Uninspired St. Louis Sports

Could things have gone any worse for St. Louis sports fans last night? The answer quite simply is no. Absolutely not. Last night is a night to quickly bury in the back of your mind and pretend never happened. In case you were lucky enough to be unconcious the entire night, here is what you missed. The Blues dropped their home opener, the Cardinals dropped (literally) a game that was theirs, and Mizzou (if you care) lost as well. The weather is rainy, but most of the gloom in the STL area today is clearly caused by a massive failure by all St. Louis sports teams.

Blues

Well, that was a disappointing home opener following an incredible start against Detroit. The Blues took on Atlanta last night, but they seemed to never find the same rhythm they deployed against the Red Wings in the late stages of their first two games of the season. The team as a whole looked slow, rushed with their passing, and unable to form a solid attack against the Thrashers’ defense. Maybe it was me, but even during the player introductions for the new season the players appeared to be not as fired up as you’d imagine.

The GOOD:

• Keith Tkachuk is arguably the best Blue so far, recording another goal (his third of the season) and an assist (also his third) last night.
• Erik Johnson led the team with 25:35 minutes of ice-time further illustrating he is back at 100% from last season’s injury.
• Production from the defense is an area the Blues needed to improve upon from last year, and so far things are moving in the right direction. Last night Roman Polak scored the Blues 2nd goal while Erik Johnson and Jackman recorded assists on the night. If the defense can keep contributing to the offense, the Blues should see better scoring numbers than last year.
• The Al MacInnis statue is finally in place outside of Scottrade. Nice to have statues outside the building, it definitely improves the overall look of the place.

The MEH:

• Attendance was 19,150 (sell out) on the night. A great sized crowd and what you would expect and hope for on opening night. Saturday’s matchup against LA might see lower numbers thanks to a certain baseball game occurring down the street.
• Alex Steen led the team with five shots, which while it is nice to see him firing the puck at the net, it also means that the Blues core failed to get any shots on net, which will be covered in the bad section.

The BAD:

• While Steen put up five shots, the rest of the Blues talented squad could not get the puck on the net. The Blues did put up 31 shots to Atlanta’s 22, but when Perron, McDonald, Oshie and Berglund combine for just five shots, something isn’t right. The offense needs these four to get more involved in the offense especially considering it was these four that when on, propelled the Blues into the playoffs last year.
• The power-play took a night off. Going 4-for-9 in their first two games, the Blues went 0-for-3 with the man advantage last night.
• Blame it on the rainy St. Louis weather or the effects of the Sweden trip, the Blues looked uninspired and rather slow throughout most of the game.
• You know it is a rough night for St. Louis sports fans when an escalator decides to injure fans leaving the Blues game. The report, found here , mentions that several injuries occured as fans were leaving the game when an escalator sped up, knocking people off balance.

Three games in, the Blues find themselves 2-1. The home opener was more than disappointing, but the Blues have a chance to right the ship Saturday when they take on the Los Angeles Kings. Hopefully a big crowd turns out despite the baseball game, which considering what occured to the Cardinals last night, we may see a few more Blues tickets sold as the Birds appear destined to make an early exit.

Cards / Mizzou

Both teams lost a lead late and suffered a crushing loss. The Cards were one out away when Matt Holliday took a flyball off the groin instead of making a game-ending catch. The rest is history, LA scored, the Cards are down two games to nil in the first to three wins series. Hopefully the Blues can crush the Kings Saturday to at least get a bit of a knock at the LA market.

Mizzou lost late to Nebraska. I’m not a Mizzou fan in the least, but chalk it up as another loss for the St. Louis market last night in what will likely be remembered as one of the most brutal sports night in our town’s history.