ST. LOUIS -- Right now, the well is dry for the Blues.
Goals are at a premium, and it's indicative by their play, and their record.
The Blues got away with a low-scoring game Saturday against the Edmonton Oilers, their opponent on Wednesday night, but were fueled by solid goaltending, proper puck play and effective checking.
The Oilers returned the favor to the Blues on Wednesday, winning 3-1 at Enterprise Center, handing the Blues (3-2-0) their second straight loss with a Thursday night matchup against the Nashville Predators in Tennessee looming.
Ryan O'Reilly did score a power-play goal for the Blues in the second period, but that was it.
So going back to a 4-3 overtime win at Seattle a week ago Wednesday, the Blues have scored three goals the last 11-plus periods after scoring nine in their first two games.
And despite the drought on filling up the net at this point, the Blues have been put in position in each of their games by another terrific performance in net by Jordan Binnington.
He followed up Thomas Greiss' 39-save performance in a dreadful 4-0 loss at Winnipeg on Monday with 25 saves, including two really key ones in the third period of a 1-1 game and the game hanging in the balance.
I've always said this team will live and die by its goaltending, and right now, albeit a small sample size, the tandem of Binnington and Greiss, who is likely to get the start against the Predators Thursday, are 5-for-5 on the season.
"Yeah, (Greiss) was solid in the last game. It's good," Binnington said. "Hopefully we can keep building. We're doing alright, but we're 3-2 and we want to separate ourselves, especially playing early and continue to look up from there. We're going to keep our heads down and keep trying to give the team a chance to win."
That certainly has been the case.
Although the Blues supplied Binnington with goal support in wins over Columbus and Seattle to begin the season, the Blues' No. 1 netminder had to make timely, key saves to win that game against the Kraken, then was stout in a 2-0 shutout win over Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Co. last Saturday.
Greiss was terrific in his Blues debut when the Blues wilted against the Jets, but it was a one-shot game (1-0 deficit) heading into the third period before the team folded in front of him.
And on Wednesday, when the Blues were, what O'Reilly said they "were on our heels just watching a lot," Binnington and a rock-solid penalty kill, once again gave the team the chance to win.
Watching the game from up above, we were wondering there through the initial minutes of the second period how it was a 1-0 deficit, but Binnington was the wall the Blues needed and the PK bent but didn't break on two opportunities against the league's top power play.
"It's solid every game, very good," coach Craig Berube said of the goaltending.
Binnington is third in the league in goals-against average at 1.65 and fifth with a .940 save percentage. Those numbers will be hard to maintain, but should the Blues be able to get close to those numbers, the goal scoring will eventually come again, and they'll know that the backbone will always be there to hold the fort up until it does.
"That's something I think we're all very confident in, in the the way our goalies can play," O'Reilly said. "It’s just doing a better job in front of them. I think there are a couple little mistakes, little details that might have made them have to work a lot harder than they have to, but you know, when we got good goalies like that, it's knowing that when we do play good defensively, we're going to be in every game have a chance to win."
Goals will come again. It won't stay away forever; that's a given. And the Blues are missing two impact top-six forwards (Pavel Buchnevich and Brandon Saad) from the lineup at the moment, which has made Berube and the coaching staff mix and match things.
Berube switched the lines up on Wednesday midway through the second period and it worked well. The Blues pumped 20 shots at Stuart Skinner in the second period and finished with a season-high 38 for the game but couldn't put the finishing touches on a win.
"There's looks, there's chances. We're getting chances, but sometimes you go through spells like this and you've got to stick with it," Berube said. "I mean, you've got to simplify it a little bit more maybe. And I'll say it again, get in on the inside. That's where you're going to get your goals a lot of times. We had a lot of good looks and we missed the net on a lot of good looks. That's one area we can get better at is hitting the net a little bit more. Again, creating second and third opportunities around the net a little bit more.
"... You've just got to stick with it. Goal scoring's funny sometimes. You dry up sometimes. I know it doesn't happen to us a lot sometimes, but right now, it's at that point. We've got to simplify it and we've got to get some dirty goals. That's the bottom line."
When these dry spells occur, especially on the power play, fans will continue to clamor for David Perron, but the flying French-Canadian won't be coming to the rescue any time soon, so it will have to come from the group ready and healthy enough to play right now.
"I think you can see everyone's a little frustrated," O'Reilly said. "For myself, I was a little frustrated and maybe trying to cheat a bit for offense. I don't think I have a 5-on-5 point yet, so it's trying to cheat and try to maybe get a bounce and end up giving up more than we should. We just have to be patient with it and build our game from there. It’s a long season, it's nice that we're back at it tomorrow, can make our adjustments and get at it but it's a tough one tonight."
I believe the Blues will find their scoring soon enough, but at some point, their goalies will need some help, because they can't continue to go into games with the mindset that there is a fine line between winning and losing. But come to think of it, Binnington was successful in 2019 when the margin was thin. It seems to bring out the best in him.
But simply put, you have to be encouraged by the goaltending to begin this season. It will be the difference between a successful squad and one that will falter, because the Blues aren't equipped to run-and-gun teams out of the rink.
It's just wasteful right now that these solid goaltending performances the past couple games are going by the wayside.
"You want the win when you compete that hard and you know the guys are all playing hard," Binnington said. "You've got to play hard, trust the system, trust the game and let things play out."