With playoff implications, Blues make plethora of uncharacteristic mistakes, none more so than in last minute of game that cost them at least a point, if not two after battling back; penalty kill let them down; power play brought life back
Man, that's a killer.
The St. Louis Blues, who put themselves in the fight for the playoffs in the Western Conference once again with a 10-1-2 run in March, had one more big game to close out the month, a third matchup against the San Jose Sharks on Monday.
The first two games went to the Blues, winning each in overtime, including this past Thursday in St. Louis (2-1). A third seemed destined to go to extra time after the Blues fought back from a two-goal deficit with a pair of power-play goals. But as has happened often this season, a late goal not only took a precious point away from the Blues but gave the Sharks two when former Blue Adam Gaudette scored with 21.7 seconds remaining in regulation to give the Blues a stinging defeat, 5-4, at SAP Center in San Jose, Calif.
The Blues (31-31-11), who had their four-game winning streak end, were in position to gain valuable ground on those teams above them, including the Nashville Predators, who currently hold the second wild card in the West by four point on the Blues, who had two games in hand on them, one of which was on Monday.
But instead, it was the Sharks (34-31-7) who gained the two points, moved two points ahead of the Blues and within two points of Nashville with two games in hand.
It was in fact a crushing defeat for the Blues, who had been playing so well since the return from the Olympics at 11-2-2 coming into this game.
Let's dive into the game observations:
* Last goal simply shouldn't happen on multiple fronts -- It all starts with Robert Thomas losing a face-off to Zack Ostapchuk, of all people, a fourth-liner who played 11:58 in this game. But the face-off isn't where this play broke down.
It breaks down when the five guys on the ice (Thomas, Jordan Kyrou, Dylan Holloway, Philip Broberg and Logan Mailloux) didn't manage the situation properly. Coach Jim Montgomery had been praising the team's ability to manage games since the break, and it's been a key contributor to their recent success.
Once that face-off is lost, all five guys needed to be back in position to make sure, without the puck, at the very least, that game gets to overtime, each team grabs a point and duke it out for the second.
Mailloux, who had his run of 20-plus minute streak end at 13 games on Saturday when he finished a second below 20 minutes (19:59), will be seeing that film quite a bit. Instead of aggressively trying to play a bouncing puck that wound up hopping past him after fumbling possession that turned into a 2-on-1, stay back in position and keep any rushing forwards from coming through you.
It was a tough game for the 22-year-old, who had really found his stride, but you have to remember, it's still his first full NHL season; he's going to make mistakes and learn from them. Unfortunately, that one came at the most inopportune time.
But also, I need a save there from Joel Hofer, who also had been playing so well, going 7-0-2 with a league-leading 1.29 goals-against average and league-leading .959 save percentage since the Olympic break. That's one he needs to have, a shot from the left dot that went right through him. Gaudette didn't even pick a corner.
Yes, you can't give up a 2-on-1 in that situation, that late in the game. The coaching staff will talk to Mailloux and show him that clip moving forward as a teaching tool, but I need my goalie to come up with a pretty routine save there that he has been making during his sleep during this run.
Defense and goaltending have been a staple for the Blues, who were No. 1 since the break allowing just 1.42 goals per game. That all went out the window Monday, and fittingly, in that fashion.
* Frittering away too many points late or blowing big leads -- Add Monday's crushing defeat to a plethora of games this season if the Blues ultimately don't make the playoffs, they can only blame themselves.
Here is a list of games this season the Blues could have/should have earned themselves at least a point, if not two points. Here's the list, aside from Monday's at least one point, if not two:
* Oct. 25, led the Detroit Red Wings 4-0 late in the second period, lost 6-4.
* Nov. 8, led the Seattle Kraken 3-2 but allowed the tying goal (which I will take to my grave that it was a bogus goalie interference call not given) with under two seconds left in regulation, lost 4-3 in overtime.
* Nov. 14, led the Philadelphia Flyers by two goals twice (3-1 and 5-3) before falling apart and losing 6-5 in overtime.
* Jan. 23, tied 2-2 with the Dallas Stars but allow the game-winner with 1:00 remaining in regulation to fall 3-2.
* Jan. 27, tied 3-3 with the Stars again but allow the game-winner with 1:07 remaining in regulation to fall 4-3.
* Feb. 2, led the Predators 5-1 in the second period with full control of that game, succumb from middle of game on and fall 6-5 in regulation.
* Feb. 4, tied 4-4 late again with the Stars, allow a Jamie Benn goal with 23 seconds left in regulation and fall 5-4.
* March 10, led the New York Islanders 3-0 but don't put the game away and ultimately, give up two third-period goals before falling 4-3 in overtime.
So when the Blues fall short of making the playoffs this season, they can point to any number of these games where points were frittered away.
* Penalty kill big letdown -- The Blues seemed to right one season-long bad since the Olympic break when they got their penalty kill on track, going 37-for-42, which was good for 88.1 percent and No. 1 in the league since Feb. 26.
But on this night, the Sharks scored three power-play goals, including two by Alexander Wennberg and one by Macklin Celebrini. One was an unfortunate pinball carom that lastly hit Mailloux, but the Blues' penalty killers were getting beat at the net in this game.
When you allow three power-play goals in a single game, something done only one other time this season (Jan. 7 in a 7-3 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks), you don't tend to win those games.
The Blues finished 1-for-4 on the kill. That won't get it done.
* Game management in first half of game was poor -- Managing the game and pucks has been so crucial for the Blues' latest run of strong games.
Not on this night.
Too many fumbled passes, turning pucks over, bad line changes enabled San Jose to get out to a 17-5 edge on the shot clock at one point that's been so uncharacteristic as of late.
* Tremendous fight back from deficit, power play instrumental -- The Blues were able to stay in this game despite scoring on two of their first three shots of the game, the first when Theo Lindstein scored his first NHL goal to give the Blues their only lead at 1-0 at 5:28 of the first period:
And when Pavel Buchnevich netted his 17th to tie the game 2-2 at 16:39 of the first, it gave the Blues reason to continue to push despite the lackluster execution in the early going:
Trailing 4-2 late in the second, the Blues were able to get the opposite side of their special teams going, and when Philip Broberg made it a one-goal game at 4-3 with 26 seconds left in the second, there was life:
The Blues started playing below the goal line in the offensive zone, something missing in the first half of that game. Whether it was taking too many penalties and having to spend too much time on the kill, or the simple mis-management of the game, something had to change and Broberg's goal gave this group life.
And when Cam Fowler tied it with his own power-play goal at 12:53 of the third period to tie the game 4-4, it came on the heels of a strong push by the Blues the entire period:
Unfortunately for them, the fight back was all for naught with that crushing ending, and aside from a miracle in the final nine games, likely end their playoff aspirations.