If you’re not legitimately concerned about the St. Louis Blues, wake up.
The reigning cup champion Boston Bruins took care of business on the road against the Blues Wednesday night, where they hold a league best 26-4-4 record.
Chris Kelly’s go head goal in the 1st period was a killer. The Blues fought back to tie the game at two, but with 40 seconds to play in the 1st, Kelly netted a David Perron giveaway. The puck seemed to be jumping all night, and puck possession was sloppy for both teams.
The Blues dominated the 2nd period, outshooting the Bruins 14-4. Boston iced the puck every chance they could, but the Blues never capitalized. It killed the momentum.
St. Louis has just 7 home games remaining. A 10-13-3-road record should be alarming.
They obviously won’t miss the playoffs, but the likelihood of a home-ice advantage is not promising. If the season ended today, they would face the Nashville Predators in the 1st round. They are 0-2-2 versus Nashville in 2011-2012.
Worse, Ken Hitchcock is 0-11-6 in his last 16 versus the Preds.
BJ Crombeen lands a left (photo via WilliamGreenblattPhotography.com)
Brian Elliott never looked comfortable in net all night. The Blues lacked an offensive scheme. They looked small against a physical Bruins team.
– David Backes lacked tenacity.
– T.J. Oshie felt pain throwing his weight around.
– David Perron and Andy McDonald were man-hunted.
– B.J. Crombeen got smoked in a 1st period fight.
At least Chris Stewart showed some tenacity. That being said, he botched an open goal in the 1st, and missed the net from there on out.
Yikes.
This is the reality of the NHL. That’s why they play 82 games. The Blues desperately need a trade. Nobody flashy (Rick Nash), but rather a contributor who can feed pucks to the net allowing the talent to have a chance to score.
Saddle up, the road challenge continues tonight in Nashville.
Daily Grind Sports 
I completely disagree with you, the St-Louis Blues are where they are because they are definitely one of the best teams in the NHL. Last night seemed like an off game, the Blues looked slow, but I don’t much change is needed. They have depth and grit on their 4th line. They have a solid six ranging from Perron, Backes, Oshie, McDonald, Steen and Berglund. They’re defense is even more solid. If the Blues need anything, I think they might need a bit of size, a player like Andrei Kostitsyn from the Montreal Canadiens should be an interest, except the fact that he does come with a somewhat big contract and has been struggling this season with 24 points in 48 games. (12g and 12a)
FYI Steen is out with a concussion. Berglund has been inconsistent all year. The Blues don’t even have a 20 goal scorer on the team.
Get this–no team in NHL history has had two goalies with 6 shutouts a piece. If the Blues added a goal scorer, perhaps they could contend against the elite teams in the league.
Until then, they bank of their goalies to bail them out of hockey games.
Is the goal of the season to simply make the playoffs? Or make a run at the cup? In order to do the latter, they better figure the road woes out…and the goal deficiency.
St-Louis just proved you wrong. You clearly don’t need a 20 goal scorer to be a contender for the Stanley Cup. You win championships with defense. They don’t even depend on goaltending.
How did St. Louis just prove me wrong? By winning 3 road games? Just to reiterate the name of the column…LET’S GO…was meant to shed light on some concerns I had. Winning @ Nashville was good … but winning @ Winnipeg and @ Calgary is no great thing … Tougher tests lie ahead…let’s re-evaluate your “proved me wrong” comment after their next 3 games on the road (EDM, VAN, SJ)
And they don’t depend on goaltending huh? How many games have you actually seen in person? If you don’t think the goaltending is the MAIN reason they’ve been so successful, think again.