It started with a turnover. And then another. And another. And another.
Before they knew it, the St. Louis Blues were out of it before the puck even dropped, it seemed.
The game started 30 minutes late due to a power outage at Canadian Tire Centre, but the Blues mush have thought the game was later.
The Blues were lacking compete, execution, and worst of all, effort and it resulted in a 8-1 pasting at the hands of the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday, their worst loss since an 8-0 beating against the Colorado Avalanche on Jan. 15, 2021.
The Blues (5-5-0), who were coming off a tough 5-2 loss against the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday, should have had no excuses about being tired. They shouldn’t — and won’t — make excuses regarding injuries, and they were playing the game without Robert Thomas (ankle), Mathieu Joseph (lower body) and Nick Leddy (lower body), but when they started this four-game road trip with an impressive 5-1 win against the Toronto Maple Leafs, they’ve dropped two straight duds and been outscored 13-3.
Joel Hofer was the starter and was the sacrificial lamb in goal but was pulled after allowing five goals on 21 shots. But as bad as his teammates were in front of him, he didn’t help himself either on this night. Jordan Binnington allowed three goals on 14 shots.
It was bad all around.
It started with three mis-management of pucks in the offensive zone that led to three Ottawa goals, and by some of what are supposed to be the Blues’ better players.
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It was turnovers, lack of awareness, commitment to defending … you name it, it wasn’t there, and that’s an issue. It’s also a disturbing aspect when effort comes into question, and that’s rarely, if ever, done.
And coach Drew Bannister, who rightfully took the blame from a coaching staff perspective, reflected on those very issues here:
There’s no need to identify every single goal, because the one hiccup by Zack Bolduc was simply an unfortunate one by a young player that simply messed up on the eighth goal. Plain and simple.
But in the first period, it was a complete lack of puck management in the offensive zone.
Pavel Buchnevich, who by the way was 1-for-9 (!) on face-offs in this game, good for a whopping 11 percent, turned the puck over with the puck on his stick in the offensive zone making a bad pass to the point that turned into a Josh Norris redirection in front with Buchnevich trailing just behind not making the play just 1:04 in.
When Noah Gregor made it 2-0 at 4:44 of the first period, it was Brandon Saad, puck rolled off his stick in the slot trying to shoot it, pass it, but another turnover led to another rush in which Brayden Schenn, instead of maybe taking the body of Gregor, lost his mad and tried to make a stick play and instead, the slot shot caromed off the stick and over Hofer for another multi-goal deficit, the fourth in 10 games already this season.
And on the third goal, the old, dreaded drop pass inside the blue line. Jake Neighbours tried making it to Saad, it wasn’t a good one, and off to the races the Senators went. And Tim Stutzle scored one of his two goals at 15:04 to make it 3-0.
Literally game over at that time.
One would think the Blues would come out with an angry mindset and work in the second period, but this Brady Tkachuk power-play goal, one of two for the St. Louis native, there’s just little compete and it was 4-0. Oskar Sundqvist tried to win a puck but doesn’t and there just doesn’t look like much of any urgency the rest of the way. And eve in saying that, Hofer looked like he should have made a save there.
And on Tkachuk’s second of the game that chased Hofer, it was another power-play goal at 11:08 that made it 5-0, the Blues sat back in coverage, but it was a shot Hofer would want back and he was done for the night.
To add insult to injury, former Blues farmhand Adam Gaudette, who scored 44 goals for Springfield of the American Hockey League last season, scored twice on Tuesday for the Senators, his third and fourth goals the past two games.
The Blues did get a power-play goal from Dylan Holloway and it was a nice goal, a direct play from the circle to the point, back to the half wall, Alexandre Texier made a cross seam pass from the left circle for a one-timer past Linus Ullmark at 9:02 of the third period.
Kasperi Kapanen left the game after two periods with an upper-body injury. He was checked by Zack MacEwen late in the first period and was shaken up coming off the ice and played in the second period but could not finish.
The Blues will try to salvage a .500 trip on Thursday when they close it out against the Philadelphia Flyers before coming home to embark on a five-game homestand.
