ST. LOUIS – There was a buzz in the building for the St. Louis Blues, with Hall of Famers including Curtis Joseph, Wayne Babych and the family of former assistant coach Jimmy Roberts.
Joseph, who manned the net with the Blues from 1989 to 1955, and Babych, a forward who was the first 50-goal scorer in Blues history playing in St. Louis from 1978 to 1984, came into the locker room and read the start of the lineup’s pregame start, it should have been amplified by an energy against a tired Dallas stars, who played the night before.
But once again, another slow start against another perennial Western Conference power put the Blues behind all eight balls and Dallas locked in a 2-0 victory against the Blues on Saturday at Enterprise Center.
The Blues (23-23-4) got off to an even slower start Thursday in a 4-2 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights, whom the Stars (31-17-1) beat 4-3 Friday in a highly emotional game . But the Blues have yet to learn their lesson against a team that if you give them an inch, they’ll squeeze the life out of you. And despite a 33-19 advantage in shots on goal, with several missed backdoor taps, posts and empty cages that the Blues couldn’t find, they never solved star backup Casey Desmith and were shut out for the first time since March 30, 2024, 4-0 against the San Jose Sharks.
But the Blues were down 2-0 midway through the first half before trying to make desperate surges in the final 40 minutes.
“We’re going to start doing things differently,” Blues coach Jim Montgomery said. “We have to do it because we had a big crowd tonight. Our fans were ready to rock. We were honoring Bruce Affleck, Jimmy Roberts, Wayne Babych and “Cujo.” They both came in and made the starting lineup. I thought we were going to have a great start and we didn’t materialize.
“Maybe we do morning skates in Centene. We need to disrupt the rhythm somehow so that we have a little more urgency.
“They did a really good job of locking it down. Their habits and details defensively. Offensively obviously. They are a good hockey team. “
Let’s look at the three takeaways from Saturday:
* Another slow start – The Blues managed a goal just 19 seconds into Thursday’s game. Okay, these things happen. But it’s happened several times with this particular group, and it happened again on Saturday.
Montgomery called a timeout after Evgenii Dadonov made it 1-0 7:07 into the game, and it’s confusing how that puck got past and through Brayden Schenn and Colton Parayko into Dadonov’s path, and the Stars got was able to slide the puck past Jordan Binnington for a 1-0 Dallas lead:
Montgomery called a timeout and lit up his side with a reset.
“That’s exactly what it was,” Montgomery said. “I didn’t think we were playing with the required amount of desire and passion that we should be showing at this time of year in particular.”
The question is: how can this be possible for a team that believes this can make the playoffs?
And then Captain Brayden Schenn offers this:
“I think it’s just becoming individually ready to play, especially this time of year,” Schenn said. “Points are crucial, playing at home.
“At the end of the day, there’s no excuse not to be willing to play, especially against good hockey teams. This is the lesson we must learn. You have to be ready to play and when that happens, the team leaves. »
* Failing to face quality scoring chances – The list is long.
Mathieu Joseph Two Two Backdoor Plays, one in the third period looked like an easy Robert Thomas tap-in off the post; Thomas has a carom in the crease that was there until it was cleared; Brandon Saad in Alone Couldn’t Find the Mark; Jordan Kyrou stopped at point range; Philip Broberg slamming the post during the third period going down the slot; Schenn wiffing on a Grade A chance above the hash marks in the high slot. All the opportunities against Desmith that went unconverted.
“We really didn’t show good finishing,” Montgomery said. “I think we needed on maybe five shots tonight, but execution-wise, we didn’t project the goalie well enough. We were on the side. We weren’t fighting by checks because we had a lot of point schemes, especially in the second where you’d like to take his eyes off him to create goals, tips or rebound goals. “
Desmith even admitted he was lucky.
“I had some lucky bounces, some messages,” Desmith said of his second shutout of the season, 12th of his NHL career. “They missed some big chances when the net was pretty empty.”
* Penalty can’t do work – Esa Lindell – Yes! ESA LINDELL – The guy who doesn’t play Power Play for the Stars, scored a man advantage goal that made it 2-0 at 9:36 in the same fashion that has tormented the Blues several times this season , including on Thursday when Pavel Dorofeyev scored in the same way.
The stars go high to low, where Roope Hintz was on the goal line, converts into a cross to Lindell in the right circle for Binnington’s timer:
When Dorofeyev scored on just one shooter Monday, but this time it was a 6-on-5 situation, it marked the third game in a row where the Blues left a shooter wide open in the circle, moving to one side of the ice.
“If we play our system, this play isn’t there,” defenseman Ryan Suter said. “I think it’s the four guys when you kill, I have to be on the same page. I thought we had some good meetings and after that goal I thought we were (going) and killing it like we were doing it. »
He scored the fourth consecutive game The Blues Penalty, which was 2 for 3, Kill however allowed a goal.
“It’s just unfortunate for sure that we gave up so many PK goals against,” Suter said of the 73% PK. “We have to be better, all of us. We will be better.
