Six Straight Losses for Blues

St. Louis Blues vs Nashville Predators - Game 63 Recap
Goals: none
Record 34-25-4

My Thoughts on the game

• For the first time this year, the Blues were shutout in consecutive games, losing in Nashville by a score of 4-0. 
• With the addition of Nikita Soshnikov in a trade from Toronto and the recent call-up of Tage Thompson and Jordan Schmaltz, Coach Mike Yeo made some changes to the lineup in hopes of finding a solution to their recent losing streak. 
• The forward lines for this one were:
• Soshnikov-Berglund-Steen
• Sobotka-Jaskin-Brodziak
• Schwartz-Schenn-Thompson
• Tarasenko-Stastny-Barbashev
• The D-men pairings were:
• Bouwmeester-Parayko
• Gunnarsson-Pietrangelo
• Dunn-Schmaltz
• Healthy scratches for this one were:
• Upshall, Sundqvist, & Thorburn
• Defenseman Chris Butler was sent back down to San Antonio along with Blais.
• The game started with a hooking penalty on Gunnarsson at 2:58. With Nashville's power play at 29.5% at home and good for first in the NHL, it's not the ideal way to start the game.
• Nashville capitalized near the end of the power play at the 4:45 mark when Kyle Turris entered the offensive zone virtually unhindered and found a wide open Colton Sissons on the right wing. Sissons' wrist shot from the face-off dot beat Jake Allen high on his glove side. Jake seemed to be going down too soon and was beaten high more than once today.
• St. Louis had a power play opportunity of their own after a goalie interference call on Nashville at the 8:41 mark.  The Blues had a couple of chances when Schwartz' shot created a rebound, but as has been the case most of the season, nobody was in front of the net to clean up the rebound. Many people have talked about it throughout this season, but it's definitely one of the things that need to be fixed with this team. They've got to find someone who is willing to get in front and get some of those 'dirty goals' that everyone talks about. In 63 games this season, nobody has shown the willingness to be that guy so it would seem that he would need to be a piece that Doug Armstrong should be looking for in the offseason.
• Conversely, it seemed that every time Nashville set up shop in the offensive zone, someone was going to the front of the net and staying there. 
• Tarasenko made a nice pass to Steen in front of the net, but it didn't create anything more than a player pileup and a bit of a scrum afterward.
• Afer the power play failed, the Blues kept the puck in the Nashville end for some time and caused several icing calls on the Predators, but again failed to capitalize on what one would think were some tired skaters.
• Nashville scored again at the 14:21 mark of the period on a counter-attack that looked like it might be a 2 on 1 rush. Jay Bouwmeester was back on defense and seemed confused and possibly just didn't realize that Brayden Schenn was back and in position to defend the weak side. Bouwmeester was playing the pass and didn't commit to the guy with the puck which basically created a one-on-one with Kevin Fiala and Jake Allen. Fiala beat Jake top shelf on his blocker side. 
• Nashville outshot St. Louis 16-9 in the first. 
• It didn't take long for things to get worse once the 2nd period began. 1:20 into the period Nashville's offensive pressure led to their 3rd goal when a pass from Jarnkrok to Hartnell, who was camped out in front of the goal, hit Hartnell's skate and went in. It was no accident. It was a good play. Hartnell turned his skate perpendicular to where the puck was and Jarnkrok centered the pass and hit the skate perfectly. Again, the difference was guys in front of the net and our guys weren't close enough to him to do anything about it.
• Why do we not have someone who is willing to create havoc in front?! And why do we let the other teams do it to us? I can remember when you paid a heavy price if you tried to stand in front of the goal. What has changed?
• Nashville added another goal late in the 2nd, and as if a 4-0 lead wasn't embarrassing enough, it was a short-handed goal. 
• It was not pretty as the Blues were shutout in back to back games for the first time since the end of the 2013-14 season. 
• Bright spots:
• Tage Thompson looked good in his first game back. He was looking for his shot and put a couple on the net. 
• Nikita Soshnikov played well for his first time on the ice with his new teammates. He showed some speed and had a couple of hits and a couple of shots. 
• Jordan Schmaltz was solid in this first game back. He had 12:37 of ice time and was not on the ice for any of the 4 goals.
• Frustrations:
• As I've stated a couple of times already, nobody in front of the net. Even when we get a shot on goal and a rebound, we rarely have anyone even close enough to even sniff the rebound, let alone get a stick on it for a shot.
• We seem to have a hard time gaining the offensive zone. Opponents seem to just line up at the blue line and stand up against us and we don't have an answer for getting the puck into the offensive zone.
• There is still time to make the playoffs, but things have to change soon. If not, then we should at least get to see some of the prospects up at the end of the year and get a glimpse of what the future holds. 

#AllTogetherNowStL #LGB