The tiny cuts — shrewdly shredded and deftly diced across the first 80 games of the season — finally killed the Blues.
They accumulated in losses under two different head coaches. They added up despite some of the best goaltending in the league. They dotted an inconsistent transition season that turned out to be, well, almost exactly what the Blues organization thought it might be.
And with a 5-2 loss to Carolina on Friday night, combined with a Vegas win over Minnesota, the Blues were officially eliminated from postseason contention.
“How can’t you be disappointed?†Blues interim coach Drew Bannister said. “You start training camp in September. A lot of guys are here a lot earlier than that. Practices, games, travel, you battle through it to get to this point of the season and then it’s ripped away from you.
“We were a part of that. We have to take ownership in our game and it needs to be better, but certainly, we got ourselves in a position where we were fighting for the playoffs for the last two months. It’s tough when you’re in a grind and game to game means as much as it did.â€
From about late February until the third period Friday night — when the Hurricanes scored three goals to break a 2-2 tie — the Blues were fighting the standings. ÁñÁ«ÊÓƵ were punching up toward a playoff spot that they once owned by as many as four points Feb. 15. At certain moments, it seemed like the death knell was following.
When the club lost three in a row to Detroit, Winnipeg and Edmonton, the playoff dreams felt far away. Wins over Minnesota and Philadelphia helped steer back on track.
When they lost to the Islanders, Devils and Rangers around the trade deadline, hope appeared stuck in Pandora’s box. Of course, four consecutive wins followed to reinvigorate the Blues.
Losses to the Golden Knights and to the Sharks and to the Predators within the last fortnight were each destructive in their own way, but the Blues responded to each setback with a win in their next game.
Odds counted the Blues out for months, perhaps based on their overreliance on goaltending and special teams. But they didn’t do so themselves, and they were the last Western Conference team to miss the postseason cut.
“Us guys in here, no matter what the odds are or where we’re at in the season, we never gave up,†Blues forward Robert Thomas said. “We won’t give up. That’s what I’m taking away from this.â€
Defenseman Colton Parayko: “I thought we’ve had a pretty good stretch here. I don’t know exactly what our record’s been, but we’ve definitely been playing well, I think. Maybe there’s a couple we would like to have back, but at the same time, we’ve been playing some good hockey and I think it’s good looking forward, we’ve got a good group in here. Just keep pushing all the way to the end a couple more games.â€
Forward Brandon Saad: “It’s been an emotional month, month and a half here. It’s been fun hockey, a lot of competing. I think we grew a lot as a team. Obviously, a tough result here tonight.â€
In missing the postseason, the Blues failed to qualify in consecutive seasons for the first time since 2009-10 and 2010-11. It is just the fourth time in franchise history that they have at least two straight seasons without a playoff berth. Only once has the team missed the playoffs three years in a row.
Of course, this season was somewhat expected by the Blues’ management and ownership.
Before the regular season, general manager Doug Armstrong set his goal, the potential best-case scenario at third place in the Central Division, or somewhere in the No. 11-15 range in the league standings. The Blues will finish in fifth place in the Central, and they currently rank 16th in the NHL.
It was all part of a two-track plan to plan for the future and ice a decent team in the NHL.
St. Louis competed for a playoff spot until game No. 80, while trying to develop young talent at various levels and to varying degrees. It slugged through a season with four win streaks of at least three games, and four losing streaks of at least three games.
“We’ve found ways to fight our way back into the playoff picture numerous times over the last two months,†Bannister said. “A lot of it was on us. There was times when we didn’t play good hockey and then consistently, we were able to get ourselves back into it. But I think if you want to be a playoff team, you have to consistently play good hockey through not only the whole year, but certainly when you come back after Christmas, when points are hard to get.â€
Bannister pointed to the 6-8-1 stretch after the All-Star break as a key downturn. Of course, there’s also the 0-4-1 record against bottom-feeders San Jose and Columbus.
“You can pick apart the games that we lost,†Bannister said. “I’m sure there’s four or five games that we should have won, and that’s going to be a learning experience for us that we had opportunities. If we win four or five of those games, that’s just in the time that I was here. Over an 82-game schedule, all of a sudden, we’ve got 100 points and we’re in a solid playoff spot.â€
Across a six-month season, only two games failed to matter for the Blues, a massive trim from a season ago but still too many for a franchise with a banner just five years ago. After a game Sunday against Seattle, and Wednesday in Dallas, the tiny cuts can begin to heal.
“I think it’s important for us to make sure that Sunday here, we take pride in our game and we put on a good performance for the fans that have supported us,†Bannister said.