The St. Louis Blues have been a tale of two teams this season. They have a below-average record of 7-9-1 at home, compared to their solid road record of 11-8-3. Could it be one of those weird coincidences that happens in hockey, or is there something deeper to this?
The Blues have formed a bad habit over the last two seasons
The Blues bad habit they've developed is playing down to teams worse than them. This trend seems to have happened more at home than on the road, but it's been prevalent both at home and on the road. Sometimes, the Blues show up on nights they want to and don't show up when they don't want to.
A good example of this is when the Blues dropped all three of their games to the San Jose Sharks last year. Last year, the Sharks were a bad team, to say the least. They earned the number one pick for a reason; they had a ten-game losing streak at one point, and they gave up ten goals two different times.
There is no reason that should've happened. The Blues finished four points out of a playoff spot last season, so winning two out of the three games against the Sharks would've got them there.
Drew Bannister should take some blame for this
It's a cop-out to blame the coach that got fired midseason, and I understand why people would think that. But if you've watched this team, it's evident that the players have more passion out on the ice for Jim Montgomery than they ever did under Drew Bannister.
It's unfair to Bannister, especially since it was his first taste of coaching in the NHL, but it didn't seem like the players wanted to win the game for him every night. Perhaps if Jim Montgomery was with the Blues the entire season, that home and away record would look a little more balanced.