The Blues’ season is half over.
They’re in the top half of their division, which makes the playoffs, but they’re the closest of those teams to the bottom half.
Half of their games have been at home (where they’ve been bad), while half of their games have been on the road (where they’ve been good).
If the Blues’ season was a drink, is it half full to toast or half empty to drown sorrows?
Here’s thinking it’s half full. The Blues are inconsistent and at times maddening on defense. But even with sloppy play, they’re still in the playoffs as of now — and in the coming days and weeks, they’ll get numerous key players back. Does health guarantee success? No. But it gives the Blues a better chance at playing reliable hockey. And that should keep them in games — and keep games from unraveling, like the embarrassing loss Saturday to Vegas.
That night, coach Craig Berube described the Blues using a different comparative phrase — pulling a rope. As in, not enough of the guys were pulling the same rope. When you begin the third period down 1-0 and end the third period down 5-1, that’s pretty good proof that your team isn’t playing like one.
“It means we’re not playing a complete game,” defenseman Justin Faulk said Monday via Zoom from Los Angeles, where the Blues were supposed to play that night, except the Kings couldn’t make it home from snowy Denver. “We’re not invested for 60 minutes, 65, whatever it might be that night. And that means that you need the 18 guys in the lineup every night to put in a full effort. We can’t get out-worked. That’s what we’re trying to do to other teams — that’s the way our team is built, on our work ethic and ‘compete level,’ and when we don’t have that, it can look pretty ugly.”
This is such an astute point by Faulk. It’s so true — the Blues’ very style of play is based on dedication, to which every line must adhere. This isn’t a star-driven team; it’s a style-driven team.
“And I think you saw that over the weekend,” Faulk said, “especially the second game where we just kind of let them dictate the play and kind of take the game to us.
“I mean, it sounds easy but you got to just start with the basics and you got to have that ‘compete (level)’ — and if you don’t, it’s tough. Hockey is very much a team sport, and you don’t get by with half a team showing up every night, or even 14 of the 18 guys, whatever it might be. You need everybody.”
You need everybody, even when you don’t have everybody. You can’t replace the talent that’s injured, but you should be able to at least replace the effort.
But for every recent overachiever such as Dakota Joshua, you’ve got someone such as Mike Hoffman, who entered Saturday averaging literally one shot per game in his previous seven. Or defenseman Vince Dunn, who is minus-four since Feb. 18.
Tyler Bozak should be back Wednesday to play against the Kings. Jaden Schwartz and Robert Thomas are skating again and should return soon. Schwartz, particularly, should be an instant boost to this team, because he’s such a talented defensive forward. His overall play enhances the Blues’ play, even when he’s in one of his scoring droughts. Important defenseman Colton Parayko remains out, as are a few other pieces.
“When you’ve got guys out of the lineup, yeah it’s tough, and we’ve got a lot of them — but, like, big deal. Who cares?” Faulk asked. “. . . No one feels sorry for us. So you can assess it as — (our play) hasn’t been good enough. And we know that.
“The second half of the year has to be a lot better than the first. And we’re going to have to start bearing down and winning tight hockey games and making the games tight. The group inside that room knows that.”
Berube, who never pulled a punch as a player, didn’t as a coach when describing the Blues’ defensive habits. He said Monday that a team cannot win in this league if it cannot defend — and the Blues are allowing too many goals.
Some of that is on the play of backup goalie Ville Husso. Much was made on a recent game broadcast of how he’s allowed five goals in the past eight games on the first or second shot of a game. But it’s not like all the goals simply were Husso’s fault. It’s indicative of the Blues as a team — the Blues, as the old saying goes, “let the game come to them,” which might sound like a sound strategy . . . but not if that game comes to you by the opponent scoring off Husso in the first 30 seconds.
The Blues aren’t a perfect product. But in a season in which teams are surviving more than ever before — and differently than ever before — that’s what the Blues have done. They’re a playoff team right now. But of the 28 remaining games, 19 are against the three other playoff teams in the division. Health will help. But so will holding onto that rope — and everything that comes with doing so.
“With the shortened season, I think every game matters even more,” forward Zach Sanford said. “Especially the second half.”
