St. Louis is in the midst of a losing streak that was helped in part by the Kings first win against the Murray coached Blues in February. After the fact, Legace gave post-game quotes that sounded more like sour grapes than respect. In the Blues last loss, in Nabakov’s third night off of the season (really), Brian Boucher, formerly of the AHL Philadelphia Phantoms, shut St. Louis out. That has to be humbling, no doubt.
It begs the question whether the luster has fallen off of Murray. I will leave that for others to discuss who are far more familiar with the Blues’ issues than I. Nonetheless, Kings’ fans are all too familiar with their former coach’s tendencies to start strong, have a stifling defense, practices that go at mach speed and a nose dive as the season winds down. The Blues went from upstarts to bridesmaids for this year’s playoffs if the post-season started now. Check out a section of the following St. Louis Dispatch article where Legace discusses the team’s current woes:
“My street hockey team couldn't score for a couple of weeks ... that's about it," Legace said. "I haven't been on a team like this. I've never seen anything like it. Usually after two or three games, you're usually getting bounces going off guys' heads, off the back of the net and in."
The Blues registered 24 shots Saturday. They have scored just four goals on 179 shots in a losing streak that has reached six games.
. . . Blues coach Andy Murray, who was brief with his answers to questions after the game, told reporters, "You can lose games where we feel like the effort wasn't strong enough. We know our opponents are very good, but that wasn't satisfactory ... that's for sure."
Asked which word described his team's performance, Murray said, "Just passion. The word passion kind of describes it all. That's the part that's a concern for us. Obviously, it's unacceptable for us to play this way in front of our home crowds."
St. Louis Drought Continues
Here is St. Louis’ game preview:
Blues’ Preview
Fan Backlash:
Admittedly, I took issue with Lombardi with his trade deadline inaction when a fire sale is more what I had in mind to further expedite the rebuild. It turns out fan frustration was not confined solely to Kings’ fans. Blues’ fans planned on being in the playoffs this year and Davidson’s regime took their first PR hit when the organization was sellers and not buyers at this year’s deadline.
Riddle this:
“The Blues wanted to make the playoffs this year. That was their stated goal in coach Andy Murray’s first full season.
The ownership group, led by Dave Checketts, allowed Davidson to expand his budget to land free agent Paul Kariya. This surprising development caused expectations to soar.
And the Blues were meeting expectations, until their baffling power-play outage and vexing lack of goaltending depth caught up to them.”
St. Louis Fans’ Backlash
Let me see if I can summarize this:
• Lack of goaltending depth;
• Power Play Outage (okay, I am cheating a bit here since the Kings’ shortcomings are on the PK)
• Fans' Plans to Make the Playoffs;
• Unexplainable Losing Streak;
• Playoff Spectator Again;
• Passionless Play at Season’s End;
The quandary I am having is whether this describes at least in part the current Kings, the Kings under Murray or Kings’ fans take on Lombardi. Either way, Murray’s Blues have a lot in common with Los Angeles. Patience is the mantra and impatience at the pace of turning things around.
Either way, this is a winnable game for the Kings. Time for them to seize the day, and hopefully with Ersberg between the twine.
Carla Muller Carla.hockeygal@att.net
CarlaMuller
Can the Kings Help the Lowly Blues Make it Seven Losses in a Row? 
