Blues simply not good in 3-on-3 hockey; Jordan Binnington gave team opportunity to win; Blues just don't have finishers; Berggren, Stenberg follow up debuts with better efforts; third period was best period for Blues
ST. LOUIS – The St. Louis Blues were looking for several aspects in their game on the heels of a win on Wednesday night.
It was going to be tough on the second half of a back to back, but they managed to get a point. But one thing that remained consistent: they can’t get overtime right.
The Blues fell to 0-6 in the 3-on-3 competition when J.T. Miller scored at 2:21 of OT, and the New York Rangers rallied for a 2-1 win at Enterprise Center on Thursday.
Jonatan Berggren scored his first goal for the Blues (13-15-8), and Jordan Binnington had himself a really strong game, stopping 28 of 30 shots but picks up the OT loss.
Thursday’s loss comes on the heels of a 1-0 win against the Winnipeg Jets on Wednesday.
Let’s dive into the game observations:
* The Blues just can’t solve OT – Not only are they now 0-6 in 3-on-3, but combine it with two shootout losses, it’s 0-for-8.
And this one started off as head-shaking as the others when the Blues won the face-off by Robert Thomas, who ultimately in his shift skates into the offensive zone along the right side, but for whatever reason, Pavel Buchnevich and Philip Broberg stayed behind leaving Thomas to go 1-on-3.
Why? Who knows. But that didn’t cost the Blues the game.
What did, again, though? Their inability to create and drive offense, and then ultimately, blown coverage at the other end.
“We’re not creating enough chances in 3-on-3 offensively,” St. Louis coach Jim Montgomery said, “and we have a lot of possession time, but when we turn it over, we are blowing covers. It’s man-on-man, it should be fairly simply to stay with your man when there’s 3-on-3 versus 5-on-5, but we’re getting beat to our net, we’re losing assignments, we’re getting slipped to the middle of the ice.”
On Miller’s goal, this one’s on Dalibor Dvorsky, who got puck-watching as Vincent Trocheck skated into the Blues’ zone between him and Colton Parayko, who had Trocheck sealed off.
Dvorsky’s man (Miller) was near the blue line, but as he slipped inside, Dvorsky turns around and loses his man off the wall, and Miller is able to get into the high slot and take Trocheck’s pass, beating Binnington to the stick side.
Binnington is screened by Rangers defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov and teammate Pius Suter:
“The game-winning goal, the guy walks down the middle of the ice,” Montgomery said. “Someone lost his man on the boards. That’s what happened. It’s happened in at least four of the losses, and some of them have just been the other team making some high-end plays. We haven’t made those same plays.”
* Binnington gave the Blues a chance – This was Binnington’s first game action in a week, when he was pulled in a 7-2 loss to the Nashville Predators after the second period, more of a mercy pull than a poor play pull.
Joel Hofer started the past three games, including Wednesday, but this was a rock-solid performance in goal.
“I felt good,” Binnington said. ‘I was focused on my own process today and just doing my best to give the team the best chance to win. I felt good to get some work in these last couple of days and be back out there.”
Binnington had to keep his team in it right from the get-go when he kicked out the right pad on Conor Sheary just 16 seconds in. The Blues were not sharp the first two periods until picking it up in the third, but Binnington, who was only beat by a fortuitous bounce off the toe of Gabe Perreault at 6:02 of the second period that tied the game 1-1, gave his team a fighting chance.
“Yeah, it’s still hard. Still frustrating,” Binnington said. “I’ve got to stay with it.
“This one’s definitely frustrating, but we responded in the third period there. We’ve just got to keep building our game and playing the right way.”
The Blues are a league-worst 49 goals allowed in the second period, and if not for Binnington, it could have been worse.
“Binnington was excellent. He gave us an opportunity,” Montgomery said. “That second period, the only reason it’s 1-1 is because of ‘Binner.’”
* Blues simply don’t have finishers – It’s been an ongoing theme for the Blues: create chances, and a lot of them Grade A chances, but can’t finish.
It was a common theme once again Thursday.
We can talk all we want about Igor Shesterkin being in goal and you’re trying to be too fine, too precise in beating an elite style goalie, but this stuff has happened to average, mediocre tendy’s too.
And it was again an issue on Thursday.
And it’s top-end players – once again – that can’t hit the ocean from prime scoring areas.
Pavel Buchnevich had one early in the first period in Shesterkin’s grill, and missed the net. Brayden Schenn had one from the slot with acreage of space in the second period off a beautiful setup by Berggren and missed high. Philip Broberg walking down the slot with a puck and in the third period and firing it wide on the short side. Justin Faulk had another glorious chance in the second period and missing the net. Robert Thomas, who tied a career high with six shots on goal, was set up by Berggren in front in the third, but he actually put his shot on and it was stopped.
That’s the point. At the very least, force the goalie into a save. This group is notorious for not finishing, and there’s a reason why they’re dead-last in the league scoring 2.44 goals per game scoring 88 goals, which ranks 30th in the league.
The Blues have scored two or fewer goals in an astounding 20 of 36 games this season, and in eight of those, one or fewer.
“We had some point blank chances, the guys we want to have the point blank chances,” Montgomery said, sounding like a broken record this season. “Sometimes you try to be too perfect. ‘Buchy’ knows (Shesterkin) and he played with him. ‘Buchy’ had a lot of those opportunities and I think he tried to be too perfect, missed the net a couple times. That happens to you.”
The power play was a reason also, going 0-for-3 with four shots and it could have been more.
There's a reason why the leading goal scorers on this team have just eight, and let's put it into perspective here. The Blues' leading point producer is Thomas with 24 in 32 games. Connor McDavid of the Edmonton Oilers had two more points on Thursday to give him 22 the past eight games. EIGHT.
Enough said.
Nobody said you have to be Connor McDavid, but come on, the numbers are pretty staggering here.
* Blues might have something with Berggren, Stenberg – For the second straight night, two newbies were noticeable in a positive light.
Berggren and 2023 first-round pick (No. 25 overall) Otto Stenberg each had a nice, solid game.
Berggren played 16:55, including a shift in OT, and his goal was of elite form.
It gave the Blues a 1-0 lead at 18:58 of the first period after he took a loose puck forced when Dvorsky turned Gavrikov over, then skating in from a sharp angle and beating Shesterkin with a small window off the bar on the short side:
“Lucky it went in and nice to get the first one pretty early,” Berggren said.
Montgomery liked Berggren’s game so much that he moved him to the top line with Thomas and Buchnevich, and the trio was creating.
“It looked really good in the third, and we’ll probably give it a look next game,” Montgomery said. ‘There’s a big difference when you start a game with people. There just is. Sometimes in games, you catch fire. To be able to sustain it, we’re going to see if we can sustain it, but it did look good.
“He’s been really good. Him and Stenberg both have been excellent. Just players that have really good brains, high skill level. Really fit in well with the way we want to play. They’ve really added a lot of speed and pace to playing fast, especially when we go north.”
Berggren played 12:45 on Wednesday in his Blues debut, and Stenberg followed his 13:38 of ice time with 15:12 on Thursday, also getting OT time.
This makes two games in a row when two new guys in the lineup are making a positive difference, and influence.
* Third period much better after not finding legs in first 40 – The Blues’ push came in the final period when they outshot the Rangers 11-4 and pressured in the offensive zone but not finding a way to beat Shesterkin.
It came after too many one-and-dones earlier in the game when pucks would get dumped in and little to no forecheck to follow.
“I think the first two periods was pretty average, kind of bad, but the third one was really good and we should have had two or three goals there,” Berggren said. “But back to back is always tough. Shows that we had some energy in the third.”
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