The St. Louis Blues were eliminated from the Stanley Cup Playoffs by the Winnipeg Jets in a 4-3 double-overtime loss in Game 7 of the best-of-7 Western Conference First Round on Sunday.
The Blues (44-30-8) made the playoffs as the second wild card from the West after not qualifying the previous two seasons. They've won one postseason series since winning the Stanley Cup in 2019.
The skinny
Potential unrestricted free agents: Radek Faksa, F; Ryan Suter, D
Potential restricted free agents: Joel Hofer, G
Potential 2025 Draft picks: 3
Here are five reasons the Blues were eliminated:
1. Struggles at 6-on-5
Or 5-on-6, however you want to put it. It was a problem for them during the regular season, when they allowed 13 goals, most in the NHL (the Toronto Maple Leafs were second with 11).
In this series, it was detrimental to them at the worst time.
The Blues allowed only two goals while defending 5-on-6, but they both came during the final 1:56 of Game 7. If they got the puck out of the zone during the final two-plus minutes Sunday, it usually was on an icing, which stopped the clock and gave the Jets the chance to catch their breath, reset and get the matchup they wanted on an offensive-zone face-off.
Coach Jim Montgomery and Blues captain Brayden Schenn were asked after the game about how they were defending the Jets when Winnipeg had the extra attacker. Neither wanted to talk about it.
Defenseman Colton Parayko said: "I don't know. I wish I maybe had the right answer, but I think just making sure … I think when we're good [defending] 6-on-5, we're at the net front. We're pushing out fast, making it hard on them to make plays. But I don't know. I haven't really watched it exactly."
2. Finishes
This one isn't just about last-minute adjustments for the Blues. The lack of finish plagued them in Games 1 and 2 in Winnipeg as well.
In Game 1 they were up 3-2 entering the third period and sat back as the Jets outshot them 9-2 and scored three unanswered goals for a 5-2 victory. In Game 2 it was tied 1-1 going into the third period and once again, the Jets were more aggressive, getting a goal from Kyle Connor 1:43 into the period and holding the Blues to five shots on goal in a 2-1 victory.
Then of course in Game 7 they were up 2-0 at the end of the first period and leading 3-1 entering the third. The Blues were outshot 25-13 in the final two periods of regulation, including 15-4 in the third.
3. Special teams wavered
The Blues' power play started out on a serious roll, going 6-for-15 through the first three games. Then it went cold, going 0-for-11 through the final four games.
Their penalty kill finished the first round ranked fifth (77.3 percent) among playoff teams. But it started to falter down the stretch, allowing the Jets two power-play goals in Game 6 and another in Game 7. The ones in Game 6 obviously didn't cost them the game but it may have given the Jets some confidence in their power play, which was not doing well up to that point.
4. Rough road
Let's be honest, neither team was thrilled with how it played in the other's building through this series. But when you don’t have home-ice advantage you need to steal one on the road, and the Blues couldn't manage to do so.
5. Not enough support for Binnington
This sounds a bit ridiculous when you consider the Blues outscored the Jets 17-5 in their three games in St. Louis, led the NHL in goals (six) and points (24) from their defensemen, and also got depth production, including from their fourth line.
But quite simply, Blues goalie Jordan Binnington deserved a better fate with his play in the series. He had a 2.53 goals-against average and .901 save percentage, very nice numbers for the goalie from the losing team -- and better than the goalie from the winning team, Connor Hellebuyck (3.85 GAA, .830 save percentage).
Binnington made 43 saves on 47 shots in Game 7. You can’t ask for much more from your goalie. The Blues just couldn't put it all together in front of him at the critical times.
