It was over quickly.
The Detroit Red Wings wasted little time in putting the St. Louis Blues down for the count, and delivered the knockout punch before people could even get into their seats at Little Caesars Arena on Saturday.
In a lethargic display, the Red Wings (31-20-6) had the Blues (20-25-2) down three goals within the game's first 5 1/2 minutes en route to a 6-1 beating.
There was plenty of ugly to go around for the Blues, who have not dropped four of their past six after winning seven of eight and by the end of the day, could be on the outside looking in on the Western Conference playoff chase with just 25 games remaining.
Jordan Binnington, who was pulled after the first period, and Joel Hofer, were each made sacrificial lambs in a game in which the Blues just didn't come ready to play for a noon local time puck drop.
The lone bright spot was Zack Bolduc's first NHL goal in an otherwise forgettable morning and afternoon in Motown in front of a national television audience on ABC.
Let's get into the three keys of this loss:
1. Not ready from the drop of the puck -- The Blues must have missed when the puck was dropped because it was evident from the word 'go,' that they were not ready for this game.
They started the fourth line, which they've done regularly the past handful of games or so, but it couldn't get a puck in deep, and after a quick line change, the Red Wings were off to the races against the flat-footed Blues, and nemesis Patrick Kane made it 1-0 just 33 seconds into the game, and it was a prelude of things to come.
2. Poor puck management/turnovers -- The Blues didn't seem to get the message after Thursday's 4-0 win against the New York Islanders when interim coach Drew Bannister spoke after the game, and Brayden Schenn on Friday, of getting into a track meet once the game was 3-0.
It was odd-man rush after odd-man rush for the Red Wings in the early going, and goals by Michael Rasmussen and former Blue Robby Fabbri, despite the lucky bounce on Kasperi Kapanen's attempted clear off Fabbri and in, were goal Nos. 2 and 3 and essentially put the game out of reach because of the Blues' inability to put a singular pass together and/or get pucks in to establish any sort of forecheck to try and slow the game down.
Bannister said postgame the Blues had 20-24 turnovers in the first period(!) alone, and against good, skill, rush players, it was a recipe for disaster, and the result speaks volumes.
3. No-show from top players -- Bannister made the decision to bench top-end players Robert Thomas and Jordan Kyrou for all but one shift in the third period; Kasperi Kapanen was parked on the bench for the entire third period.
Thomas has been on a scoring tear as of late (21 points on three goals, 18 assists the previous 13 games), but he and Kyrou were on the ice and caught out of position and unaware of their defensive duties on Kane's opening-minute goal, and that top line turned the puck over in the offensive zone that led to an odd-man rush for the second goal at 4:21.
Brayden Schenn missed what looked like a slam-dunk goal at the end of the Blues' first period, and it just seemed like from start to finish, the top-end guys did not bring their best in an important game.
And for the second time this season, Bannister has made an example out of the top-end guys who don't perform up to standards; he benched Pavel Buchnevich earlier this season in a 6-1 loss against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
