BLUES The St. Louis Blues should hope Saturday was just an early April Fools joke.
In a stretch where they earned points in eight of their last nine games, the Blues inexplicably lost 4-0 to the last-place San Jose Sharks.
After a scoreless first period, the Sharks rattled off three unanswered goals in the second. In that period, the Blues got just three shots on the team allowing the most shots against per game in the NHL (35.0).
“In the first period, I thought we started well and we had our opportunities,” Blues Head Coach Drew Bannister said, “then you go in the second period and we fell asleep.”
Bannister said his team had some more chances in the third, but the hole they dug in the second was too deep to climb out of. Despite outshooting San Jose 21-5 over the final 20 minutes, the Blues could not get anything past Mackenzie Blackwood, who had a 37-save shutout.
“I think now we just (need to) push forward,” Colton Parayko said. “At the end of the day, it’s past us – can’t get those two points now. Eight games left, and all we can do is try to focus and get as many points as we can in those eight.”
That loss did some serious damage to St. Louis’ playoff hopes. The Blues (39-31-4) are still five points behind the Los Angeles Kings for a playoff spot, but with eight games left, time is running out to make up ground.
The Blues can still get at least one win against the Sharks on their upcoming three-game road trip. After the Edmonton game, they stopped in Nashville, San Jose and Anaheim.
