Third straight time Blues have allowed six or more goals, 19 in total; fourth straight loss (0-3-1); poor starts to first, third periods doom St. Louis again; Bjugstad nets first multi-point game with Blues
At some point, things will turn.
Right now for the St. Louis Blues, it's not good. In fact, it's downright bad.
For the third straight game, the Blues allowed six or more goals, getting doubled up by the Pittsburgh Penguins, 6-3, at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh on Monday.
Nick Bjugstad had his first multi-point game with the Blues with a goal and an assist, Jordan Kyrou extended his point streak to seven (three goals, four assists) with a goal and Mathieu Joseph also scored, but it was another lackluster start in goal for Joel Hofer, who allowed five goals on 25 shots.
The Blues fell to 3-5-1 overall and 0-3-1 the past four games.
Let's take a look at Monday's game observations:
* First minute was a disaster -- The Blues already had a fragile mindset losing three in a row; they came into the game without Robert Thomas (upper-body injury) and Jake Neighbours (lower-body injury) sustained from Saturday's 6-4 loss against the Detroit Red Wings. Their backs are against the wall, and guys are in the lineup, playing up in the lineup with no choice but to play with passion and energy.
So how does a team come out like THAT?
It's 2-0 on the first two shots of the game against an even more fragile Joel Hofer, who came into the game having been pulled from his past two starts, allowing 10 goals on 28 shots.
It's 1-0 just 39 seconds into the game on a Bryan Rust goal, fed to the right side off missed coverage, and then 16 seconds later, it's 2-0 off broken coverage and Hofer overplaying the passer coming down the lefthand side and Anthony Mantha stuffing in an easy goal:
You hate to point a finger at someone still getting his feet wet in the NHL, but Jimmy Snuggerud's coverage on Mantha was not good and made it too easy for him. Again, a learning moment for the youngster but at some point, someone needs to make a play and it isn't happening.
* Credit to guys for recovering -- Even as porous a start as it was, the Blues did recover.
They turned things around and would up tying the game 2-2 when Bjugstad made it 2-1 at 4:15 on a feed to Nathan Walker, driving the middle lane and getting a strong pass back to the top of the crease for the finish past Tristan Jarry:
And Kyrou tied it 2-2 at 15:43 off a great initial poke-check by Dylan Holloway and Brayden Schenn recognizing the loose puck and darting up the lefthand side, entering the zone with speed, and Kyrou getting to the back post and redirecting Schenn's pass:
* Now the push should be on after tying it, but not enough drive -- The Blues found their way back into the game, now the push should be on to grab a lead and play with a lead.
They had their moments, but just not enough of a strong push, one which involved a determined checking mindset. Loose pucks were there, strong chances were there to be had. But as the game waded on, Walker was going to get whistled for a minor, and a 6-on-5 goal was scored by former Blues farmhand Tyler Wotherspoon at 6:37 of the second period to give Pittsburgh the lead for good at 3-2:
* Another lackluster start to a period -- A one-goal game should be good enough to keep a team motivated, energized and in it.
But the Penguins dictated the zone from the start of the period and scored within the first minute for the third time in the game when Rust got his second of the night 42 seconds into the third period to make it 4-2:
Lots of puck chasing led to Erik Karlsson sending a pass into the slot to an open Rust for a redirection through Hofer's legs. Oskar Sundqvist's coverage was not tight enough and allowed Rust to get a clean stick on the puck, and now the Blues are chasing a two-goal deficit again.
* Bjugstad's most noticeable game -- This was Bjugstad's most noticeable game of the night. He was engaged, using his stick well, and it helped set up Joseph's 2-on-1 goal than cut the lead again to one at 4-3 at 4:35 when Joseph, who has played well to start the season, kept the puck and beat Jarry short side:
* Bottom line, Blues goaltending is simply not good enough -- There have been moments where Jordan Binnington and Hofer have been solid.
Hofer's game against the Calgary Flames, Binnington's job against the Los Angeles Kings that stole a point, Binnington's adequate work against the Vancouver Canucks and Dallas Stars, which was the most complete game of the season.
But bottom line is there have been more moments through nine games where the goaltending hasn't made THE saves.
Like tonight, let's see Hofer steal a save or two there early when things look discombobulated. But he's not allowed 15 goals on the past 43 shots for a save percentage of .651; his goals-against average is 9.36.
Doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize Hofer is on a serious struggle bus right now. But I stand by the notion of the Blues starting him tonight instead of home on Tuesday against the Red Wings, where Binnington will get the nod. You can't run Binnington, who played in the past seven games in a row, into the ground. Hofer will have to snap out of this, and he will. But it's just not nearly good enough right now.
* Tucker, Mailloux were best pair -- The Blues rely on their top four so much and rightfully so, but I this particular game, Tyler Tucker and Logan Mailloux was the Blues' best pairing.
Mailloux finished with his first plus game of the season at plus-1 in 13:14 of ice time, Tucker had a assist and was a plus-2 in 15:12 and Holloway had an assist and was a plus-1 in 18:13 as the lone players with pluses in the game.
But I thought Tucker and Mailloux did a nice job killing plays in the D-zone and were not on the ice for any goals against.
Mailloux even had a solid scoring chance jumping into the rush, something you'd like to see him read more and more with reps in this system.
* Puck mistakes put game out of reach -- Down a goal late, the Blues had the puck in the zone, but a fumbled puck by Colton Parayko then ensuing blind backhand pass into the slot was picked off by Rust, who fed Sidney Crosby for a breakaway goal after Hofer made the initial save, and Evgeni Malkin added an empty-netter at 16:59, or 20 seconds after Crosby's goal:
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