For the first time since December 2nd, the Blues lost a game on home ice. For the first time since October, they lost two games in a row in regulation.
Calm down.
The team’s not going to implode and lose every game for the rest of the season. Losing happens. Losing streaks happen. Look at the Blackhawks and their tumble downhill there for a while. Now? Two in a row. You have to have patience, and you have to remember that there’s still around a month an a half of regular season hockey left.
Unfortunately for the Blues, most of that happens on the road. After tonight, they’ll be hopping down the road to Nashville — no rest for the wicked.
Speaking of wicked, the defense tonight was wicked awful. No neutral zone coverage, bad turn overs, sloppy play, you name it — a lack of defense was why Brad Marchand was able to walk right up to Brian Elliott and put home his second goal of the night:
Also one of the highlights of the evening and a metaphor for the last two games: David Backes accidentally hitting T.J. Oshie in the nose and mouth with his stick on a botched check. Luckily Oshie isn’t broken, because the Blues’ll be down Jamie Langenbrunner, Alex Steen, and Matt D’Agostini for a while. Adding another forward to that pile probably wouldn’t be the best idea.
Overall, a well played game by the Bruins who seized on the Blues’ mistakes. It was a hard-fought game by both teams, and I saw more than a few tweets saying how this matchup would be so much fun as a Cup Finals one. The Blues have to learn to win matchups like this during the regular season first.