even though the shot totals were alright, there weren't a lot of second-chance opportunities.
Things didn't go nearly as well in the second period. The Blues were down 2-0 in the blink of an eye.
St. Louis gave Dallas their second power play of the game, and the league's second-best unit finished. The Stars thread the needle through the defender and hit Matt Duchene on the back door for an easy tap-in at 3:20.
Duchene had a second goal 40 seconds later. This time, Duchene was trying to find a man back door, but it deflected off Logan Mailloux's skate, giving Jordan Binnington no chance.
The Blues were gifted a chance to get back in it midway through the period with a too-many-men penalty on the Stars. Again, the power play could not generate a truly quality scoring opportunity.
The Blues' best chance in the second period was a very nice tic-tac-toe passing play that led to a one-timer for Jimmy Snuggerud. Unfortunately, his shot hit the post.
Stuff really hit the fan when the ref called a soft slashing call on Dalibor Dvorsky with 2:02 left in the second. The Stars almost immediately scored on a one-time shot of their own, which came from the right of the slot and went across the grain to the far post. It was 3-0 going into the break.
Then, St. Louis got some rare fortune. Robby Fabbri scored on a wrister at 3:15, but it was challenged for offside. Although those challenges almost always work, they didn't in this case, and the goal stood.
That gave some life to the team and the crowd and the Blues got another about three minutes later. Brayden Schenn sniped one over the shoulder to give him 11 on the year and the team their second. That goal was a nice turnaround after another failed power play, after the delay of game call for the failed challenge.
St. Louis was outshooting the Stars 6-1 about 11 minutes in. The worry was it always feels like one more shot by the opponent will bury the momentum.
It got late, but the Blues kept chipping away and eventually got rewarded for it. Schenn snapped another wrister to tie it with 4:10 left.
For the second game in a row against Dallas, the Blues felt like the better team, and yet they got nothing. The Stars won an offensive-zone faceoff and then Thomas Harley wristed one through two Blues players who were screening Binnington, and Dallas scored with 1:07 left.
The Blues got a couple cracks at the goal late, but they lost it late again.
Con: Special teams
Yet AGAIN...how many games in just the past week or two has this been an issue? You can blame whatever individual you want. I don't care.
The reason the Blues can't win these games is that their special teams are just awful. Get rid of Steve Ott - it hasn't helped. Tell the penalty kill to be more aggressive - they don't, or their aggression is misplaced.
I'm usually the type of fan who says stats can't tell you the entire story. It certainly can in this instance.
You let the Dallas Stars go 2-3 on their power play, and one of the goals came eight seconds into the man advantage. Meanwhile, you get three power plays as well and barely even get a shot.
The Blues went shotless on the first power play and barely did anything on the delay of game power play they received when Dallas lost their challenge. Even mediocre teams manage to take advantage of those kinds of breaks, but the Blues just let them slide by because nobody even respects their power play. I guarantee the worst PK in the league would be up in all the Blues players' grills because they know this team freaks out under any pressure.
Pro: Bounce back
To the credit of the Blues, they fought their way back. Even the announcers said it felt like the Blues had completely lost their spirit after the second and third goals.
We've seen that in the past, and it gets to 4-0 and 5-0 before St. Louis gets a token goal. That didn't happen here.
They came out hard in the third period and took it to the Stars. As mentioned, they barely let the Stars even have any chances until the game was well in doubt.
Not only did you tie the game, but you also tied it in one period. There aren't many games the Blues have had three goals overall, much less three goals in one period.
Con: Another heart breaker
This team simply cannot create any luck for themselves. We always say they're not getting any breaks or any luck, but the Blues aren't making any luck for themselves.
You get a power play after a rare missed offside challenge and do nothing with it. You tie the game up with hard work and good decisions, and then another bad play costs you everything.
Tyler Tucker ices the puck in the late stages of the game because the Blues simply can't not ice it. Colton Parayko is the only player on this team even remotely capable of lofting the puck high enough to not get an icing, and even he messes it up sometimes.
St. Louis wasn't horrible on faceoffs as they won slightly more than 48% of them, but time after time, they failed to win the key ones. Then, you screen your own goalie for another loss in the final minute (I'm aware it was 67 seconds left, but it's the overall point).
St. Louis just finds ways to lose.
Overview:
Continuing the idea of luck, while the team doesn't make their own luck, they also don't have any when it comes to injuries. The Blues lost Jordan Kyrou and Jake Neighbours for long periods of this contest.
Kyrou has played a much better overall game lately, and his offensive ability would have been valuable. If nothing else, he draws defenders to him and could have been a decoy.
Neighbours' offense has dried up lately, but he's one of the few guys who regularly creates traffic in front. It's hard to get net-front presence when your best net-front guy isn't there.
That said, it's the same continued mistakes. Icings and lost faceoffs lead to goals. The penalty kill can't seem to come up with a blocked pass to save their life, which leads to easy backdoor tap-ins.
Yes, some of the penalty calls were soft, and opponents know to just drop their stick now. You have to find ways to kill that off and overcome. This team hasn't overcome much in a long time.
I thought they had found a way to overcome it all when they tied it up. It felt like at least an overtime game, and then roll the dice.
They can't even get that. You outplay Dallas for two of the three periods, but it doesn't even matter.
St. Louis was the better team overall against Dallas twice and the LA Kings once, and you get one point out of a possible six from those games.
At this point, there's just nothing to do but ride it out. Jim Montgomery can't make any more changes, either due to injury issues or the lack of application of his coaching by the players. He can't make major changes to the power play because there's not enough practice time in the middle of a season.
Fans can demand all the trades they want. Ok, trade Jordan Binnington and then what? Hofer has played well, but not well enough, as he's lost some of these close games, too, and you don't have anyone even close to NHL-ready in the minors right now.
Trade Justin Faulk? He's only been the team's most consistent defender and was tied for the team lead in goals not long ago. Even if you're starting to look toward the future, I don't think any of the defensive prospects are going to be ready next season - at least not any more ready than Mailloux was.
The Olympic break is coming too late this season to make a difference. Even with a breather, there just isn't going to be time for this team to really get their ship righted.