The St. Louis Blues had to have looked at this week-or-so as a great opportunity to strengthen their position in the Central Division races.
While the Chicago Blackhawks and Dallas Stars face some challenging situations, the Blues took on two teams that seemed like layups on paper.
/cuts to Chris Berman trotting out the old “That’s why you play the game” line ...
Instead of lapping up some points against the Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers, the Blues instead gave up buckets of goals while losing each game in regulation.
Blues have allowed 17 goals in past 3 games. Last time they did that was February of 2013.
— Tom Timmermann (@tomtimm) March 17, 2016
After Wednesday’s 6-4 loss to the Oilers, the Blues reportedly held a closed-door meeting.
#Blues having a closed-door meeting after losing 6-4 to #Oilers.
— Derek Van Diest (@DerekVanDiest) March 17, 2016
The message? Maybe it was “Let’s not fall victim to trap games,” only one would assume with a lot of bad words ...
Hitch said the Blues "are guilty of looking at the opponent," meaning they're taking the last two teams too lightly
— Jeremy Rutherford (@jprutherford) March 17, 2016
The thing that makes this sting is also the silver lining: at least the Blues didn’t fall behind the other top Central teams. The Dallas Stars are on a two-game losing streak, much like St. Louis. The Blackhawks are having even more trouble, as tonight’s defeat to the Philadelphia Flyers marks four straight failures.
Yes, the Blues are likely to kick themselves for throwing away allegedly “easy” points, but it will be interesting to see if this stands as a “harsh lesson” or a letdown that costs them seeding when we look back at the situation in about a month.