ELMONT, N.Y. — Justin Faulk had a simple answer for what he was seeing from himself offensively: nothing.
“Nothing’s coming right now,†Faulk said after the Blues’ 3-1 loss to the Islanders on Saturday night. “I’ve got to get more shots through. I’m getting a lot of shots blocked. I’ve got to be able to get up in the rush a little bit more and join and create and keep pucks alive in the offensive zone. Just get skating more. I’ve got to do a lot more on my end.â€
Faulk now has gone 14 straight games without a point, the longest drought of a career that has spanned 14 seasons and more than 900 games. His last point was an assist on Dylan Holloway’s empty-net goal on Oct. 24 in Toronto.
For the season, Faulk has five points in 22 games, and four of those points came in the season-opening three-game trip.
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“Nothing’s coming, obviously, offensively,†Faulk said. “That’s obvious. It’s probably hurting the team. I’ve got to step up and pull my weight and produce like I know I can and like I have in the past. I can probably help the team from that regard and then bring some guys with me hopefully and try to create momentum. Just not nearly good enough.â€
Faulk entered the season as the Blues’ top offensive option on defense with Torey Krug lost because of offseason ankle surgery. He was set to step into a role on the top power-play unit for the first time since he arrived in St. Louis in 2019 and was going to receive the offensive-zone starts and six-on-five situations that come with being a team’s best offensive defenseman.
Early on, Faulk thrived alongside new partner Philip Broberg as they formed the team’s best pairing. As Colton Parayko anchored a shutdown pair, Faulk and Broberg appeared to be getting prime minutes away from other team’s top lines. But Faulk does not have a point since Broberg exited the lineup 10 games ago because of a lower-body injury.
“I don’t think we should be talking about individual players and the offense,†former Blues coach Drew Bannister said. “As an offensive group, all five of us have to be connected. Good things happen when you’re working together and supporting each other. It’s not an individual person.â€
Through his offensive struggles, Faulk mostly has stayed on the top power-play unit for the Blues, shifted to the left flank as Robert Thomas has taken over at the point. He’s logged 44:22 of ice time on the power play since his last power-play point, one of four players in the NHL with at least 40 minutes on the power play during that span without a point.
For the season, Faulk has just one five-on-five point, and it came on Broberg’s first goal of the season, in the first game of the season. There are 338 NHL players with at least four hours of ice time at five on five, and Faulk is one of 19 with one or fewer points.
Without Broberg and without Nick Leddy (has not played since Oct. 15 because of a lower-body injury) and without Pierre-Olivier Joseph briefly, the Blues have asked a few veteran defensemen to carry heavy loads.
Faulk has averaged 23:25 per game, which would be just the second time since 2016 that he’s hit that figure across a full season. Parayko has logged 24:50 per game, which is the eighth-most in the NHL this season. Ryan Suter, who started the season as a third-pair defenseman, is at 24:18 a night in the 18 games since Leddy last played.
“Faulker is a good player for us,†Bannister said before being fired Sunday. “He’s played a lot of minutes. We’ve had three ‘D’ have to play a lot of minutes for us. When that happens, too, sometimes you’re a little bit hesitant to get up in the play when you are managing your minutes a little bit. I don’t think he should be taking that on himself.â€
The good news for the Blues is that they’ve outshot their opponents in the past seven games during Faulk’s minutes at five on five. They are up 5-4 in goals in that span, even if only two of those games resulted in St. Louis wins.
The Blues need a productive Faulk on the back end to supplement an offense that has hit a dry spell in recent times. He led St. Louis defensemen in scoring just two seasons ago, with a 50-point season that still stands as his career high.
