The St. Louis Blues had a rough weekend, and that is putting things lightly.
After getting thumped by their new division rivals, the Colorado Avalanche, at home on Saturday, the Blues were drilled by a familiar rival, the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday afternoon.
Now 78 games in to the season, the Blues are still in contention for the President's Cup and are in the driver's seat for the No. 1 seed in the Western Confrence.
But after this recent stretch of poor play, it is not wrong to ask the question, "Did the Blues peak too early?"
Sure the Blues have suffered from some key injuries of late, most recently missing leading scorer Alexander Steen over the weekend and over a longer period of time, hot-shot Russian sniper Vladimir Tarasenko.
But the recent play of this team, while considering the level of competition, is definite cause for concern.
Over the last five games, the Blues have just a 2-3 record. Four of those five games were against playoff teams and the Blues lost all three games to Western Conference playoff foes (Dallas, Colorado and Chicago).
Part of the problem has been scoring and a possible answer to that problem would be the return of Steen, and later Tarasenko to the lineup.
But maybe the other part of the problem is the coaching.
Head coach Ken Hitchcock has received plenty of praise over the course of the season, and rightfully so, for how he has steered this group into a juggernaut.
Hitchcock's recent decision-making, and line combinations, may also have led to the recent scoring drought.
Hitchcock refuses to give in to any notion of that, hinting after Sunday's loss that the Blues are not winning, or scoring, because of a lack of effort, in comments made after Sunday's game (courtesy of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
I would surmise that part of the issue are Hitch's line combos, and this has not just been a recent problem.
His constant juggling, and choosing to pick on certain players (Roy) while not holding others accountable in the same manner for poor play (Morrow, Berglund and yes, Sobotka) has led to a lack of cohesion throughout the roster.
For the most part, Hitch has left the No. 1 line alone. That was until Saturday, when Hitch made yet another example of of some of his line juggling blunders on Saturday against the Avalanche by actually playing the offensively inept Chris Porter with T.J Oshie and David Backes.
I'm sorry, but that is inexcusable. That is laughable. It is a slap to the face in the general direction of anyone who loves hockey.
God love Chris Porter and his effort and dare I say gumption, but he has zero business playing on a top line and I do not care how many injuries the team has suffered.
What happened to the clamoring of how deep this roster was, especially at forward?
Maybe that are not as deep as we thought.
What happened to the team that was in the top three in goals per game in the NHL?
That answer is simple. It is playoff time and other teams have tightened up and are playing at the same effort level as the Blues. The elite teams are all that remain and scoring by dumping the puck and cycling it around the corners and behind the net are not going to beat the cream of the crop goaltenders in the NHL. We have seen this song and dance before, the last two seasons, when Jonathan Quick stone-wallled the Blues early in the playoffs twice in a row.
The Blues need to use the next four games to right the ship and get back to playing the same style of hockey that got the team its 111 points.
And Hitchcock needs to use these last four games to create line combinations that work. That fit together. That are balanced and can create scoring opportunities while staying sound defensively as well.
The vibe around this Blues team just does not feel good right now, and the timing could not be any worst.
Lets just hope this team did not peak too early.
After getting thumped by their new division rivals, the Colorado Avalanche, at home on Saturday, the Blues were drilled by a familiar rival, the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday afternoon.
Now 78 games in to the season, the Blues are still in contention for the President's Cup and are in the driver's seat for the No. 1 seed in the Western Confrence.
But after this recent stretch of poor play, it is not wrong to ask the question, "Did the Blues peak too early?"
But the recent play of this team, while considering the level of competition, is definite cause for concern.
Over the last five games, the Blues have just a 2-3 record. Four of those five games were against playoff teams and the Blues lost all three games to Western Conference playoff foes (Dallas, Colorado and Chicago).
Part of the problem has been scoring and a possible answer to that problem would be the return of Steen, and later Tarasenko to the lineup.
But maybe the other part of the problem is the coaching.
Head coach Ken Hitchcock has received plenty of praise over the course of the season, and rightfully so, for how he has steered this group into a juggernaut.
Hitchcock's recent decision-making, and line combinations, may also have led to the recent scoring drought.
Hitchcock refuses to give in to any notion of that, hinting after Sunday's loss that the Blues are not winning, or scoring, because of a lack of effort, in comments made after Sunday's game (courtesy of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
“Our offensive game is based on offensive energy and we don't have it. We score by volume and when we don't get the volume, we don't score. The last few games, we haven't gotten the volume that we usually get.”
I would surmise that part of the issue are Hitch's line combos, and this has not just been a recent problem.
His constant juggling, and choosing to pick on certain players (Roy) while not holding others accountable in the same manner for poor play (Morrow, Berglund and yes, Sobotka) has led to a lack of cohesion throughout the roster.
For the most part, Hitch has left the No. 1 line alone. That was until Saturday, when Hitch made yet another example of of some of his line juggling blunders on Saturday against the Avalanche by actually playing the offensively inept Chris Porter with T.J Oshie and David Backes.
#stlblues forwards (I had 17 twice earlier): 32-42-74, 10-17-9, 29-21-56, 26-40-75.
— Lou Korac (@lkorac10) April 5, 2014
I'm sorry, but that is inexcusable. That is laughable. It is a slap to the face in the general direction of anyone who loves hockey.
God love Chris Porter and his effort and dare I say gumption, but he has zero business playing on a top line and I do not care how many injuries the team has suffered.
What happened to the clamoring of how deep this roster was, especially at forward?
Maybe that are not as deep as we thought.
What happened to the team that was in the top three in goals per game in the NHL?
That answer is simple. It is playoff time and other teams have tightened up and are playing at the same effort level as the Blues. The elite teams are all that remain and scoring by dumping the puck and cycling it around the corners and behind the net are not going to beat the cream of the crop goaltenders in the NHL. We have seen this song and dance before, the last two seasons, when Jonathan Quick stone-wallled the Blues early in the playoffs twice in a row.
The Blues need to use the next four games to right the ship and get back to playing the same style of hockey that got the team its 111 points.
And Hitchcock needs to use these last four games to create line combinations that work. That fit together. That are balanced and can create scoring opportunities while staying sound defensively as well.
The vibe around this Blues team just does not feel good right now, and the timing could not be any worst.
Lets just hope this team did not peak too early.
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