Just when it started looking like the Blues were ready to move on up to the big boys table, reality brings them crashing down to 11th in the Western Conference.
One month ago, they were tied for first with the Kings, with twenty points in twelve games and only one regulation defeat. Between the pipes, Jaroslav Halak held a pretty decent 8-1-1 record with a 1.42 GAA, .944 save percentage and three shutouts in just 10 appearances.
Although they were lacking in style points, they were scoring just enough to keep them on top and were consistent in play. So, how does a team that was seeded first in the league at one point end up scraping the bottom of the barrel in a matter of less than a month?
By Harrini Krishnan
In the past ten games, the Blues have let themselves slide into a 3-7-0 pitfall and their power play is pretty much digging their hole. Their power play is 13 for 98, which is a whopping 13.3 percent for the year.
“It’s a big part of our game and right now it’s not helping us, it’s hurting us,” said winger Alex Steen. “We need to assess it for sure.”
Last Wednesday night was the fifth consecutive game without a power play goal, making it 0 for 16 going back to Nov.20. They are ranked 26h out of the 30 NHL teams.
“To me, the best power plays in the league are pretty simple. You look at Detroit, San Jose, Washington, and they establish a point shot, they get traffic to the net and they pound home second chances,” forward David Backes explains, “Until we commit to that, we’re going to have streaks where our pretty plays work and a lot of streaks where they are not going to work.”
As if that weren’t enough, the injuries list just keeps growing with David Perron, Roman Polak, Barret Jackman, T. J. Oshie and Andy McDonald. Both Perron and McDonald were leading scorers when they were taken out of the game. Perron had been leading the Blues, early November, with 5 goals and McDonald was leading with 8 till last night. Especially after losing Oshie to a broken ankle for the last ten games, the Blues have gone 3-7-0.
To hold their place and keep the bench warm, the Blues have played ten subs: Nikita NIktin, Ian Cole, Chris Porter, T.J. Hensick, Tyson Strachan, Nathan Oystrick, Ryan Reaces, Nicholas Drazenovic, Dave Scatchard and Stefan Della-Rovere. Together, they have struggled to maintain a total pus/minus of minus 21, with zero goals, four assists and all of 4 points in the fifty-seven games between all of them. It’s like replacing slightly above average players with mediocrity. So where exactly did you expect the Blues to end up?
Well, the season’s not nearing any sort of end yet boys—let’s see if you can get it back up.