GDT #24: Blues @ Golden Knights 9:00 CT Bally Sports, 101ESPN

[theohall]

BLUES A poor start made the difference for the St. Louis Blues at Mullett Arena on Saturday night, taking a 3-0 deficit in the first despite playing two strong periods of hockey afterwards.

After a 9-3 shot differential for Arizona in the first period, the Blues dialed up their offense and outshot the Coyotes 29-13 in the next two. Brandon Saad's goal got them on the board, but an empty-netter from Alex Kerfoot sealed the Blues' fate.

"We have about 10 minutes there of bad hockey, 15 minutes of okay hockey and 35 minutes of good hockey," said Torey Krug. "But it's not good enough."

Large, early deficits have been a common theme in Blues losses this year. Of the Blues' 11 losses this season, eight have included a three-goal deficit at some point in the game. Five of those deficits came before the games' midway points.

The Blues will look to come out with aggression in the early minutes of their next game, a road matchup against the defending champion Vegas Golden Knights. They are nearing the end of a very road-heavy portion of the schedule - from Nov. 16 to Dec. 9, 10 of the Blues' 13 games have been or will be played in opposing buildings.

They'll visit the Golden Knights with a record of 12-10-1, worth 25 points and fifth in the Central Division.

GOLDEN KNIGHTS The Vegas Golden Knights have began their Stanley Cup defense in strong fashion, leading the NHL standings ahead of Sunday's games. Their offseason saw a lot of stability, including signing former Blue Ivan Barbashev to a five-year, $25 million extension following his acquisition at the Trade Deadline.

The Golden Knights' League-leading season record was driven primarily by an 11-0-1 point streak to open the year. Since taking their first regulation loss on Nov. 5 in Anaheim, Vegas is just 5-5-3.

Vegas is coming off of two straight 4-1 wins, the first against the red-hot Vancouver Canucks on Thursday and the second against Washington on Saturday. Jack Eichel led the way with three points in each win, driving early leads by Vegas and allowing Alex Pietrangelo and the Golden Knights defense to hold the line - holding both teams to 22 shots.

Behind Eichel's point contributions this year are William Karlsson, Mark Stone and Shea Theodore - though Theodore has missed the last five games with an upper-body injury.

Monday's matchup is the first of two straight with the Blues, the two teams later traveling to St. Louis for a home-and-home rematch on Wednesday.

The Golden Knights host the Blues with a record of 16-5-4, worth 36 points and first place in the Pacific Division.

HEAD TO HEAD The Blues went 1-1-1 against the Golden Knights last year, earning points in both matchups in Vegas. The season series continues with a quick rematch at Enterprise Center on Wednesday, finishing back in St. Louis in late March.

Play Video
Blais, Berube ahead of first of two straight vs. VGK

PLAYERS TO WATCH
BLUES Pavel Buchnevich, who leads the Blues with seven points in the last five games. The 28-year-old forward has 10 points in 13 road games this season, with both of his three-point games coming in enemy territory.

GOLDEN KNIGHTS Jack Eichel, leading the Golden Knights with 27 points in 25 games this season. Since arriving via trade from Buffalo, Eichel has 118 points in 126 regular-season games as a Golden Knight and led the NHL with 26 playoff points las spring to help Vegas capture their first Stanley Cup.

BLUE NOTES
Since Vegas entered the NHL in 2017-18, the Blues are 10-6-7 against them (6-4-1 at home; 4-2-6 on the road)

The Blues have scored at least three goals in six straight games against Vegas

The Blues are 28-for-31 (90.3%) on the penalty kill on the road this season, which shares the second best mark in the NHL. The Blues have allowed just three power-play goals on the road, also sharing No. 2 in the League. The Blues have also scored five shorthanded goals on the road, leading the League

After posting just three points in his first nine games of the season, Pavel Buchnevich has 15 points over his last 12 games

Colton Parayko reached No. 6 on the all-time leaderboard for games played as a Blues defenseman on Thursday vs. Buffalo (599, 600 after Saturday).
The 30-year-old defenseman is currently 13 games shy of tying Al MacInnis for No. 5, 14 games shy of Barclay Plager for No. 4 and 16 games shy of Bob Plager for No. 3. Barret Jackman and Alex Pietrangelo top the list at 803 and 758 games, respectively

Following an 11-game stretch that saw them win just three times, the Vegas Golden Knights have won two straight, among their finest games of the season.

Vegas enters Monday night's contest with the St. Louis Blues in Las Vegas with a Western Conference-leading 36 points despite its recent slump, thanks in part to an 11-0-1 start to the season. The Golden Knights posted back-to-back 4-1 victories: at Vancouver on Thursday and at home against Washington on Saturday.

The Golden Knights have displayed some of the same suffocating defense that they rode to their first Stanley Cup victory last spring, holding the Canucks to just 22 shots on goal, including 16 over the first two periods while building a 3-0 lead. They then limited the Capitals to 22 shots, including just seven in the first 41 minutes en route to another 3-0 lead.

"I think we're just, to a man, more focused on the task at hand and playing on our toes a little bit more. Simple as that," Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said of the recent turnaround following the 3-5-3 stretch. "I like where we're at with our game, especially the last couple of games. ... It seems like we've gotten back to who we are."

Jonathan Marchessault scored two goals to snap a six-game drought, and Jack Eichel had his second consecutive three-point game with a goal and two assists against Washington.

"It had been a while, so it was kind of nice to get on the board," Marchessault, who won the Conn Smythe Trophy (MVP) after scoring 13 playoff goals last season, said. "We're a veteran group, and we know how to win hockey games. It was a good overall game."

Vegas now starts a home-and-home with the Blues, who are 10-6-7 all-time against the Golden Knights but come in after having lost two of their last three games, including a 4-1 loss at Arizona on Saturday.

The Blues fell behind 3-0 in the first period against the Coyotes but rebounded to outshoot Arizona, 29-13, over the last two periods. Brandon Saad scored a goal to cut it to 3-1, but Alex Kerfoot's empty-netter sealed the win for the Coyotes.

"We had about 10 minutes there of bad hockey, 10 to 15 minutes of OK hockey, and 35 minutes of good hockey," Blues defenseman Torey Krug said.

Slow starts have been a problem for St. Louis which is 1-10-1 after allowing the first goal. The Blues have not been able to rally from a multi-goal deficit to win a game this season. It was their eighth loss of the season by at least three goals. Only San Jose (11) has more.

In its last nine games, St. Louis has fallen behind 3-0 in the first 13:53 in an eventual 8-3 home loss to Nashville, 4-0 in the first 15:20 of a 5-1 loss at Los Angeles, 4-0 after 23:25 in an eventual 5-1 loss at San Jose, and then 3-0 in the first 19:22 in Saturday's loss at Arizona.

"We've got to figure it out, especially being a veteran team and having the older guys that we do," Krug said. "Got to find a way ... otherwise, it's going to keep spiraling. That's how you end up losing hockey games because you're too far to come back from behind."

[Portland Blues]

Not feeling too positive about this one but am open to being surprised.

[glen a richter]

This franking team loses to scrubs like San Jose and Minnesota then beats the damn Knights. I can't make any sense of it. Up is down and down is up.

[theohall]

They play lazy vs lesser teams. When these scrub teams put pucks below the goal line, the entire damn team skating back isn't shoulder checking and defending the actual scoring threat, which isn't the guy with the puck beneath the goal line.

[theohall]

And Bennington won this game. Blues offense was lacking in terms of quality opportunities.

[theohall]

Bottom line for this current team:

1) Focus has to be defense first - especially when pucks go below the goal line and defenders, whether d-men or forwards back checking, taking away the pass option by actually getting in front of opposition players attacking without the puck. The greatest weakness in the Blues current defensive scheme is defending plays from behind the Blues goal line. I haven't looked, but I would take the bet saying more than 50% of Blues GA started behind the Blues goal line.

2) They need a new voice in the room for the PP. When Montgomery was here, it was flipping great. Look at Boston now, his offensive impact on any group of players is insanely evident. Go back to his time in Dallas before his personal issues.... IMO... this leads me to the conclusion, the current Blues coaching staff is missing a key compononet - and it's how to play offenisve hockey, especially on the PP.

Serioulsy = Boston is supposed to be missing 2 key centers - guys who would be central to their PP.... They haven't missed a serious beat, despite losing their #1 and #2 centers. They are currently #10 in PP%...... Absolutely no one would have predicted they be near that given their losses at center. WhyTF can't the Blues be better than a team that lost their 2 #1 Centers???? The Blues didn't lose the same....

[theohall]

All of the above leads to this question:

1) Montgomery left
2) Blues PP has sucked, immensely since his departure
3) Do the current players need a new voice in the room for the PP (Ott has had multiple years and, IMO, his voice is now stale - see #4 as to why)
4) When the Blues actually play Weber's system (which includes shoulder checking and denying the threats that aren't beneath the goal line), yes that was long, but it works
5) I don't want to make this a point, but the failures to do #4 have cost the Blues games.... especially in 1st periods where the opposition has focused on generating chances from beneath the goal line.... It's a flaw of a zone structure and every Blues opponent knows that's what the Blues primary focus.

6) Which leads to video staff, coaches, and the players knowing what the opposition plans to do, and countering that.


While this may seem simplistic, the current Blues staff has NO ONE as capable as Jim Montgomery was at evaluating the opposition and how to take advantage, especially on the PP.

Bottom line - the Blues need a PP specialist coach - which isn't Steve Ott (his message has failed over 3+ years) and not a limited "Skills coach" like the current Michael Babcock..... Who is improving the PP? Ott?? Obviously no. Skills coach Babcock? Obviously no. That leaves Berube - who has never been a PP expert....

This staff needs an offensive mind. Weber has been GREAT on the D-side, but offensively, this team lacks major focus.
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[theohall]

Local Discussion

1) Torey Krug is massively inconsistent. Way too inconsistent for a 10+ year veteran
2) Scott Perunovich - massively lacking in NHL experience - through no fault of his own - but how to do you fault someone for making Torey Krug mistakes??

3) Coaching - the Blues are in serious need of a PP specialist coach.
a) It's not Weber who is a defenisve specialist, and the Blues have gotten better there over half of their games.
b) This leaves Berube (HC), Ott (AC, and PP coach for 5 years), and Babcock (skills coach) as coaches to solve the PP.

IMO..... I don't give a damn how good a guy Steve Ott may be, he's not fixing the PP, and that is supposed to be one of his primary responsibilities....,. IMO, fire his ass, find the best PP in the CHL, USHL, or USNDTP programs and bring them in... Or the best CHL associate running a PP. If it's broke fix it. If it worked with prior coaches, then you have a current coaching problem. Fix it. No matter how much it may hurt. The goal is to win.







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[theohall]

I made of an ass of myself on "X" / Twitter - we'll see what kind of response it generates.



IMO - the Blues hired a defensive coach - that has generally worked - when they actually pay attention to all aspects of their game (which the team does not consistently - that's on the players, not the coach.

PP - Coaching flipping matters and it seems like Ott is relying solely on players to use their skill to take advantage of opponents, instead of showing them how to take advantage of opponents weaknesses - (like Montgomery did and still continues to do).

Ott may be a great video replay coach, but he's AWFUL as a PP director.

If anyone gets a chance to question Armstrong, that's the question to ask... framed as Montgomery made this team great, this team sucks on special teams offensively since he left.