OTTAWA, Ontario — For the Blues, this reality must feel odd.
Plunged further into their new world with a 7-2 loss to the Senators on Sunday night, the Blues are faced with a reality in which trades have gutted their roster, injuries have pillaged the remaining survivors. The fleeting joy brought on by a three-game win streak after the All-Star break has been beat back by Friday’s trade of Ryan O’Reilly, Saturday’s loss to Colorado and Sunday’s blowout in Ottawa.
The loss tied the Blues’ worst of the season, a 5-0 drubbing by Arizona on Jan. 26. Six different Senators scored for Ottawa, as Tim Stutzle, Brady Tkachuk and Alex DeBrincat each posted three-point nights.
Colton Parayko and Tyler Pitlick scored in the third period for the Blues. Thomas Greiss made his first start since Jan. 26 in the loss.
St. Louis finishes its brief road trip on Tuesday in Carolina against the Metropolitan-leading Hurricanes.
The Blues franchise is not used to being in this position. They have won a Stanley Cup more recently than 29 other franchises. This team is poised to miss the playoffs for just the second time since 2011. But now, the trade deadline next week appears to be the most important date on the upcoming calendar, and summer may arrive in the second week of April.
Given the state of the Blues roster — now without O’Reilly, Noel Acciari, Vladimir Tarasenko, Niko Mikkola because of trades, and minus Pavel Buchnevich and Brandon Saad due to injuries — they could enter many games in the final two months outgunned, outmanned.
Of the 18 skaters in their lineup on Sunday, half of them played AHL games in the last two years. Their second power play unit vs. Ottawa featured three forwards (Nikita Alexandrov, Logan Brown, Sammy Blais) with a combined five goals this season. Matthew Highmore made his Blues debut after an AHL All-Star season with Springfield.
That doesn’t even account for losing Jake Neighbours after just one shift to an upper-body injury, or being without Tyler Tucker for 17 minutes after his fight with Austin Watson.
