When Jake Neighbours scored his second goal of the game on Saturday evening in Florida, he became the first on the Blues to hit a significant offensive milestone - 10 goals so far this season. While scoring is always something to be celebrated among fans, the fact that this happened in the 37th game of the season does point to some troubling inadequacies from the offense as a whole.
One player with 10 goals in late December
Coming into the year, most fans and analysts thought the Blues would take a step forward from their previous season. Much of this confidence in St. Louis came from the star power they have on their roster in the form of players like Robert Thomas, Jordan Kyrou, Dylan Holloway, and Pavel Buchnevich. Unfortunately, none of these players have even come close to their potential so far this season. Because of that, along with injuries that have plagued the team up and down their forward lines, the Blues had to get their scoring from a wider range of players that typically aren't viewed as potent offensive threats.
The Blues have 10 players with at least 5 goals thus far this season, which is definitely a positive - having players able to net goals on all four lines is a huge asset that every team strives for. However, before Neighbours hit the mark on Saturday, no Blues had reached double digits. When you combine these offensive woes with the poor goaltending the Blues had for a large portion of the season thus far, it's surprising how close to a playoff spot the Blues find themselves right now.
What needs to happen?
The answers to this question are simple and no secret - the stars need to play like stars, and the entire team needs to stay healthy. The health issues are inevitable, so all we can do is hope that the players who are out recover quickly. As for the stars playing better, we have seen some improvement in the play and production of Thomas and Buchnevich in recent weeks. This will need to continue, particularly from Robert Thomas, because he has been the primary offensive driver on the team for years, and without him playing at an All-Star level, this team will never reach its potential.
As the calendar year comes to a close, Blues fans do have reasons to be optimistic - the offensive resurgence of Faulk and Neighbours has kept the team above water while the more skilled goal scorers are injured. If they can continue to play at this level of intensity once those missing pieces return, there's no reason this Blues team can't go on a run and put themselves solidly in the playoff race.