St. Louis Blues are in early trouble after slow start to the season

ST. LOUIS, MO - OCTOBER 14: Chad Johnson #31 of the St. Louis Blues blocks a shot from the Anaheim Ducks at Enterprise Center on October 14, 2018 in St. Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Scott Rovak/NHLI via Getty Images)
ST. LOUIS, MO - OCTOBER 14: Chad Johnson #31 of the St. Louis Blues blocks a shot from the Anaheim Ducks at Enterprise Center on October 14, 2018 in St. Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Scott Rovak/NHLI via Getty Images)

After entering the 2018-19 season with high hopes, the St. Louis Blues are off to a horrible start.

The St. Louis Blues are in trouble just two weeks into the season. Through six games, the club has only managed to accumulate four points and sit last in the Central Division. At 1-3-2, the Blues are not getting the fast start they had hoped for after a busy summer.

It’s not just that they’re losing – it’s how they’re losing. The Blues have been blown out, blown third period leads at home, and most recently, gave up the game-winning game goal on the road against the Montreal Canadiens with nine seconds remaining in regulation. One of the only saving graces for the club was the team’s ability to secure a point in each game in back-to-back overtime losses to the Chicago Blackhawks.

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The slow start is concerning for a variety of reasons. The Blues entered the year with great expectations after missing the postseason for the first time in seven seasons. St. Louis revamped the roster, adding Ryan O’Reilly, Tyler Bozak, Patrick Maroon, and David Perron in hopes of providing the type of depth needed to return to the playoffs.

So far, the early returns have seen mixed results. Perron has scored four goals but O’Reilly, Bozak, and Maroon have combined for only one goal. All four players also combine for a plus-minus rating of -17 as the entire Blues roster doesn’t feature a single player with a positive plus-minus rating.

The two players tied with the worst plus/minus rating on the team at minus-six are St. Louis’ most important players, team captain Alex Pietrangelo and star forward Vladimir Tarasenko. Pietrangelo is off to a dreadful start with zero points through six games coming off a career-high of 54 points a year ago. Tarasenko only has two goals despite ranking third in the league in shots with 32 this season as of Thursday morning.

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The Blues can’t afford to allow their slow start to continue much longer as the Central Division remains the most competitive division in the league. It’s easy to look at the other three divisions and find guaranteed non-playoff teams but it’s impossible to count out anyone in the Central Division team given the strength of each team.

To make matters worse for St. Louis, the club has played four of their six games at home and only managed to secure three points. The other six teams in the division as of Thursday morning have only seen two losses in regulation at home, combining for a home record of 13-2-5. So, not only have the Blues dug themselves into a hole, they’ll have a significant uphill battle trying to steal points on the road against a division of teams who don’t lose at home.

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Given how strong the division is, losing extra points in overtime or coughing up a guaranteed free point with nine seconds remaining could have already been the difference in making or missing the playoffs.