ST. LOUIS – A broken record when it comes to the St. Louis Blues that just doesn’t seem to want to go away.
Look like world beaters one game, put on a disappearing act the next.
Look as consistent as a game can get one game, then revert right back to the inconsistent, lack of urgent side seen far too often, and it was on display on Saturday in a 2-1 loss against the Columbus Blue Jackets at Enterprise Center.
The Blues (20-20-4) were stymied by Jet Greaves, yes, Jet Greaves, and came within 10.5 seconds of being shut out for the first time before Colton Parayko’s goal kept that streak alive:
But it’s not the kind of streak they care too much about. Well, it sort of is, but it’s another lost game in the standings when the Blues know they’re chasing the standings. And it’s another example of what’s happened far too often this season yet again.
Let’s go into the Three Takeaways:
* Jim Montgomery laid it out in bold — “The lack of urgency in our group is what’s hurting is in our consistency,” Montgomery said. “You look at the way we came out against Anaheim (Thursday in a 6-2 win), there was a direct purpose to what we were doing. Tonight there was not. It was wait-and-see. And that urgency us fearing losing is something that’s got to become part of our fiber if we want to get to the consistent level we want to be at.”
Tonight was a perfect example of taking it up a notch from a 6-2 win against the Anaheim Ducks on Thursday and starting to surge in the right direction.
Instead, the Blues go the opposite way and level off in the wrong direction.
And how do they go about finding that urgency?
“Mentally you have to fear losing,” Montgomery said. “I know it sounds maybe stupid, but if you’re afraid of losing … you watch a boxer go into the ring. And if he’s loose, he’s going to get knocked out. You’ve got to really fear and respect this league or it’ll humble you. We get humbled a lot. It’s a mental preparation thing that we’ve just got to be able to come to games. This is the way we start games, this is the way we start the second. This is the way we finished the second.”
Someone has to take this by the horns and move it in the right direction. It can be said it’s got to be the leaders, and sure, they have to lead, but it falls on everyone that puts the uniform on.
“It’s the whole group and it’s led by me,” Montgomery said. “I’m disappointed in myself that I haven’t been able to push this group to that level of mental preparation. That’s on me.”
“We got to a great start last game and kind of set the tone for the whole game,” Blues center Robert Thomas said. “We weren’t able to do that tonight and it’s frustrating. We need to find a way to be consistent for the whole 60 minutes. It’s hard fighting back when you’re down. We had some good pushes but weren’t able to score. Just got to come out stronger.”
Added defenseman Justin Faulk: “Obviously the consistency, it is what it is. You can see it, right? It hasn’t been as good as we would have liked. I think we know what it takes to play well and be successful in this league and how that is.”
* Blues looked a step slower than Blue Jackets – The Blue Jackets (20-17-5), who have been abysmal on the road this season (6-12-3) but have now won two straight away from home and a season-high four overall, were a step faster to most pucks than the Blues were.
Why? Desperation. They are in a position to be in the playoffs, as are the Blues, but one team took it to another level that it took to win a hockey game.
“There’s a reason they’re 9-2 in their last 11 games,” Montgomery said of the Jackets. “I thought their details were very good, their puck support was really good. They managed the puck really well, they made real subtle plays in all three zones, support plays. They’re playing really well.”
* Defensive mistakes costly – Cam Fowler has been as good as advertised for the Blues since they acquired the veteran defenseman on Dec. 14 from the Ducks. But we all knew the Blues’ run of four or more goals in five straight games and seven of eight would not last and when the well would be dry in the goal scoring department, it would take sound, fundamental plays to get the job done.
It’s not all on him, because the Blues were not good for large swaths in their own zone, but two mistakes by the 33-year-old would up in the back of the net.
The first was losing the puck in the corner that led to Adam Fantilli’s first-period goal that made it 1-0 when Parayko played a puck to him but was turned over by Dmitri Voronkov:
The second came with the Blues killing an Oskar Sundqvist penalty, and when Faulk goes behind the net to play the puck handler, Fowler also left the front of the net leaving Cole Sillinger alone and he potted what turned out to be the game-winner:
Montgomery wouldn’t finger-point, and rightfully so, because the entire team did not handle the D-zone play adequate enough.
“I thought it showed itself in a lot of areas,” Montgomery said. “Really in the first two periods for me.”
