ST. LOUIS – Contrary to what plenty of panicked St. Louis Blues fans are feeling right now, Jim Montgomery believes the team will pull through its early-season doldrums.
But even the veteran coach has been taken aback at, not that the team is 0-4-1 in its past five games and 3-6-1 overall, but at some of the opportunities a sound defensive squad from a year ago is allowing.
They’re not being overwhelmed, so to speak, but when the opposition is getting chances, they’re rather doozies.
“It’s shocking to be honest,” Montgomery said after a 5-2 loss to the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday. “The amount of Grade A chances that we’ve given up has been … sometimes it’s our tracking, sometimes it’s our D-zone coverage, sometimes it’s our puck management. Something ugly is rearing its head every game. We’ve just got to get back to the drawing board and work together and be excited about the challenge and the opportunity of how long a season is.
“You’re going to go 3-6-1, almost every team in the NHL this year will go 3-6-1 in 10 games. We did it in our first 10 games. Now if we go 6-3-1 in our next 10, we’re back to .500. At one point, we’re going to go 8-2, but we have to start turning the corner with our habits. The habits get you through this. When it turns like last year, I’m not taking about last year, but it does turn, and we’ve just got to make it turn as quick as possible.”
The first opportunity will be against a team like the Blues dealing with injuries to Robert Thomas (upper body, day to day) and Jake Neighbours (right leg, reevaluated in five weeks), the Vancouver Canucks (5-6-0) on Thursday at home.
It sounds like the players understand that right now, the habits are not good, and they need to be fixed.
“I think it’s just continuing to go to work, practice, making sure that the habits are right,” Blues defenseman Cam Fowler said. “We can live with the results if we feel like we’re doing things the right way. There’s a lot of competition in this league and it’s hard to win. So I think the frustrating thing is how some of those habits and tendencies that we have that we’ve grown accustomed to, they’re just not there right now. That’s me, that’s all of us. I think it’s just simplifying things and get back to work, building blocks to try and get out of this funk.”
The surprising thing of all this is that the Blues are, according to moneypuck.com, the sixth-best team in expected goal differential behind the Colorado Avalanche, New York Rangers, Washington Capitals, Florida Panthers and Ottawa Senators, but they are No. 1 in goals differential above expected (-13/13) by a wide margin. Montgomery feels they’re creating, and although it looks at times like they gain the offensive zone and sustain large swaths of time without getting shots at the net, it’s the other end that is more of a focus. Even though power play-wise, they have just 35 shots in going 6-for-29.
When the coach sees goals against in games as five, eight, seven, six, six, five in those regulation losses, that’s what’s alarming.
“I don’t think offensively is the issue for us,” Montgomery said. “We’re (28th) in shots for (25.5 shots per game), but if you look at analytics, we’re in the top 10 offensively of slot shots and creating high-danger chances (No. 1 with 35, according to moneypuck.com). Our focus is on the other area. The other area, we’re like fifth in shots against (25.5) but yet, we’re not protecting the good ice. So if we protect the good ice and we continue to get the same offense, we’re going to win hockey games. We’ve just got to get better without the puck.”
That’s why guys have to trust the guy beside him on the ice, stop trying to overcompensate and do someone else’s job because in the end, it affects yours. Detroit’s fourth goal that made it 4-1 on Tuesday was a prime example. But it also doesn’t mean being selfish either.
“Doing things for each other. When you do things for your teammate, you actually get rewarded individually as well, and that’s kind of how it works,” Blues captain Brayden Schenn said. “You have to come to the rink expecting to work for the guy next to you, I really do believe when you do that, results come for yourself, and obviously right now, it’s a humbling league, it’s a humbling game and right now, it’s not going our way. I know this isn’t permanent, we’re going to dig ourselves out of this and we’re going to get this going in the right direction.”
That’s when the confidence starts to regain itself.
“There’s two things that are definitely going on,” Montgomery said. “There’s guys that are not confident right now, so when you’re not confident, you’re a little hesitant. You don’t have the puck as much, you’re not killing plays as much, especially defensively. As a team, you have a sense that you know exactly where you’re going to go with the puck and right now, that fluidity to our game isn’t there consistently and when it’s not, like the first 10 minutes of the first and the first 10 minutes of the second, it was there. When it evaporates, it’s like we don’t back each other up the correct way.”
“I think it impacts us all over the ice,” Fowler said. “But I think defensively, we pride ourselves in taking away the good ice from these teams and not allowing Grade A chances from in front of the net. Collectively, all of us, we’re giving too many of those up right now. And it’s just kind of snowballing from there, so I think if you were to look at anything, that’s probably the No. 1 thing. And I’ve certainly included myself in that. I take full responsibility for my play too and the way things have gone, but I think if you were to look at one thing, it’s defensively taking away the good ice and making sure that we keep things tight and keep teams on the perimeter and I just don’t think we’re doing that very well right now.”
So despite the analytical numbers that say the Blues should be better than their 3-6-1 record, is their record fair?
“I think it’s fair,” Montgomery said. “I don’t think our process has been good. We’re not defending the good ice, we’re giving up too many Grade A opportunities, we’re not giving up a lot, but the ones we give up are like 5-bell chances. Albert Pujols is staring at a softball and he’s knocking it out of the park. We’ve got to stop that. The other part is game management. We’re not managing games and it doesn’t matter the situation. It can be in the offensive zone, we’re not managing the puck well enough. It could be in the neutral zone. Our support isn’t where it should be. It could be pulled goalie situation and we’re trying to make rink-wide passes instead of gaining the red line and rimming it in. Those are game management situations where we have to be more prudent at to give ourselves opportunities and it doesn’t matter the situation. The other night in Pittsburgh, delayed penalty, 5v6 it looked like we had never played that situation before. Those are guys having to take a breath, protect the middle of the ice and run your routes properly so they can kill plays, or make plays.”
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