COLUMN: St. Louis Blues hit rock bottom after lopsided loss

ST. LOUIS — Seven years after being drafted by the St. Louis Blues, third-year defenseman Scott Perunovich scored his first career NHL goal.

It was the lone bright spot in an 8-1 home loss against the Washington Capitals on Saturday, Nov. 9, at the Enterprise Center.

For the fans in attendance, it was Capital punishment right in front of their eyes.

“It’s completely unacceptable,” Blues defenseman Justin Faulk said. “I don’t think that should ever happen, a situation like that. We need to have respect for each other and the game. We can’t just go out there and play summer hockey for a period and think that’s alright at any point.”

It’s a result that represents rock bottom for the Blues (7-8), who are mired 2-5 stretch that has two games in which they have allowed eight goals, the first taking place in an 8-1 loss at Ottawa on Oct. 29.

“With that happening in Ottawa and then happening again tonight,” Blues captain Brayden Schenn said, “it all starts with me. I can’t let that happen again this season. You’re going to lose games but to get embarrassed on home ice on Saturday night, you can’t let that happen.”

What made this result all the more demoralizing was the fact that the Blues were only down 3-1 entering the third period.

“We let our goalie hang out to dry in the third period,” Schenn said.

In a sense, it’s a result that seems like a long time coming for a Blues team that hasn’t established a 1-0 lead of their own since Oct. 24 and has given up a goal in the first minute for two straight games, including a wrist shot goal from Washington’s Connor McMichael on Saturday.

Perunovich’s goal tied the game 1-1 and gave the Blues a chance entering the second period.

“I thought a reaction after the first one was good,” Blues head coach Drew Bannister said. “I thought we didn’t let off the foot but once the two goals happen in the third, we have to have a better response, protecting our goalies. Up to that point after the second period, we have to recognize the little details in our game that make a difference.”

Alex Ovechkin and Jakob Chychrun each scored to establish a 3-1 lead for Washington in the second period. Somehow, the Blues outshot the Capitals 11-4 during the period.

The floodgates opened in the third period with five goals from Rasmus Sandin, Michael Sgarbossa, Brandon Duhaime, and Ovechkin and McMichael again.

“When it’s 5-1 we have to do a better job of making sure we stop the bleeding,” Bannister said. “We’ve just got to find more will in those situations, playing for each other and playing for the goaltender.”

The slew of slow starts becomes a bigger problem for the Blues when adding their failure in the power play. When given the advantage of one more skater than the other team, the Blues were 0-for-3 on Saturday and 0-for-13 in their last five games on the power play. They have been on the power play 37 times in 15 games and have scored just four times.

With no outside solution available at this time, it’s up to Bannister to fix these offensive woes from within.

“I need guys to play to their potential and be able to do that for 60 minutes,” Bannister said. “I believe the guys in this room can do that.”

It’s been such a rough stretch for the Blues that even the games they won included a key injury. They lost key defenseman Phillip Broberg during last week’s win over Toronto and dodged a health scare with Dylan Holloway during their win over Tampa Bay last Tuesday.

Compile that with Robert Thomas, Nick Leddy, Torey Krug, and Mathieu Joseph, and Bannister is left with little choice but to rely on the remaining roster.

“We can have success with the group that we have,” Bannister said. “We need more from all of us in here. Changing guys in and out of the lineup obviously isn’t an option right now, but the players themselves and the group in the room, if they play to their potential, we’ll win hockey games.”

As for Washington, this is shaping up to be an exciting season for the Capitals. Ovechkin, with 863 goals in his career, and 10 goals this season, is now 31 goals behind Wayne Gretzky’s NHL record 894. If he were to replicate his 2022-23 total of 42 this season, the record would be his by the end of this season.

The Capitals are enjoying a 10-4 start that has them tied with the Carolina Hurricanes (20 points) and only two points behind the New Jersey Devils (22 points) for first place in the Metropolitan Division. Goaltender Logan Thompson has proven to be a key acquisition, as he is now 7-0 after recording 24 saves in the win over St. Louis.

The Blues end their homestand on Tuesday, Nov. 12, with the Boston Bruins coming to town. A fast start and an early lead against the Bruins could go a long way for the Blues to reverse their misfortunes.