Blues offer up brutal honesty after lethargic loss to Nashville
ST. LOUIS -- A long win streak and the hottest goal scorer in the NHL served as nice distractions for legitimate concerns with the Blues' offense.
That sheen finally wore off Saturday, leaving St. Louis coach Ken Hitchcock to confront his team's struggles after a lethargic 2-1 home loss to Nashville. The Predators were clearly the aggressor as they moved into first place in the Central Division by snapping their six-game losing streak against the Blues.
"We're sitting on one line doing everything for us," Hitchcock said. "We're going to need a lot more from people if we expect to be good in this division."
No one needed to ask to know that meant the line led by Vladimir Tarasenko, which also features Jori Lehtera and sometimes Alexander Steen or, most recently, Jaden Schwartz. They've been on the ice for eight of the Blues' 11 full-strength goals in the last seven games, including five by Tarasenko.
The sensational forward made his mark again in the first period Saturday, when his hard shot from between the circles handcuffed Nashville goaltender Pekka Rinne, spilling the puck back in front of the goal. Lehtera took advantage and slid the puck underneath Rinne's left pad to put the Blues ahead, 1-0.
But the three other St. Louis lines rarely created chances, and even Tarasenko missed a relatively easy chance to retake the lead in the second period. After making a great play to control a puck sent across the goal, he failed to get his shot over Rinne's left blocker.
Those kinds of opportunities haven't often been missed during the Blues' seven-game win streak, during which they never looked particularly convincing. Two shootout wins and an overtime goal highlighted six one-goal victories, and a 2-0 triumph over Anaheim with Jake Allen playing spectacularly in net may have been the most unlikely result of all.
"We've been on the right edge of everything right now," Hitchcock said somewhat warily Saturday morning. "You can play just as well as we're playing right now and get on the wrong edge and still think you're playing well."
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That proved true Saturday night when St. Louis learned why the franchise has just three win streaks of eight games or longer in its proud 38-year history. It takes some special performances and a little luck to make that kind of run, particularly against the kind of competition the Blues faced in the past two weeks.
But it's even rarer to post such a winning streak while scoring fewer than three goals per game, a feat the Blues managed to accomplish with the help of strong defense and top-notch goaltending. Brian Elliott certainly did his part again Saturday, saving 33 of 35 shots and denying Nashville from point-blank range on multiple occasions before James Neal finally scored the game-winner from the top of the left circle in the third period.
Goals and even shots actually decreased for St. Louis during its winning streak as compared to the first six games of the year, when the Blues averaged nearly 34 shots on goal per game. They found higher-quality shots while averaging fewer than 29 per game in the last two weeks, but that wasn't the case as they got outshot 35-29 by Nashville.
"I think we were not ready to play," Lehtera said. "Everybody was kind of tired. Seven wins, we thought we were that good, but no, we're not."
More of that brutal honesty will be needed in the coming days to assess an offense ranked 24th in the league with 2.36 goals per game, including one or fewer in four of 10 games since a 6-1 rout at Arizona. Look for Hitchcock to make some more line changes to try to light a fire, but it comes down to getting more production from capable players such as David Backes, Steen and, now that he's back from injury, Paul Stastny.
Those three scored 85 goals a year ago, and they've combined for just three in the past 10 games. The continued absence of T.J. Oshie with a concussion only makes things worse, but all indicators are that he won't be returning anytime soon.
Hitchcock says it's a great time for a two-day rest after four games in six days appeared to catch up with St. Louis in the worst way. The Blues will take Sunday off before returning to practice and trying to figure out what went wrong.
Then last-place Buffalo brings the league's worst goal differential to town Tuesday for the first of three more home games, including a rematch with Nashville. To get back on the winning track, St. Louis needs to find its offensive mojo.
You can follow Luke Thompson on Twitter at @FS_LukeT or email him at lukegthompson87@gmail.com.
