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Instant Analysis: Blues Search For Three-Game Winning Streak Bungled Again In 3-1 Loss To Rangers
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- Instant Analysis: Blues Search For Three-Game Winning Streak Bungled Again In 3-1 Loss To Rangers
Are you even surprised anymore?
You knew what was at stake, a chance at three straight wins. We all know how this script plays out.
And true to form for the St. Louis Blues , it played out just was predicted: a loss.
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The Blues' 3-1 loss to the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden in New York on Monday feels like another missed opportunity for a team looking for consistency.
Joel Hofer gave the Blues (7-7-1) a chance to win and kept them in it, but they were less than a minute from being shut out for the third time in five games before Pius Suter scored what amounted to be a consolation goal and ended a shutout bid by Dylan Garand, who like the Rangers (8-7-1) was on a four-game losing streak (allowed 15 goals). Garand was on waivers at the start of the season but has been thrust into a top role with Igor Shesterkin (knee) out for the season and backup Joonas Korpisalo (lower-body injury) also out.
Let's get into the game ...
* Three in a row is like kryptonite --The Blues are now 0-3-0 when trying to win three straight.
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Sounds familiar? It should.
Last season, the Blues did put together winning streaks or more of three in a row three times from late February on, but as former general manager Doug Armstrong said, those came under "meaningless" games.
In their first five cracks at it last season, they lost every one and were outscored 29-9.
And going back to the previous season, prior to their record-breaking 12-game winning streak they put together from March 15-April 5, 2025, they were 1-7-2 in attempts to win three in a row., and let's face it, without the record winning streak, they likely don't make the playoffs that season.
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If they want to be a playoff team again, they better figure out to put winning runs together and put them together often. Right now, this core group simply doesn't get it done.
* Good start to the game --The Blues seemed to be on the front foot to start the game after the Rangers had to opening 30 seconds to a minute in the Blues zone, St. Louis pushed back and had some really good looks and sustained shifts -- and some lengthy ones -- in the O-zone.
What was missing though, were those areas of crashing the crease, getting bodies in and around the goalie and near the blue paint, burying good looks.
The power play (which we'll get into next) actually looked really good on the first opportunity when Scott Morrow was in the box for the Rangers for high-sticking at 7:44.
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* Power play just wasn't good enough --Look, I understand the Blues had been on a nice run with the man advantage going 8-for-24 and thrusting themselves into the top 10 (ninth) going into the game.
But in going 0-for-6 -- the last one was a meaningless 22 seconds remaining in the game -- in a game which scoring a goal (or more) with the man advantage could have made a huge difference, the Blues laid a big dud.
And the biggest problem was the breakouts and zone entries, which continue to be a problem spot. There's just not enough skill displayed for them to carry the puck in without losing the puck, getting it stripped or not doing so cleanly and it's right back down the ice and they spent the majority of their time simply trying to enter the zone outside of their first opportunity, which generated three of their eight shots.
And when they did have a good look or two the rest of the way, including Pavel Buchnevich's slot chance, retrievals were non-existent, they were one-and-done, and the Rangers, which came in with the third-ranked penalty kill on the season, so you have to give them credit for that, were able to get relatively easy clears.
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And to top things off, the Blues were at times their own worst enemy making the ill-advised passes that were coming out of the zone and re-entries were problematic.
The penalty kill, which was good again going 3-for-3 despite the Rangers getting 11 of their 31 shots on goal, did its job, but the flip side of the special teams could have made a difference for the Blues in trying to secure that third straight win.
* Bad line change breaks ice --The game was scoreless into the second period, so it was turning into one of those contests where mistakes need to be limited and when a scoring chance was available, someone needed to pounce.
The Blues had the offensive zone and puck possession when it suddenly changed hands, and whether Dalibor Dvorsky saw that or not, can't really speak for him, it was his ill-advised line change that enabled the Rangers to drive the the neutral zone with the puck, gain the D-zone of the Blues and find Adam Fox for the ice-breaker at 1:49 of the second period for a 1-0 Rangers lead:
* Turnover leads to clinching goal --The Blues pulled off the third period comeback against the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday and were in a one-shot game Tuesday, but a turnover led to what amounted to be the game-winner by Oliver Bjorkstrand and a 2-0 New York lead at 9:01 after Mason McTavish lost control of a wobbly puck and turned it over, leading to a mini 3-on-1 that Bjorkstrand buried from the slot:
* Tough night for Fowler-Jiricek pair --Those two players were on the ice for the first two goals against, and it's only reflective in each being a minus-2.
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I get there are a lot of fand right now down on Fowler, but he's had to be the one to nurture a couple young guys as his partner with the shuffling of defensemen and guys being out.
When Colton Parayko comes back, and that could be as early as Thursday, and also Logan Mailloux is ready to play, the Blues need to get him back with Brandon Carlo, someone he began camp with and played really well to start the season with.
Fowler can be more the guy that jumps into the offense, which is suited for his style, and Carlo is the safety net defenseman.
* What is going on with Connor McMichael? --I can include a number of players in this category, but going into this, and some of the numbers -- or lack thereof -- that were coming from the McMichael stat lines, I really thought this would be the game perhaps the forward would break the schneid and score.
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McMichael hasn't scored a goal now since the fourth game of the season (Oct. 8) against the San Jose Sharks and has just two in 15 games; he has eight points, which is OK (not great), but in the past 11 games, McMichael has four assists and just two in the past nine.
He was a minus-2 again Tuesday and just isn't shooting the puck.
In shutout losses to the Carolina Hurricanes on Oct. 24 and Montreal Canadiens on Oct. 27, McMichael had eight shots on goal, which is good. In nine games surrounding those two, he has a grand total of four shots. McMichael is also a minus-8 over his last nine games; his minus-8 on the season is a team worst.
But it's the line in general with McTavish and Jonatan Berggren, which started off the season so productive, has dried up considerably of late. It's gotten stale and perhaps needs a shakeup.
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Berggren has just one assist in eight games since scoring Oct. 15 against the Minnesota Wild and McTavish has no points in five games and one goal in the past seven.
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