What Went Wrong: Blues Lose Series and a Lot of Respect in the Process

A heated and immensely controversial Central Division Final series between the Colorado Avalanche and the St. Louis Blues saw the latter ousted in six games. The Blues entered the playoffs as a much stronger team than they were in the previous season, and it showed. The shortened 2020-21 season saw the Blues in the localized West Division, and in spite of the fact that half of the West Division consisted of poor teams, the Blues struggled to get into the playoffs, and when they did get the division's last spot, they took their struggles with them.

This year, however, the Blues finished with an impeccable record, and they managed to overcome a brief scare by the Minnesota Wild and win that opening round series. This was despite the fact that Ville Husso struggled in the start of the series, and it led the Blues to rely on Jordan Binnington, who entered Game Four of that series having not won a playoff start since June 12, 2019--the very day that the Blues won the Stanley Cup. Binnington won the next three, and he entered the series against the Avalanche as the main netminder, until his injury in Game Three (more on that later). The Blues gave the Avalanche their first few problems of this year's playoffs, winning Games Two and Five in Denver.

Game Six looked like it would go to overtime minutes after JT Compher's 2nd goal tied it up. But with 5.6 seconds left, Darren Helm's shot went in past Husso (who replaced Binnington in Game Three and had been starting ever since), and that was all she wrote. Now, regarding "What Went Wrong" in this case, the answer has nothing to do with the numbers racked up by the Blues players. Their numbers were pretty good, though Helm's goal continues the Blues' knack for giving up game-winning goals in the last seconds. Also, the Blues lost four home games in this year's playoffs, including all three home games in this series. In spite of all of those facts, the answer to "What Went Wrong" with the Blues is much deeper than that, and much uglier.

I mentioned Jordan Binnington's injury. It was in the first period of Game Three that he was on the receiving end of a collision between teammate Calle Rosen and the Avalanche's Nazem Kadri. Even though it was shown and proven that Rosen ended up causing the injury, the court of public opinion put all of the blame on Kadri. After the Avalanche won Game Three, Kadri was interviewed on TV, and someone threw a water bottle at him, with the culprit being revealed as Binnington. It has been documented that Binnington has an ugly history; he has tweeted racist comments in the past--comments which he deemed as a "joke made by a teenager." Many fans (not just Avs fans, either) believe that Binnington also hasn't let go of the fact that two years ago in the bubble, Kadri scored a game-winning buzzer beater on him in a Round Robin game. This isn't the first time he's antagonized Kadri; in one game, Binnington swung his goalie stick at him.

Blues head coach Craig Berube was also on the "blame Kadri" train, as he simply said about the incident: "Look at (Kadri's) reputation." Even worse, what followed was Blues fans hurling horrific comments at Kadri: racist comments and racially charged death threats on social media. Berube was asked about what Kadri was dealing with, and in response, he said nothing about it. It doesn't surprise many fans; Berube does have a racist past. Back when he was a player for the Washington Capitals, Berube hurled a racial slur at Peter Worrell, a Black player who served as the enforcer for the Florida Panthers at the time. It wasn't until that Wednesday (prior to Game Five) that Berube addressed the racist comments from Blues fans, but it was three days after the fact, and two days after Kadri picked up a hat trick in Game Four. Too little, too late.

As I said before, nothing was really wrong with the Blues, stats-wise. David Perron scored nine goals in their 12-game run, leading the team in goals and in points (13 points). However, the main thing fans will remember about Perron is the two times he literally tried to injure Kadri in Game Four. I'm just going to be blunt: it was nearly a copycat of the Steve Moore incident, and it was both Perron and Pavel Buchnevich who were part of this. Even worse, this mugging brought out cheers from Blues fans, and it was at that moment that the long-lingering respect I had for the Blues was completely gone. One day after Kadri receives racist death threats, Blues fans were cheering as two of their players attempted to injure him because they blamed him for an injury he didn't cause. That is, without a doubt, conduct unbecoming of a hockey fan.

So the Blues have now won one playoff series since winning the Cup in 2019. Regarding their offseason, they are in danger of losing Tyler Bozak and the aforementioned Perron, while four other players (Ryan O'Reilly and Vladimir Tarasenko being among them) will have one more year left on their current deals. This will be quite the offseason for the Blues, especially due to how their season ended, both on and off the ice.

If you like this story, click the heart, and click subscribe for more of my stories! Tips and pledges would be greatly appreciated, but only if you want to do so!