Let's Go Blues

ST. LOUIS -- It was back to business as usual for the St. Louis Blues on Thursday, one day after practice was abruptly called off in favor of a closed-door meeting.

The Blues are 0-3-1 and in the midst of a season-long losing streak that has the team slipping in the Western Conference playoff race. Wednesday's meeting came after a 3-2 loss to San Jose on Tuesday night.

"Practice is one thing, but this late in the season, two days in a row, you're probably not going to practice very hard anyways," defenseman Jay Bouwmeester told NHL.com. "It was good. We're kind of a crossroads in our season. Our start really carried us, but now we're having a little bit of a tough time. We're not necessarily playing the worst hockey we've been playing all year, but we're running into good teams and it's just finding ways to win."

The Blues (32-23-4, 72 points) have slipped to the first wild-card spot and are just a point away from being out of the playoffs entirely.

The schedule isn't letting up as the Blues will host the Winnipeg Jets on Friday night, followed by a trip to Nashville on Sunday. Winnipeg (79 points) and Nashville (81 points) are the top two teams in the Central Division.

"What matters right now is everybody understands the situation that we're in, there's certainly clarity to that; that's easy," Blues coach Mike Yeo told NHL.com. "Now it's about us making sure that we come together as a group and rebuilding the trust in our game and understanding that they we go out and do things the right way shift after shift, man after man, that we're going to get the results that we're looking for."

Forward Nikita Soshnikov, acquired from the Toronto Maple Leafs on Feb. 15, could arrive in St. Louis as early as Friday. The Blues have been waiting for his visa paperwork to be completed.

"What you like is we think he's a guy that can add to our group, not only this year but in the future as well," Yeo told NHL.com. "I think the quicker we get him in, the quicker he'll get up to speed with our group."

Friday's meeting is the fourth and final of the season against Winnipeg. The Blues have gone 2-1 against the Jets, including a 5-2 win on Feb. 9 in Winnipeg.

The Jets are coming off a 4-3 loss to the Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday.

"Some untimely penalties, our penalty kill is leaking oil right now," Jets forward Blake Wheeler told NHL.com. "So just wrong penalties at the wrong time."

Jets goalies Michael Hutchinson and Steve Mason have been cleared to play after missing six and 16 games, respectively, to concussions.

Hutchinson will back up Connor Hellebuyck against the Blues.

"The last few days, getting out with the guys and facing some real shots has been good to get the timing back," Hutchinson told NHL.com. "You feel like you haven't missed any time at all."

Bouwmeester wrote:Our start really carried us, but now we're having a little bit of a tough time. We're not necessarily playing the worst hockey we've been playing all year, but we're running into good teams and it's just finding ways to win.

theohall wrote:As NHL Tonight pointed out...

Prior to mid-January, the Blues had played 6 more games than any other team in the league. Now that the rest of the league has caught up in games played, for the most part, the standing are more indicative of reality for the Blues, than their inflated place in the standings from those extra 6 games. On top of that - the increased # of divisional games against the playoff teams in the division is starting to show - vice the heavy Eastern Conference schedule with which the Blues started the season. In the Central, Only the Avalanche and Wild have played as many or more games vs the East.

Vs the East
Winnipeg - 6 fewer
Dallas - 4 fewer
Nashville - 3 fewer
Chicago - 1 fewer

Those games vs the East are likely going to help Winnipeg, Dallas, and Nashville. Meanwhile, the Blues keep losing to those same Central teams. Basically, the Blues aren't competitive in their own division right now, largely because the organization is stuck in the "grit" mentality. Until they dump that model, we will see more of "look how hard the Blues work, but don't score" only to see transition and skill burying easy goals in the Blues net.

Although Allen wasn't sharp, it's yet another game in which Allen gets no offensive support. Name the last 2 games the Blues scored 3 goals or more when Allen started. 2 goals doesn't win in this era on any kind of consistent basis. Last one was on the road in Winnipeg. The last before that was the 7-4 loss to the Panthers when they went to sleep at home... again.

We kind of should have seen this coming when the Blues scored 2 goals or fewer in 12 of 20 games in December. While Allen is occasionally letting in a softie, if this team had any kind of offense, that wouldn't matter. Right now, every goal against is amplified due to the lack of scoring.

And this team basically is incapable of winning if they give up the first goal.

tjk002 wrote:Great post, and I agree with everything except for the "grit" mentality. Please explain to me how this roster is built with a grit mentality. This team is freaking charmin soft. There is zero grit, zero toughness and it begins with #27. Trying to see him emulate Backes at the end of the game was hysterical. He is not a leader.