ST. LOUIS – A sluggish stretch leads the St. Louis Blues to their first six-game losing streak in nine seasons.
While each season comes with its ups and downs, the Blues find themselves in relatively unfamiliar territory when it comes to productivity and results. For some perspective on the current streak…
It’s the first time the Blues have dropped six games and failed to gain at least one point in the standings since April 2014. It’s just the eleventh time the Blues have lost six straight games, no more or no less. The Blues have only had six losing streaks stretch past seven games.
Six games may seem like a small sample size, but it represents almost 8% of St. Louis’ regular season schedule. If things don’t change quickly, the early-season slump could present even larger obstacles as the season progresses.
The six-game losing streak began with a 4-0 loss to the Winnipeg Jets on Oct. 24, which snapped a streak of 100-plus games with at least one goal. Since that same time…
Opponents have outscored the Blues, 30-10.Opponents have outshot the Blues, 198-190.Opponents have scored five times in 17 power plays.The Blues are turning over the puck more frequently, 52-44 in giveaways.The Blues lead opponents in hits (151-135), though have been outhit twice.The Blues have only led at the end of one out of 18 possible periods.
It’s been a tough go early for quite a handful of players as well…
Jordan Kyrou’s -15 plus/minus rating (a metric of goals scored vs. against on ice) is the worst mark in the NHL. Ryan O’Reilly, a reliable scorer in recent seasons, only has one goal through nine games. His -12 plus/minus rating is the league’s second-worst mark. Nine Blues players have yet to score a goal this season and only five players have more than one. Thirteen players have one or zero assists this season. Jordan Binnington, after three straight wins to start the season, has only stopped 66 of his last 83 shots on goal (.795 save percentage) during the losing skid.
Unfortunately, the Blues won’t have a chance to shake it off this weekend. St. Louis’ next game is set for Monday against the Boston Bruins. That game will start a rapid stretch of action with 13 games in 22 days.