The St. Louis Blues have been on a bit of a scoring drought over the last two games. Not for lack of trying, but an inability to finish on premier, grade-A chances. Following the game against the Carolina Hurricanes, where they were simply outplayed for a majority of the game, they rebounded with a better performance against the Montreal Canadiens despite a 2-0 loss. But, now they’ve gone two games without a goal which raises some concern regarding the Blues’ ability to finish at the net and execute from scoring areas.
At the beginning of the season, the Blues' offense was off-kilter, similarly to where they are at now. However, what the Blues had to start the season was a surge from their second line with Mason McTavish, Connor McMichael, and Jonatan Berggren. Following their offensive performances, they’ve now come back to reality. In particular, McMichael and Berggren, with McTavish still showing flashes of offense on the power play and in 5v5 situations, with his willingness to shoot the puck. But following their regression, where do the Blues proceed from here?
The McDouble line
At the beginning of the season, McMichael and McTavish were looking like steals. And in some ways, the case can still be made that the Blues have won that trade by leaps and bounds, but it is in question. Particularly when considering where McMichael’s game has fallen.
Splitting his game logs in half and analyzing his first six games of this year, he had two goals and four assists for a total of six points as well as an even plus/minus rating. Since then, he has played in five games and has only recorded one assist and has a -6 rating. Significantly different in terms of play quality. Furthermore, the direct style of play that he was able to maintain has begun falling away in an attempt to get something going.
As for Berggren, he was in a tricky situation to start the season, many people, including myself, not really seeing a spot for him on this team as he is taking a roster spot away from players like Aleksanteri Kaskimaki, Justin Carbonneau, Otto Stenberg, and Dylan Peterson. But, he was able to make the most of his opportunities and displayed a high level of play that got him promoted onto the second line, really driving offensive play and improving his defensive game to the point of even earning time on the penalty kill.
However, similarly to McMichael, the production hasn’t really been there for him the last couple of games. With both players struggling to generate the offense they showed earlier in the season, the question becomes how the Blues can get back on track. While the talent is there, the results haven’t followed recently, and finding a way to get both players going again could be a key factor in helping the Blues regain some offensive consistency.
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