The St Louis Blues are in a crisis of sorts after getting booed off home ice following a 6-1 loss to the Vancouver Canucks on Sunday.
Blues booed off home ice…again. #STLBlues
— patrick gable (@patrickRcR) December 9, 2018
Brock Boeser and Elias Pettersson had their way with St Louis. Boeser picked up his second career hat trick, while Pettersson had his second five-point game of the season and was named NHL First Star of the Week.
Starting goalie Jake Allen was chased from the net after giving up three goals on six shots, while backup Chad Johnson didn’t fare much better, giving up three goals on 15 shots.
Vancouver’s three first period goals marked the first time the Blues allowed three in the opening stanza to the Canucks since December 15, 1996. The Canucks won 8-0 that night (goals were scored by Alex Mogilny x3, Pavel Bure x2, David Roberts, Gino Odjick, and Markus Naslund, in case you were wondering), leading to Blues head coach Mike Keenan being fired five days later.
See also
- Canucks' Pettersson named the NHL's First Star of the Week
- Boeser scores hat trick in Canucks' blowout of the Blues
- Former Canucks defenceman Bieksa preps for Spengler Cup with WHL team
St Louis might have considered canning their bench boss after this latest pathetic effort, but of course, they’ve already played that card, firing Mike Yeo last month.
“We gave up eight scoring chances in the game and six goals against,” said new Blues head coach Craig Berube. “There are a lot of areas that have to be better tonight, for sure.”
The Blues aren’t a good team this year, but losing badly to the Canucks — a team that dropped 12 of their previous 14 games — was a new low.
Vladimir Tarasenko even felt the need to apologize for his team’s effort.
âI apologize to all our fans,” he said. “We canât play at home like this. I donât know how to fix it. We work on it but it doesnât work for now.â
Tarasenko: âI apologize to all our fans. We canât play at home like this. I donât know how to fix it. We work on it but it doesnât work for now.â
Steen: âRight now weâre not committed enough to what we want to accomplishâ
Schenn: âWeâre a fragile group. It comes with losingâ
— Jeremy Rutherford (@jprutherford) December 9, 2018
Not long after the game, the Blues called up goaltender Jordan Binnington from the minors, while Johnson found his way on waivers.
— Chad Johnson (@ochocinco) December 10, 2018
No, not that Chad Johnson, but hilarious stuff from Ochocinco nonetheless.
Tensions boiled over at Monday’s practice, when teammates Robert Bortuzzo and Zach Sanford got into a fight, with Bortuzzo landing a couple of good punches.
Robert Bortuzzo and Zach Sanford scrap during Blues hockey practice today. The Blues have lost 10 of its past 14 games #fightSZN @BizNasty2point0 @ryanwhitney6 @RearAdBsBlog @MikeGrinnell_ @spittinchiclets pic.twitter.com/ijWXgtQQEE
— Avery (@Avery_188) December 10, 2018
Meanwhile, rumours have circulated that the Blues might be willing to offload their captain, Alex Pietrangelo.
The Canucks will hope the Blues remain a wreck for the foreseeable future, as these two teams meet again at Rogers Arena on December 20.