When Jim Montgomery put the St. Louis Blues through a practice on Tuesday on the heels of an 0-3-0 homestand, it should have gotten the attention of all. [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/st-louis-blues/latest-news/blues-practice-predictable-after-another-disheartening-loss-monday] Another poor start; no heart, emotion, energy, effort; Blues just lacking star talent on this roster Nobody likes – or wants – to be bag-skated, which is how Tuesday’s hour-long practice session ended at Centene Community Ice Center. But the Blues’ coach, after extensive compete-oriented drills, was trying to get the attention of a roster that quite frankly needed – and still needs – quite the swift kick in the rear. Apparently the message fell on deaf ears, and skates, on Friday as the Blues laid another egg and were shut out for the second time in three games, 5-0 against the Colorado Avalanche at Ball Arena. It was the fourth straight loss by the Blues (23-25-4), who have been outscored 16-4 the past four games [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/st-louis-blues/latest-news/three-takeaways-from-blues-5-2-loss-against-canucks], and even though he’s barely been on the job two months, Montgomery is running into a brick wall right now trying to come up with answers for this group that is showing no signs of a pulse. Let’s look at Friday’s Three Takeaways, including a couple that aren’t necessarily reflective of the game but more so on the whole complexion: * Another dismal first period – It’s like a broken record how many times the Blues talk about starting on time, being ready when the puck drops, ready to battle. But for the fourth straight game, the Blues were chasing the game again, and early. Johnathan Drouin’s goal at 4:57 turned out to be the game-winner, and it marked the fourth straight game the Blues surrendered the first goal within the first 10 minutes, including three of them inside the first five minutes: If you want to get an idea of how the Blues are lacking in any sort of confidence or execution, watch how Martin Necas scored his first goal since being acquired by the Avalanche when he takes a puck at his own blue line, skates through the neutral zone with no Blues skater in sight following another less-than-stellar line change, Necas uncontested enters the St. Louis zone and wires a shot past Joel Hofer at 7:39 to make it 2-0: It epitomized how the Blues played, and the shots on goal (21-6) were not misleading either; it’s the most shots the Blues have allowed in a period this season. Oh, they also allowed two power-play goals also making it four straight failed penalty kills. By the end, it was 4-0. * Blues lack energy, heart, effort – Defenseman Colton Parayko, having himself a terrific season, was a late scratch on Friday due to illness, his first game missed since Nov. 19, 2022: But instead of turning to each other and knowing they will be shorthanded a bit without one of their top players, the Blues cowered and in a sense, almost felt sorry for themselves. Where’s the top-end players to grab the team and pull them in the right direction? And I don’t just mean captain Brayden Schenn, who gathered the group around at the end of practice on Thursday for a some encouraging words for the group that Montgomery called “leadership.” There’s got to be more than that, from players like Robert Thomas and Pavel Buchnevich, who had a combined two shots on goal (none from Thomas) in the game and had little to no impact on it. This is where Justin Faulk should be the ringleader of the defensemen, not so much Cam Fowler because he’s still relatively new and Ryan Suter, although has the most experience, is in his first year, but Faulk has looked anything but on top of his game, specifically from an offensive standpoint. As the dean of this group Friday, he needed to step into that role. These are the guys with the letters, or are supposed to be the most impactful players, and the Blues right now are getting little to no collective leadership from any of them. * This roster just flat-out lacks star talent – Wasn’t it the Avalanche that lost one of its star players last week to a trade in Mikko Rantanen? Sure, they got a budding star in return [Necas], but the way this game was played, one would have thought it was the Blues that lost the star player. There’s one big difference: Colorado has these two guys named MacKinnon and Makar that are stars who can overcome such a drastic move. Let’s be honest here, the Blues don’t have, nor have had for quite a long time, any kind of star players anything close to that. This Blues roster is just so flawed. It’s really lacking any top-end type of talent. God love Schenn, who is putting his best foot forward on most nights, but when he’s your best center right now, that’s not a contending team. That’s not a playoff team. Nowhere near it. No disrespect to Schenn, but if the Blues were any kind of contending team, Schenn would – at best – be a No. 3 center. Thomas has been playing nowhere near anything like a top-end center, and quite frankly, he's been nowhere near the level he was playing at in December. But this particular Blues roster, if any of these players were on a contending team, they’re lucky to be playing in the top six. This roster is just flat-out flawed to be anywhere near postseason-eligible. The Blues had some moments this season where they competed and played well against opponents, but it’s getting to be that point in the season where the contenders are waking up and the pretenders are showing their true colors. Let’s face it, this is nowhere near a contender, and when Avalanche coach Jared Bednar came out after the pregame skate and said Colorado were going to take these games leading into the 4 Nations Face-Off as if they were playoff games, the result Friday speaks for itself. Hear what a frustrated Montgomery and players said following the game: Image [https://thehockeynews.com/.image/c_fit,h_600,w_600/MjA5MjcwNjk1MDQ0MDY0NDYy/subscribe2024-front-banner.jpg]
