ST. LOUIS – For 40 minutes, the Blues looked poised to respond appropriately to an embarrassing result at home Saturday night.
Getting rid of the stench of an 8-1 loss – particularly in the third period – to the Washington Capitals was going to take some work, but a power play that had been dormant, especially at home, came back to life. The Blues just needed some execution at 5-on-5 to finish a five-game homestand on a winning note.
But that didn’t happen. In fact, it was another collapse in the third period. It wasn’t based on effort, but rather execution, and a two-goal lead turned into a crushing 3-2 loss to the Boston Bruins on Tuesday, sending the Blues (7- 9-0) in their third match. direct loss.
Ouch.
This one probably hurts more than Saturday’s defeat, because the Blues knew there would be no turning back from this lack of effort. This one showed more of what the group as a whole is lacking: confidence. Right now, none of that exists, and the way this one ended, with David Pastrnak completing the comeback with a one-timer from the top of the left circle through Jordan Binnington, who deserved a better fate, was a bitter pill. swallow.
Here are seven takeaways from the game:
* Play it safe — Instead of winning the game, the Blues played not to lose, or as Brayden Schenn put it, who got rid of the scoring monkey with a power play goal, his first goal in 14 games, the Blues tried to play on.
“We just played poorly in the third,” Schenn said. “We played a little safe and you can’t play safe in this league. There are too many good players who feel that, who feel that can make plays. Guys are able to put the puck in the net and that’s what happened tonight.
“We knew we had a job to do. I don’t know about messaging or anything, but we just went out and played too safe.”
Playing safe and playing smart are two different things.
“I think we played way too safe instead of attacking them,” said Blues forward Oskar Sundqvist, who also scored a power-play goal. “I kind of thought we went back too far. When you play in this league, there’s a lot of good teams. If you play safe, they’re going to stick it to you.”
The numbers support the Blues. Boston (8-7-2) was 0-7-0 when trailing after two; the Blues were 5-0-0 while leading after two. The Bruins have been outscored 16-5 in the third period this season.
But Boston came out and collected 60 percent of its season total before Tuesday in 20 minutes against the Blues.
“I thought we fell back a little bit,” Blues coach Drew Bannister said. “We talked about it before the third period, they were down to five Ds and we wanted to get our forecheck going and put a lot of pressure on their D and play more on our toes. There were times where we put the puck in depth and I thought Sometimes we were trying to make plays The plays might have been there, but I think the best play was just putting him on the goal line, making his D turn, going back and. to recover the pucks and allow us to return to the forecheck.
“Anytime you play safe, safety is dead. You still have to be able to play aggressively and you’ll have to trust that when guys are aggressive, they’ll always be on top and allow your D to get But When you play safe, you stay back and allow a team to gain speed. When you are aggressive, you kind of push them back and you can slow them down that way.
* The Blues continue to suffer at 5 against 5 — Being dominated 3-0 at 5v5, the Blues are now minus-13 in 5v5 situations.
They only generated 16 full-force shots for the game and, aside from a few good looks, were always really threatened in that department.
“At five-on-five, we generally don’t generate enough to tip the ice,” Schenn said. “I’m not saying score goals, just to put them on their heels a little. You have to find a way. The special was good tonight, they gave us a chance to win the hockey game. Our goalie was Well, we just rested in the third and stopped making a few plays, just passes on the tape. They came at us, and we’re on our heels the whole third.
Sundqvist said: “I think we need to try to get more pucks to the net, maybe a little better on lies. It starts with me too. I had a bad turnover in the third. I think “We played pretty well the first two periods. We kind of stopped playing in the third, I don’t know why, but that’s hockey sometimes.”
* Third periods are awkward — To end this home match, the Blues were dominated 10-1… at home… in the third period. A time when they should be drawing energy from their crowd, but they come away with little or nothing.
“We just stopped making plays, stopped recording pucks and let them come to us, and we played in our zone the whole period,” Schenn said.
*Missing second, third battles — Something that was happening throughout the game, even when the Blues were winning, was the Bruins losing loose pucks and receiving more recoveries. This was evident on the tying goal and the winning goal.
On Charlie McAvoy’s tying goal at 9:15, there was a loose puck in front of three Blues’ skates, and none of them could recover it. The Bruins put in extra effort to execute and win for the immediate shot to make the score 2-2.
And on Pastrnak’s winning goal at 18:13, the puck is again in the Blues zone. It’s loose after Pastrnak’s fans on his initial shot. The five Blues on the ice have a chance to win, to win, and to get out of harm’s way, even after it gets dangerous around the net.
But the Bruins once again won on second and third efforts, which Bruins coach Jim Montgomery noted after the game, and a scorer had a second chance and wasted it by Binnington:
* Puck management is an issue — We fixed Jordan Kyrou’s late game gaffes that cost the Blues at least two points, up to possibly four, in two separate games. And that’s the result of playing hero hockey instead of smart hockey, putting pucks deep in the zone and getting to work.
It wasn’t Kyrou this time, but Colton Parayko.
That fueled the Bruins’ comeback when the defenseman, instead of placing a puck deep near the blue line, attempted to pass it past Pastrnak, who initiated the 2-on-1 that led to Morgan Geekie’s goal at 4 :53 to bring Boston to life.
Parayko had not one, but two opportunities to put the puck deep.
*The power play breathes some life — On a positive note, the Blues entered the game 0-for-20 at home with the man advantage. The score improved to 0 of 21 before Schenn and Sundqvist each scored the bold goals at or near the net, giving them a 2-0 lead in the second half.
“We were attacking more and talking more about shooting the puck,” Sundqvist said. “I think we gave up too many chances. I think we’re trying to shoot more pucks and be good at getting them back.”
* Good rebound for Binnington — After being in goal during Saturday’s massacre, allowing eight goals on 27 shots, Binnington bounced back with a strong, solid effort. He looked confident, made all the necessary saves to give his team a chance until it didn’t.
“We played hard, played for each other, fought hard, competed hard and then we just kind of… special teams were good and our goalie gave us a chance (especially ) early in the second period when they came at us hard there, especially on some power plays and things like that,” Schenn said. “‘Binner’ was great. It’s really frustrating to lose a hockey game tonight.”
