What Went Wrong: Blues Swept Out of Stanley Cup Playoffs

On Sunday, the St. Louis Blues lost Game Four of their West Division Semifinal series against the Colorado Avalanche, becoming the first team to be eliminated from the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs. This first round exit continues a downward spiral for the Blues, which began with last year's disappointing playoff performance in the Edmonton bubble. That year, the Blues lost every game in the Round Robin, finishing with the #4 seed, and later losing in six games to the Vancouver Canucks in the Western Conference Quarterfinals.

This season, the Blues started strong, but went though a terrible losing skid that actually saw them behind the West Division's playoff line and jockeying for positions with the Los Angeles Kings and the Arizona Coyotes. However, they got back on track late and managed to move to the #4 position in the division, and never look back--as they went on to clinch a playoff spot on May 7. Unfortunately, the Blues would enter the playoffs with David Perron, their points leader, out due to COVID-19 protocols, but a good team usually rises above absences and player injuries.

The Blues did exactly the opposite. The team was completely lost from the get-go. They couldn't score. Jordan Binnington continued to decline, and at a bad time for the Blues, as he received an extension during the season. It took until Game Four for the Blues to have an in-game lead in this series, and it only lasted just over four minutes of game time--they would never have another one. The Avalanche were too much for the Blues, outscoring them 20-7 in the four games played. Granted, six of Colorado's goals were empty-netters, but still, 14 goals in four games is a lot.

The points leaders on the Blues in the series? Ryan O'Reilly and Robert Thomas...with three each. Ryan Graves had that many points in Game Three alone. O'Reilly, the Blues captain, also had a Plus/Minus of -7, and his poor production has made him the butt of jokes after his declaration that they "were going to have fun" and that they "were going to beat the Avs." Vladimir Tarasenko was the only Blues player to score more than once, putting up two goals in Game Four, but ironically, he had the lowest Plus/Minus as well: -8. As for Binnington: 0-4, 3.59 GAA, and a SV% of .899. That's a far cry from the goalie who led the way to a Stanley Cup two years ago.

Now, again, the injury excuse is open for use, but again, NHL teams have risen above absences and injuries before. Plus it gives this false sense of assurance that the Blues would have beaten the Avalanche if all hands were on deck. Now it's definitely without any doubt that if David Perron was playing, this series would have been a bit more competitive; same with Justin Faulk continuing as well. But the Avalanche were beating this team regardless. The way the Avalanche have played all season, and especially since the month of March began showed that this team was on a mission and couldn't be stopped. And again, the Blues had problems long before this year's playoffs, the main one being Binnington's inconsistency.

Next season will see the divisions return to normal, which means the Blues will be back in the Central Division with not only the Avalanche and Minnesota Wild (also in the West Division this year), but the Stars, Jets, Predators, and Blackhawks. Regarding Binnington, they're stuck with him for the next six years, so the team will have to find a way to get him to return to that old form. And another thing: Craig Berube (the Blues' coach) really needs to stop complaining so much about officiating. He blamed the officiating this series and claimed that the Blues got "one or two calls" while the Avalanche got "four or five." The Power Plays were pretty much even throughout the whole series; the difference is that the Blues weren't scoring on theirs--Colorado scored plenty of PPGs in this series.

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