Close Menu
    Trending
    Hockey

    Observations From Blues’ Embarrassing 8-3 Loss Vs. Blackhawks, Falling To 0-2 At Home

    Lajina HossainBy No Comments11 Mins Read

    ST.
    LOUIS – The
    St. Louis Blues thought they had their game trending in the right
    direction following a two-game Western Canada sweep.

    Wins
    over the Calgary Flames (4-2) and Vancouver Canucks (5-2) were
    supposed to get the Blues continuing in their march and trending in
    the right direction.

    Well
    …

    They
    hit the home ice for the second time in as many games this season,
    this time against their Central Division rival Chicago Blackhawks,
    who they had beaten five games in a row and outscored 28-15, but the
    Blackhawks took advantage of a rare night of shoddy goaltending and
    poor team habits and play, blitzing the Blues 8-3 at Enterprise
    Center on Wednesday.

    Jake
    Neighbours had a goal and an assist, Dylan Holloway and Tyler Tucker
    scored for the Blues (2-2-0), but Joel Hofer, who was terrific last
    Saturday in Calgary, was pulled in the second period before
    re-entering the game in the third.

    “I
    thought that our game was building the right way in Vancouver, but
    our execution today did not match the Hawks’ execution,” Blues
    coach Jim Montgomery said.
    “We’re playing the hawks, division rival, our biggest rival. I
    don’t think that was the case. We didn’t execute well. That’s
    just our mental sharpness was not great.”

    Let’s
    look at Wednesday’s observations:

    *
    Hofer had a rare bad night – In his young career, Hofer has had off
    nights, but nothing like this.

    He
    allowed four goals on 14 shots, and the first two that went inset the
    tempo for what would be a horrendous night. He departed the game at
    7:09 of the second period, then Jordan Binnington finished the rest
    of the period before returning for the third. In the end, it was
    seven goals allowed on 22 shots. His numbers after one game (2.00
    goals-against average, .931 save percentage) ballooned to 5.01 GAA
    and .824 save percentage at the end of the night.

    “Our
    tandem
    is excellent,” Montgomery
    said.
    “Some nights, you’re going to win games 2-1. We won in Calgary,
    we won in Vancouver because our goaltenders were excellent. Sometimes
    we need to win 5-4.”

    Hofer
    is normally so good as a puck handler, and he was already on display
    killing Chicago’s rims around the net, but when he went behind the
    net, got a puck, looked up the middle of the ice and tried to play it
    to Pavel Buchnevich, it was so off the mark and right onto the tape
    of Ilya Mikheyev, who couldn’t believe his fortune and deposited
    the biscuit into the net at 3:09 for a 1-0 Hawks lead:

    The
    Blues fought back with Neighbours, who has four goals in four games,
    finding the back of the net for the fourth time in three games when
    he collected a loose puck in front of Colton Parayko’s jab at the
    puck to tie it 1-1 at 4:29:

    But
    Hofer allowed another bad goal, this time to Lukas Reichel from a bad
    angle at the bottom of the left circle on the short side at 5:23 to
    make it 2-1 Chicago:

    They
    fought back again when Holloway started a play and finished it,
    getting his first of the season at 14:54 to tie the game 2-2,
    creating a turnover in the neutral zone, then finishing from the left
    circle Jordan Kyrou’s pass:

    “In
    the first period, we showed good resolve, came back twice and then
    just our habits just weren’t consistent enough to play winning
    hockey,” Montgomery
    said.
    ‘Can’t give up that many odd-man rushes, we can’t give up that
    many Grade A looks off the rush.”

    The
    Blues are so used to their goalie tandem either keeping them in a
    game or even stealing them games. They’re not nearly used to having
    to bail them out, perhaps a reason why they played so poorly after
    the first period.

    “I
    don’t think we’re worried about our goaltenders at all,” Blues
    captain Brayden Schenn said. “We have two of the best goalies in
    the league and a great tandem. If you want to talk about the goals,
    let’s maybe talk about the team and how we’re giving up odd-man
    rushes and point-blank chances. You can talk about the goals all you
    want, but if we’re not doing a good enough job in front of them, it’s
    just that simple.

    “People
    are going to look at our goaltenders, (but) I think we’re looking at
    ourselves individually and as a team playing in front of them. We
    just haven’t done enough of a good job defensively, especially at
    home, in front of them. Obviously the goalies would say different,
    but as a players we feel that we have to do a way better job.”

    Chicago’s
    expected goals in the game were at 3.09, according to
    naturalstattrick.com, which tells you that there were too many pucks
    on this night going in that shouldn’t have, including the one
    Binnington allowed to Jason Dickinson at 8:52 of the second that made
    it 5-2:

    *
    Two bad results at home – Including the playoffs, the Blues won
    their last 15 games on home ice and on most of those occasions, done
    so in convincing fashion.

    It’s
    only two games, yes, and I agree, the result in the opener (a 5-0
    loss to the Minnesota Wild) wasn’t as bad as the score indicated,
    but this marks two games now in which the Blues have not even been
    competitive in, in front of their home fans, being outscored 13-3.

    “That’s
    a fair question. It’s been only two games … I think through two
    road games, even six periods on the road, we’ve played four good
    periods,” Schenn said. ‘We need to clean up a lot of things with
    our habits and details and tracking and puck play and willingness to
    compete for one another. I think it starts with that.”

    Why
    has it happened so often here, though?

    “The
    details are obviously not sharp,” Blues
    defenseman Colton Parayko said. “It’s
    not our group and not where we want to be. We’re going to rebound
    as a group, we’re going to come ready to work. We have a great
    group in this locker room. We all believe in each other. We’re
    going to rebound, just come prepared to come work for each other in
    practice Friday and obviously Saturday at the game.”

    Former Blue Scottie Upshall said it best in a tweet and I agree with the soft hockey, and that’s inexcusable for a team that was a playoff team a year ago and looking to maintain its stature:

    *
    Habits weren’t sufficient enough, play looked very soft – The
    Blues had their fair share of attacks at the Hawks, and had a goalie
    (Arvid Soderblom) they’d been able to beat up quite a bit (5-0-0),
    but the times they either didn’t funnel pucks to the goal or were
    not connecting in the O-zone, they were getting counter-attacked
    often and giving up prime scoring chances.

    It
    occurred often in the second period when Chicago outscored the Blues
    3-0 and at one point held an 8-1 edge in shots on goal.

    “Habits
    and details aren’t there, especially at home,” Schenn
    said.
    “We have to take pride in playing for one another, especially at
    home, make it a hard place to play. I take full responsibility for
    that. Obviously I can help with that and lead the charge. I think one
    of the things you can control is your compete level and your habits.
    We, and I, have to be better at that.”

    Montgomery
    mentioned reloads of the puck, and it was not near good enough, which
    in turn allowed Chicago to play the way the Blues were playing in the
    two games they won: on their toes, their front feet and transitioning
    in five-man units.

    “We’ll
    watch the tape, we’ll look back at it,” Montgomery
    said.
    “This game got away from us because of our own habits and actions.

    “Reloads
    and gaps are a big part of how we want to play. The reloads were not
    consistent and that makes it hard on the defensemen.”

    * Mailloux’s struggles continue – It’s tough to pick on one
    particular player when so many did not meet expectations,
    particularly that top line of Neighbours, Robert Thomas and Pavel
    Buchnevich, which was a combined minus-6 with three shots on goal and
    on the ice for four goals against.

    But
    for Mailloux, who was a team-worst minus-4 Wednesday and now is a
    minus-7 for the season in just four games, he’s been on the ice for
    exactly zero goals-for at 5-on-5 and seven against.

    He
    coughed up the puck trying to rim it around the net early in the
    second period that was picked off by Connor Bedard that led to
    Reichel’s go-ahead goal that made it 3-2 at 2:49 that started a
    snowball affect for the game:

    I’ll
    say it over and over that comparing Mailloux to Zack Bolduc is like
    comparing apples to oranges. One is a defenseman that has barely
    scratched the surface, one is a forward who has more experience and
    who was ahead of the curve as far as teaching last season that was
    coming on.

    The
    Blues believe in the 22-year-old and understand this is going to take
    time.

    “He’s
    going to be a great player,” Parayko
    said.
    ‘You watch him skate, you watch him shoot, he’s steady, he’s
    strong back there. There’s no doubt about that. I’m looking
    forward to watching that guy grow and become a dominant force back
    there. I have full faith in him. He’s a great player. We’re just
    all looking forward to watching him grow, but at the end of the day,
    it’s a group effort no matter what. That’s the bottom line. We’re
    all wearing the Bluenote together.

    “It’s
    got to be difficult obviously going to a new team and you want to
    play well and things like that. He’s a great player. I have full
    confidence in him. I’m just looking forward to watching him
    continue to grow and just keep building.”

    We
    know the offensive capabilities Mailloux has, but here’s an example
    of a pinch that went awry when he pinched along the right boards, the
    puck was tipped out and Mailloux is caught out of the play and Frank
    Nazar turns it onto a goal with Neighbours trying to chase him down
    when Philip Broberg probably should have:

    They’re
    details that – again – with time will be worked out. By the way,
    Mailloux did get physical on the play when Neighbours was tackled after the goal when he was trying to defend Hofer after Nazar ran into him in the net.

    There are options the Blues will have to look at here.

    Do they sit Mailloux in favor of Matthew Kessel? Do they go with seven defensemen inserting Kessel into the lineup to watch some of Mailloux’s minutes? Or … do they send him down to Springfield since he is waiver’s exempt? Remember, GM Doug Armstrong said it’s Mailloux’s job to lose.

    “He’s
    played 11 games or 12 games,” Schenn said. “There’s a lot of
    pressure on him coming from outside. I believe in Logan Mailloux, we
    believe in Logan Mailloux, and the organization does. I think people
    are always going to look at this one-for-one. It’s not a one-for-one.
    It’s a long-term plan, and he’s a great player.

    “Like
    I said, he’s played four games for us and it’s a new organization …
    new coaching, new system, there’s a lot of stuff that goes into it.
    Honestly, I think he’s getting … there’s no reason to put pressure
    on the kid. He’s young, and he’s getting his feet wet, and he’s going
    to be a good player for a long time, and I firmly believe that.”

    Source link

    Discover more from 6up.net

    Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

    Share.
    blank

    Lajina Hossain is a full-time game analyst and sports strategist with expertise in both video games and real-life sports. From FIFA, PUBG, and Counter-Strike to cricket, football, and basketball – she has an in-depth understanding of the rules, strategies, and nuances of each game. Her sharp analysis has made her a trusted voice among readers. With a background in Computer Science, she is highly skilled in game mechanics and data analysis. She regularly writes game reviews, tips & tricks, and gameplay strategies for 6up.net.

    Related Posts

    Add A Comment

    Comments are closed.