最新杏吧原创

NEW YORK 鈥� The Blues didn鈥檛 wait long, and neither did Jim Montgomery.

Five days after he was fired as the Bruins head coach, Montgomery was hired on Sunday as the head coach of the Blues, signing a five-year contract in the process.

As a result, the Blues fired coach Drew Bannister, who was 22 games into his first full season as the full-time coach in 最新杏吧原创.

Montgomery, 55, was in his third season as the head coach in Boston before he was fired last week. Despite an 8-9-3 record this season, the Bruins had the league鈥檚 best record during Montgomery's tenure at 120-41-23. During the 2022-23 season, the Bruins set an NHL record by racking up 135 points as Montgomery won the Jack Adams Award as the league鈥檚 top coach.

Montgomery was an assistant coach for the Blues from 2020-22. When he ran the power play, the Blues were sixth in the NHL. When he ran the penalty kill, the Blues were fifth in the NHL.

Bannister finished his Blues coaching career with a 39-31-6 record, counting the 54 games last season when he was the interim coach following the firing of Craig Berube. He signed a two-year contract this summer when the Blues named him the full-time head coach.

Bannister was in his seventh season within the organization, coaching in the AHL before he got the NHL job.

Blues general manager Doug Armstrong will speak to reporters at noon.

This story will be updated.

鈥極ffense is our biggest issue鈥�: Scoring again hard to come by for Blues in loss to Islanders

In a 3-1 loss to the Islanders on Saturday night at UBS Arena, the Blues once again struggled to score, as Jake Neighbours鈥� power-play goal in the third period was their only goal of the evening.

Blues lose low-scoring game vs. Islanders to begin their trip

The Blues and Islanders combined for one goal at even-strength Saturday as the Blues lost 3-1, their seventh loss in the last nine games.

Blues Extra: Starts critical as club begins stretch with seven of eight games on the road

Since Nov. 12, no NHL team has scored first more often than the Blues, even if that hasn鈥檛 translated to wins (最新杏吧原创 is 2-2-1 in those five games).

ELMONT, N.Y. 鈥� The Blues are waiting for an outburst that hasn鈥檛 arrived yet.

In a 3-1 loss to the Islanders on Saturday night at UBS Arena, the Blues once again struggled to score, as Jake Neighbours鈥� power-play goal in the third period was their only goal of the evening. It was the fourth time this season that the Blues failed to score a goal at 5 on 5, and led to their seventh loss in the last night games.

鈥淲e score two goals a game,鈥� Blues forward Pavel Buchnevich said. 鈥淲e can鈥檛 win the games like that. Our goalies have to stop 50 shots every game. It鈥檚 impossible. Our team has good players, and we鈥檙e not scoring. We鈥檝e got to figure out offense. Offense is our biggest issue. Impossible to win with one and two goals. Just impossible.鈥�

Kyle Palmieri scored twice for the Islanders, once off a Pierre-Olivier Jospeh giveaway in the first period and then into an empty net during the final minute of the third period. Brock Nelson added a power-play goal in the second period for New York.

Jordan Binnington made 28 saves for the Blues in his first chance to become the team鈥檚 all-time winningest goaltender.

The Blues made a third-period push after being down 2-0 at second intermission, and finished with a 10-7 edge in shots on goal in the final 20 minutes.

鈥淚 don鈥檛 think we did enough to get pucks to the net to create that chaos (early on),鈥� Blues coach Drew Bannister said. 鈥淚 thought in the second half, we started putting more pucks to the net. Once you do that, I thought our retrievals were good. We were finding pucks and we were winning wall battles.

鈥淚n that second half, just because we were putting them back on their toes a little bit and they had to collapse to the net, we were able to get more movement. I thought that was something we didn鈥檛 do in the first half.鈥�

At 5 on 5, in the third period, the Blues had 19 shot attempts to the Islanders鈥� eight. Buchnevich attributed the change to an adjustment to the way they exited their own zone.

鈥淲e changed the breakout and we started playing better,鈥� Buchnevich said. 鈥淎t least we got the speed on breakout when we dump the puck. Every time we dumped the puck (in the) first period, never get the puck back and just chasing (the) puck around. As soon as we changed the breakout, at least we enter the zone with the speed and we can forecheck.鈥�

Saturday鈥檚 outcome wasn鈥檛 an outlier for the Blues.

They have not scored four goals in a game since Nov. 2, a streak of 10 games that is the longest active one in the NHL. They have scored three regulation goals in just one game in their last nine tries. In more than half of their games this season (12 out of 22), the Blues have scored two or fewer goals.

鈥淥bviously, we鈥檙e struggling to score goals and we鈥檝e got to find ways to not necessarily be chasing the game in the third period,鈥� Blues defenseman Justin Faulk said. 鈥淲e鈥檝e got to come out with that aggression early, and create those chances and that opportunity and that amount of time in the o-zone earlier in the game so we can give ourselves a chance to be up in a game.鈥�

For a dozen games, it was understandable that the Blues would struggle offensively without No. 1 center Robert Thomas. And they鈥檙e still without Philip Broberg, who is second among Blues defensemen in scoring despite missing the last 10 games with a lower-body injury.

But captain Brayden Schenn is on pace for 11 goals this season. Brandon Saad has scored in one game in his last 15. Jordan Kyrou just ended a six-game goal drought on Thursday. Faulk doesn鈥檛 have a point in the last 14 games. Buchnevich has one even-strength goal in his last 19 games.

What are the issues offensively?

鈥淚 don鈥檛 know, we doesn鈥檛 work on it,鈥� Buchnevich said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e working only on d-zone. We鈥檝e got to start working on offense, believing we can score. It鈥檚 hard to win in this league 2-1 or 1-0. I think we play defensively much better than last year, but we doesn鈥檛 create any chances offensively. It鈥檚 our biggest issue right now. Probably the lowest team in goals.鈥�

Faulk: 鈥淎t times, you鈥檝e just got to get aggressive and shoot pucks and spend time. Realistically, we鈥檝e got to make it hard on them. Generate chances with speed, no turnovers, play fast through the neutral zone so you can get guys up in the rush and put pressure on them and make it tough. So it鈥檚 not just a shot off the rush or one chance and then they break it out.鈥�

Overall this season, the Blues are in the bottom third of the NHL in terms of generating offense at 5 on 5, according to Natural Stat Trick. They are 25th in shot attempts, 23rd in shots on goal, 25th in scoring chances, 26th in high-danger chances, 30th in expected goals and 25th in goals.

最新杏吧原创 has preached an identity this season that revolves around playing tight-checking, low-scoring hockey. It understands it鈥檚 not a flashy team, and does not try to be one. For the Blues, they want their game to begin in their own zone.

鈥淵ou have to be able to defend first,鈥� Bannister said. 鈥淚f you want to have the puck, you have to defend fast. I thought in the second half of the game, we defended faster. I think it allowed us to play a quicker game and get on the offense. But you have to defend first. You have to be able to get the puck back when you don鈥檛 have it to be able to have it.鈥�

Faulk conceded that the Blues could open it up offensively, but those rush-based teams generally don鈥檛 have much success. When they do, it鈥檚 centered around players like Connor McDavid and Nathan MacKinnon that 鈥済et to play a little bit different probably,鈥� Faulk said.

鈥淵ou鈥檝e got to be tight defensively,鈥� Faulk said. 鈥淵ou don鈥檛 want to give up too many chances and then you end up chasing the game anyways. I don鈥檛 think the answer is to just open it wide open and just start hoping for rush goals.鈥�

So the Blues (9-12-1) will have to find a balance in the meantime, and they will have to do so against two of the top teams in the league when they face the Rangers and Devils this week.

鈥淲hen you have those opportunities at even-strength, you鈥檝e got to be able to capitalize on them,鈥� Bannister said. 鈥淩ight now, we haven鈥檛 been able to.鈥�

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