Observations From Blues' 7-2 Loss Vs. Predators

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- It got ugly quickly in Music City.

The St. Louis Blues laid another egg in a stretch of playing four divisional opponents, and the Nashville Predators were the beneficiaries.

Well, Steven Stamkos was the greatest beneficiary.

The sharpshooter scored four goals en route to a 7-2 bludgeoning of the Blues at Bridgestone Arena on Thursday.

The lone bright spot for the Blues was Hugh McGing scoring his first NHL goal; Robert Thomas also scored, Robby Fabbri earned an assist in his return to the Blues, and Jordan Binnington was hung out to dry, allowing six goals on 25 shots on a night where the Blues did not defend the ice very well whatsoever. He was lifted after two periods for Joel Hofer.

"The last two games we've not been hard enough at either net front," Blues coach Jim Montgomery said. "We don't get there too on the inside. That's where good teams in the NHL score goals, screening the goalie and having two guys whacking away at rebounds like you saw them score three or four times tonight, and we're not boxing out at our net front. The physicality and our D-zone coverage the last two games has really dissipated." 

The Blues (11-14-7) turn right back around and head home for a Friday night matchup against the Chicago Blackhawks (13-11-6).

Let’s take a look at Thursday’s game observations:

* Team was soft -- like Charmin -- at both ends of the ice – There was simply no defense. And there’s no defending this kind of play.

It started early, unfortunately for the fourth line being on the ice for the first two goals against.

The Blues had some terrific looks from the slot early, until O-zone whiff leads to 3 on 1 goal. The Blues were buzzing pretty good early with three slot shots on the power play but Juuse Saros came up with the necessary saves.

Then an unforced error, by McGing, whiffing on a puck in the O-zone, that ultimately led to a 3-on-1 and trouble.

Stamkos was set up for a one-timer that Binnington initially stopped but the puck went right back to the Nashville forward for the rebound goal at 8:22 of the first period.

Montgomery said when the Blues lost Nathan Walker (upper-body injury) and Alexey Toropchenko (scalding leg burns), they lost guys that can intimidate on that line.

The Blues have had to improvise with call-ups from Springfield of the American Hockey League in those spots to play with Oskar Sundqvist, and on Thursday, it was McGing and Aleksanteri Kaskimaki.

That trio was on the ice for each of the first two goals, when Stamkos was on the doorstep at the net, not tied up by Logan Mailloux, after Binnington kicked out a Roman Josi point shot. But Sundqvist lost the initial face-off, and the play ultimately led to a second goal against on that line at 11:19 of the first and a 2-0 Predators lead:

And from there on, the Predators wound up having six slot shots compared to the Blues’ five in the first.

The Blues’ top line and d-pair got caught running around in the zone that led to O’Reilly’s goal that killed any Blues momentum when they cut it to 2-1, a goal that made it 3-1 at 8:38 of the second and the route would be on. Cam Fowler was in Binnington’s line of vision on the shot that beat him five-hole.

Forsberg converted what was a flipped puck that ultimately was a 2-on-1, and made it 4-1 at 11:43 before Stamkos scored his third of the game, a pass actually that went in off Justin Faulk at 12:06 that made the score 5-1.

But ultimately, these goals are scored with little to no physicality by the Blues, not putting a body on anyone and leaving too much real estate to work with.

Stamkos’ fourth was the prime example of a puck to the net, and Dalibor Dvorsky of all people is there to fend the front of the net, not a defenseman, at 15:33 that made it 6-2. Again, it was the Fowler-Parayko pairing on the ice there:

It wasn't much better at the offensive end either, where the Blues were able to get good looks from between the dots but not committed enough to sacrifice bodies at the net.

Which led Brayden Schenn to some strong comments.

"Soft ... soft in front of our own net, soft in front of their net," he said. "Give good players time and space to score goals or second chances, leaving 'Binner' hanging out to dry on some, that's how we keep on giving up as many goals as we are right now."

This is December, and these kinds of results should be happening in preseason or early when guys are ridding themselves of pond hockey mode.

Should this be happening now?

"No, like flat-out answer no," Schenn said. "We're not hard enough in front of either net. That's why we don't score, that's why we give them up."

So how does this change?

"Mentality," Schenn said. "It's just simple as far as a mindset goes. We just don't do it, and that's every single guy. We have to commit to the little habits of the details to play for one another or if not, you keep getting embarrassed."

* Nashville’s top players grossly outplayed the Blues’ top players – Stamkos, O’Reilly and Forsberg combined for six goals, and yes, Robert Thomas scored one to make it 5-2 at 13:56 of the second:

But the Predators’ top players outworked and out-competed the Blues’ top players, and the score was indicative.

* Fabbri looked good in debut – Too many negatives on a night like this, but I thought Fabbri’s return to the Blues was a good one.

Not only did he set up McGing for his goal, but he was skating hard, he was engaged and finished with three hits in 14:28 of ice time. Even in the third period, he was working hard.

We’ll see where this goes, but this could be a good fit if the 29-year-old shows the kind of determination he showed here tonight.

"I thought Robby Fabbri was our best forward," Montgomery said. "I loved his habits and details. He was at the net front screening, he got his assist being at the net front passing it over to Hugh. He was finishing checks, he was winning wall battles, all those little things that help your team have success.

"You hope that it will be infectious throughout our lineup. We've got an opportunity to regroup tomorrow night against the Hawks, so we look forward to tomorrow night at home."

"I thought 'Fabs' played well tonight," Schenn said. "He played hard, he brought energy, he had an assist there. I thought 'Fabs' was one of our better players and I think he was excited to be back. I thought he played pretty good tonight."

* McGing gets a goal he’ll remember – McGing would redeem himself with his first goal in a Blues uniform, and it was a nice play set up by Fabbri and Philip Broberg to cut it to 2-1 at 4:17 of the second period.

Broberg had possession in the corner working the puck and found Fabbri at the right side of the post. A quick pass to the low right circle and quick shot high blocker gave the Blues the momentum needed.

"It felt good honestly," McGing said. "You dream about scoring in the NHL, so it finally came and felt good, but obviously I would like to get (it) in a win:

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