OK, now do it again.
Monday was fun — the Blues played actual cohesive hockey and won a much-needed game.
But I’m not going to anoint them funk-free until they get on a little run. And that’s quite an ask, considering the daunting task of the next three games on the road. The Blues first play at Vancouver — the team they defeated 4-1 at Enterprise Center on Monday — then against the Oilers, who employ the two best players in hockey. And then finally at Calgary, the top team in its division. Oh, and it’s a back-to-back nights of games.
But the Blues are supposed to be Cup contenders, right? A Cup contender finds ways to collect points on the road.
Still, considering the Blues of late deserved boos, it was impressive to see how they came out on Monday. The losses to the Flyers and Hurricanes were abominations — combined score, 12-4. The whole month of March had been embarrassing, as the Blues didn’t just lose games, but their identity, too.
Didn’t help when they actually lost one of their better players in Torey Krug (upper-body injury). And when they traded the player who most-epitomized their identity in Oskar Sundqvist. But on the ice this month, the Blues have had poor puck management, average goaltending, a subpar power play and a penchant for letting the opponent dictate the game (especially early).
Talk about bad trends — the Blues had scored first in only three of the first 12 March games this year. And sure enough, they’re 1-6-2 in the nine the opponent scored first.
“It’s been too often where we kind of get scored on and the air kind of deflates out of the tires and we take a while to regroup,” forward Brandon Saad said. “And if you don’t play a full 60 in this league, you’re not going win, especially against good hockey teams down the stretch. We’re playing a lot of good hockey teams.”
And Monday’s opponent was intriguing, because the Canucks aren’t categorically good, but sure have played great at late. And they entered the night sniffing at the Blues in the wild-card standings — yes, that’s how bad things have gotten for the Blues, that they’re in the wild-card mix.
But Monday’s win put them back in the division race — third place. For a night anyway.
And sure enough, St. Louis jumped to 2-0 lead in the first. In fact, the Blues scored first for the first time in six games. And of all players to score, it was the scorned Marco Scandella, who has had a rough go this season. But Vladimir Tarasenko made a patient pass for the assist. And on the second goal, Ivan Barbashev came to life. No. 49 procured the puck, pushed the puck and passed the puck, perfectly, for an assist to David Perron.
Tarasenko and Barbashev had been struggling this month. Same with Pavel Buchnevich. They were three of the top players when things were going well.
One has to wonder if the stress of war between Russia and Ukraine is affecting the Russian trio? I would think it would be very difficult to compartmentalize emotions in such a trying time. Then again, it could just be a coincidence that all three had been off their games. Regardless, it was good to see some signs of a turnaround on Monday.
Tarasenko scored two goals, tallied an assist and if he had thrown a punch during his scuffle with Tyler Myers, Vladi would’ve had a “Gordie Howe Hat Trick.” Late in the game, the fans even began chanting his name. The video screen showed him on the bench, and he waved to the crowd.
No. 91’s empty-netter Monday was good for the 500th point in his career. But the team didn’t bring him into the media room to do postgame interviews — he hasn’t spoken since the war began.
But coach Craig Berube was complimentary of Tarasenko, who now is tied for the team-lead with 23 goals.
“He’s probably not happy with the number of goals he has, because he’s had a lot of opportunities,” the coach said. “He was very good tonight that line was very good, they were on pucks, they possessed pucks, they were heavy. … But his opportunities this year to score goals, he could have at least 30, that I see. He gets a lot of good slot shots.”
So, yeah, fun night at the new barn.
That won’t matter unless the Blues return next week with some points at customs.
Look, we all know the Blues aren’t going to win the division. But it would be quite a letdown if they don’t end up in the 2-3 playoff game against another division foe. If St. Louis ends up as one of the two wild cards — and has to face Colorado or Calgary in the first round — this season could be a flop.
Missing the playoffs, of course, would make this season a complete failure.
So they’ll need to play more like they did against Vancouver … starting against Vancouver.
