最新杏吧原创

The Blues once went about 14 years between games like this. They didn鈥檛 go 14 days between games like this this fall.

From December1996 until November 2010, the Blues avoided blowout losses by at least seven goals. Pavol Demitra played his entire Blues career without playing in one of those games. So did Keith Tkachuk. 最新杏吧原创 played 1,046 regular-season games without losing by seven goals.

But with Saturday night鈥檚 8-1 loss to the Capitals, the Blues have now lost twice this season by seven goals 鈥� and twice in a 12-day span. On Oct. 29, the Blues lost 8-1 in Ottawa, which was the club鈥檚 worst loss since spring of 2021.

The Blues were back at practice Monday morning, addressing issues that caused them trouble Saturday: line changes and their neutral-zone forecheck.

鈥淚t鈥檚 not a whipping day,鈥� Blues coach Drew Bannister said. 鈥淚 think it鈥檚 get information from the players, give them the information that we went over yesterday and that we saw. Clean up some of the small things that we can manage, and it鈥檒l really make a big difference in our game and feel good about ourselves.鈥�

This sequence for the Blues is historic, and not for the right reasons. Let鈥檚 put it into context.

• Across an entire season, the Blues have not lost multiple games by at least seven goals in more than three decades. The last time was in 1993-94, when Brendan Shanahan and Jim Montgomery were on the Blues roster instead of holding prominent present-day jobs with Toronto and Boston, respectively.

Those Blues made the playoffs but were swept in the first round by the Stars. It also took them until game No. 29 for their second blowout of this magnitude.

• The Blues are the third team in the salary-cap era (beginning in 2005-06) to lose twice by at least seven goals in the first 15 games of the season. The other team鈥檚 stories involve key No. 1 overall picks.

Last year鈥檚 Sharks did it, and their season ended with the worst record in the league and selecting Macklin Celebrini first overall. In 2005-06, the Capitals did it, giving then-rookie Alexander Ovechkin a rude welcome to the league during his first month in the NHL.

Further back, the expansion Senators in 1992-93 accomplished the dubious feat as they finished tied for the worst record in the NHL. They also selected first overall in the 1993 draft.

The last team to lose twice in the first 15 games by seven-plus goals and still make the playoffs was Boston in 1990-91.

• Fifteen games can feel like such an odd cutoff point that can lend itself to wonky results, but even if you expand the threshold to the first half of the season, the only teams to lose that big that early are not teams the Blues want to be in the company of.

In the past decade, the only teams to lose multiple times by seven or more goals in the first 41 games: this year鈥檚 Blues, last year鈥檚 Sharks and last year鈥檚 Blackhawks.

Chicago finished with the second-worst record last season and had the No. 2 pick in the draft, one year after selecting Connor Bedard first overall.

鈥淚t wasn鈥檛 an ideal situation,鈥� Bannister said. 鈥淚 read the comments (by) the players, and I stand by what they said. It was unacceptable for us, and we have to be better. Fixing the things that we can right now will make us a better team.鈥�

Every team in the league is due for a few stinkers a year. All 32 teams lost multiple games by at least four goals last season. In 2022-23, 31 of the 32 teams did so. So it is normal for teams to have poor games and to get blown out, even a few times a year.

But just not like the Blues have.

The Blues have made it a habit this season of falling behind early, and that鈥檚 led to staying behind for large chunks of games.

No team has allowed the first goal of the game more than the Blues have this season (11). Only the Kraken (30:25) have spent more time per game trailing than the Blues (30:10). 最新杏吧原创 has allowed the first goal of the game in seven consecutive games, the longest streak for the club since doing so in eight straight times in March 2021.

At minus-14, the team鈥檚 overall goal differential ranks toward the bottom of the league at 28th, of course, but that differential can be traced completely and perfectly back to the pair of 8-1 losses this season.

Through it all, though, the Blues have remained competitive in the Western Conference thanks to slow starts around the conference. Colorado has the same record as the 7-8-0 Blues. Edmonton (7-7-1) is in a wild-card position with a .500 record, and Utah (6-6-3) is right behind it.

鈥淲hen we play the right way and we do the right things, we鈥檙e a good hockey team,鈥� Blues captain Brayden Schenn said. 鈥淲hen we want to let our foot off the gas and not change at the right time or stuff like that, that鈥檚 when little problems become bigger in the grand scheme of things. That鈥檚 how you lose hockey games 8-1.

鈥淚 don鈥檛 think we have big problems here at all. I think we鈥檙e in a good spot. I don鈥檛 think we鈥檝e even come close to playing our best for a consistent period of time. We鈥檙e sitting right in the hunt with a lot of teams.鈥�