For Blues, Saturday's 5-3 loss to lowly Blackhawks was nothing more than a gut punch

ST. LOUIS -- It was arguably their most complete game of the season, one in which the Blues were missing a number of regulars in the lineup but found a way to dispose a Nashville Predators squad on Thursday in resounding fashion.

From goaltending on out, the Blues were as fundamentally sound as a team can be. They played the way a playoff team should play.

And then there was this, a befuddling and inexplicable non-playoff like performance in a 5-3 loss against the tanking Chicago Blackhawks, which hasn't been playing like a tanking team lately, on Saturday at Enterprise Center.

How? How does a team that just prided itself in beating the Predators, who were 7-3-1 in their past 11 games, a team the Blues took to the woodshed 5-2, come away with a result like this, against a team in the running for Connor Bedard?

The Blackhawks (14-26-4) have won six of their past seven, yes, but prior to that, they had lost 13 of 14, putting themselves in prime position to have a lottery ticket, the golden ticket, for a chance to draft the phenom that is Bedard.

Maybe they don't want Bedard anymore? I doubt that's the case, but these are the games you simply cannot lose when you're fighting for your playoff life. And yes, the Blues (23-21-3) are already fighting for their playoff lives, 47 games in.

In talking to the players and coach Craig Berube after the game, and I personally respect Brayden Schenn as much as anyone in that locker room, and although he's not wrong in saying the Blues have run off a solid stretch of games, going 11-5-3 their past 19 prior to Saturday, this is the here and now, and there just is no excuse for losing to the 31st team in the league, one playing a goalie (Jaxson Stauber) making his NHL debut who has only 12 games' worth of not-so-great pro experience at the American Hockey League level.

"I think if you look at our last 19 games, or whatever we're 11-5-3 before that," Schenn said. 'I guess that makes it 11-6-3, we've had some guys out, we're battling hard, we're playing hard.

"I think people are at us obviously because of the start we had (eight-game losing streak to fall to 3-8-0) and it's hard to climb out of it, but if you look at our record, guys are playing hard and they're playing together. I guess the losses feel bigger right now because you start with an eight-game slide. You've got to keep on digging and clawing and need points like that. Now we get a chance to get a couple days off here, regroup and finish out this homestand."

I understand this is sports, and anything can happen, but this loss completely wipes out what you accomplished against the Predators, who by the way leapfrogged over you again by winning Saturday after the Blues jumped over them Thursday.

The Blues didn't play a poor game Saturday by any means. They just bit themselves -- again -- with mistakes, however few there were, that proved to once again be costly.

Chicago had a 2-0 lead after one period, was outshot 11-3, scoring on its first two shots of the game, and maybe had the puck in the offensive zone for about a minute, and that's no exaggeration.

"We gave them some chances early and they capitalized on them, and it's tough coming back in this league," defenseman Nick Leddy said.

"It’s obviously disappointing," Berube said. "I thought we started the game off excellent, really moving the puck well. Shooting, getting chances. Made two mistakes that shouldn’t happen and they’re both in the net and it’s 2-0. So we’re fighting uphill the rest of the game, and it wasn’t good enough obviously."

And it wasn't good enough for Jordan Binnington, who was hung out to dry -- yet again -- by those playing in front of him. Berube mercifully pulled his starting goalie after allowing four goals on seven shots, of which none of them really were his fault. Maybe you'd like a save on the shorthanded breakaway by Sam Lafferty that beat Binnington five-hole that made it 2-0, but the coverage breakdown that turned into a 2-on-1 resulted in the first goal, then a lost puck while on the power play led to the second goal, getting beat at the net front for a tap-in goal for the third, and forwards slow on the back check while the two defenders playing the fourth goal backing into the play allowing a shot to be taken through traffic is simply poor execution by those skaters in front of the goaler.

"Really tough start for us, you know," said forward Ivan Barbashev, who had himself a Gordie Howe Hat Trick with a goal, an assist and a second-period fight and was the best player on the ice for the Blues on Saturday. "To give up four goals, I don't think it was on Binner, to be honest. We gave them real easy goals ... turnovers."

The Blues gave themselves a pulse when Barbashev scored in the second and Leddy made it a one-goal game in the third, but it was too little, too late.

And no matter how the game Tuesday turns out against Tage Thompson and the Buffalo Sabres, this feels a bit like a wasted homestand with the Blues sitting now at 3-3-0, a homestand where they needed to make some ground.

"Yeah, we've just got to be better," Barbashev said. "We need a good road trip. I think we've been playing really well lately, especially with all the injuries."

The Blues outshot the Blackhawks 32-18 for the game, 56-35 in attempts. On paper, normally that spells victory.

Schenn was right to look big picture, but he also recognized in the moment, these are two points the Blues simply fumbled away.

"Obviously one you want two points," he said. "Got behind early and battled hard all night. That goalie made some saves on us. Obviously those are the ones you need to have."

We shall see in the end when all is said and done.

Right now, it feels like a gut punch.