The St. Louis Blues are seeing their busy offseason paying off. Following some early-season struggles, they hit a recent scoring surge.
St. Louis may have lost to the Minnesota Wild 5-4 on Thursday night. But they kept up their newfound high-octane ways that started vs. Columbus and continued against Ottawa.
The Blues have scored 16 goals in their last three games, good for a 5.33 average. This comes in contrast to their first four games, when they scored just nine times, or 2.25 per game. The recent outburst has also been reflected in their record, which is 2-1-0 across their previous three contests.
In short, the Blues’ scoring rate has increased by 137 percent. If that trend continues, they could evolve into one of the NHL’s most dangerous scoring units. Should that occur, then St. Louis could better manage the one major catch in their game that still lingers.
St. Louis Blues Remain Inconsistent Defensively Despite Scoring Surge
While the Blues held their own defensively vs. the Blue Jackets and against the Senators, they haven’t been great at stopping opponents. The Blues allowed five goals in both matchups combined, before allowing five against the Wild.
Since their shutout win over the Dallas Stars to open the season, the Blues have allowed 23 goals, or 3.8 per game. That can’t happen to a team looking to keep pace in the Central Division.
There will be times when the Blues allow four, five, or six goals per game, yet still emerge victorious should their high-octane output keep up. But on the other side of the equation, what if it remains inconsistent?
Before their three-game turnaround, the Blues scored two or fewer goals in three of their first four matchups. In their season opener against Dallas, two of their four goals were empty-netters. It wasn’t like the Blues were scoring all over the place against a tough Stars team.
Blues Defensive Inconsistencies On Full Display Thursday Night
Some may point out that the Blues still allowed just three and two goals over their previous two games, respectively, before facing Minnesota. But their defensive meltdowns against the Wild were alarming.
Matthew Boldy scored a hat trick, and the Blues had no answer for him all evening. They also couldn’t stop Kirill Kaprizov, who had three points and a goal. It may be tough to stop star players every night, but the Blues still can’t make it easy on teams capable of pouring on goals. And the Wild are one of those teams.
Head coach Jim Montgomery chimed in regarding the Blues’ defensive struggles. Via Heather Rule of NHL.com, Montgomery said, “They’re (the Wild) very dangerous, and they showed us why they’re so dangerous. And we made it too easy for them. I did like our fight to come back and just to try and prevail in the game.”
Luckily for the St. Louis Blues, they showed that they can get hot offensively and pick up goals when the stakes rise. But the next time they face a high-scoring team like the Wild, the Blues must find a way to slow them down. Ultimately, they need to shut down teams like Minnesota regularly if they want to be in serious playoff contention later in the season.
St. Louis Blues’ Recent Scoring Explosion Hides Bigger Concern