The St. Louis Blues entered tonight's game looking to keep pace with the Boston Bruins in the President's Trophy race, but were stopped short by a desperate Dallas Stars club.
The Stars entered the night, three points behind the Phoenix Coyotes who currently sit in the final wild card slot. They came into tonight's game after beating the Nashville Predators last night, 7-2. They are hungry for points, and it showed tonight.
Colton Sceviour lead Dallas with two goals, while Cody Eakin and Antoine Roussel also added goals for the Stars. Kari Lehtonen continued his dominance over the Blues, stopping 33-of-35, earning the win.
Alexander Steen, who played in his 600th NHL game tonight, scored the only two goals for the Blues. The offense has seemingly only come from the top three guys for the Blues in this last little stretch, and that is a big concern with the playoffs right around the corner.
The Blues are a team that is built without a superstar forward, and is supposed to be a team that's supposed to score by committee. Well that hasn't happened lately.
While the top line has combined for eight of the last twelve goals for the Blues. Backes notched a hat-trick against the Leafs, Oshie netted a hat-trick against the Wild, and Steen was a goal shy of a hat-trick tonight. Meanwhile, let's take a look at the guys who are relied to provide the secondary scoring.
Derek Roy has not scored a goal in the last 14 games for the Blues. Let's just say this, he hasn't scored a goal since before the Olympics. He has exactly one point in in those 14 games. Tonight, he played 10:37, and finished the game as a -2. He was brought in this off-season to provide offense, yet here we are in late March, asking where the offense is.
Brendan Morrow, a guy brought in to chip in some timely goals and provide some veteran leadership. He has two goals in his last 14 games. He finished a -1 tonight, playing 10:45.
In Patrik Berglund's last 16 games, he has scored six goals and two assist. While that doesn't look terrible, he hasn't scored in the last seven games, and only has one assist in that span. Tonight, Berglund played 15:15, finished with a -1.
Vladimir Sobotka has scored one goal, four assists in his last nine games. He's had a pretty good year this season, but for a guy playing 18:00 minutes a night, you expect more. He continues to dominate the face-off circle, yet he's has one assist in his last eight games.
Even Jaden Schwartz's offense has dried up recently. His last 17 games, Schwartz has four goals and seven assists. He's had an excellent break out year this year, but tonight was very sloppy, even for Schwartz. He was uncharacteristically losing puck battles, was whiffing on pucks, and was losing the puck with simple stick-handling.
To get to the point, Backes, Steen, and Oshie can't do all the scoring, and recently, they have been. That needs to change, and it needs to change in a hurry. If the secondary scoring doesn't kick in by the playoffs, the Blues are going to struggle to win games. You have to have your top players scoring, but the majority of the time, it's the secondary scoring that helps lead a team deep in the playoffs.
Be sure to follow me on twitter, if you don't already. I'm giving away a Jake Allen, Peoria Rivermen rookie card once I reach 900 followers. You can follow along