The St. Louis Blues find themselves in a precarious position as they return to the friendly confines of Enterprise Center in downtown St. Louis, badly needing a change of scenery after dropping both games against the Winnipeg Jets to begin the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The Jets defeated the Blues by a 2-1 final score at Canada Life Centre, seizing a commanding two-games-to-none lead over the Blues.
Considering the Jets were the best team in the NHL and the Blues are a Wild Card team, the results so far aren’t exactly surprising to most fans and pundits.
The Blues Were Defeated By The Jets and Trail 2-0
It was Jets forward Mark Scheifele who broke the ice with his second goal of the playoffs, giving the Jets the 1-0 lead in the opening 20 minutes of play.
Not to be outdone, Blues rookie forward Jimmy Snuggerud tallied his first career postseason goal late in the frame; it was a power-play marker to knot the score at one apiece with literally two seconds left in the period.
Unfortunately for the Blues, they proved unable to steal a game on the road; Kyle Connor’s go-ahead goal just 1:43 into the third period proved to be the winning tally. The Blues pressed hard for the equalizer late in regulation, pulling goaltender Jordan Binnington for a sixth attacker. However, it wasn’t meant to be.
Binnington finished with 20 saves on the 22 shots he faced, while Winnipeg’s Connor Hellebuyck made 21 saves.
3 Blues Who Missed The Mark in Game 2 Loss vs. Jets
#1. Colton Parayko
The leading man on the blue line for St. Louis, Parayko, picked a bad night to have a rough outing on the defensive front. He was caught flat-footed on both of Winnipeg’s goals, finishing the game with a -2 rating, the worst among all Blues defensemen.
He also contributed nothing offensively in just under 20 minutes of total ice time as part of the loss.
#2. Brayden Schenn
The Blues captain needs to make his presence felt quickly if his club has any chance of getting back into the series.
In Game 1, he finished pointless with a -2 rating; he also finished with no points as part of the Game 2 loss. While not the offensive threat that he once was earlier in his career, Schenn is capable of far more than he’s shown so far in this short series.
#3. Robert Thomas
One of the leading scorers on the Blues roster, they need more out of him against the Jets if they are to pull off a monumental upset.
Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to deliver for his club on Monday night against the Jets. Not only did he finish with zero points, but he also registered a -2 rating as he was on the ice for both Jets goals; it was the lowest plus-minus rating of any Blues forward.
It also didn’t help that he committed a pair of giveaways.