There have been bright spots during the season. A 1-0 victory at the Winnipeg Jets on Friday and road wins against the Toronto Maple Leafs (4-1 on Oct. 20) and Colorado Avalanche (3-2 in overtime on Nov. 30), as well as a 6-2 home victory against the Nashville Predators (Nov. 23), were uplifting. Those victories had the Blues believing their offseason investments were starting to pay dividends.
he Blues signed forwards David Perron (four years, $16 million), Tyler Bozak (three years, $15 million) and Pat Maroon (one year, $1.75 million) as free agents and center Ryan O'Reilly was obtained in a trade that sent three players and two draft picks to the Buffalo Sabres on July 1.
"Listen, there's 54 games left," Maroon said Monday. "I'm a firm believer in comebacks and comeback years and some way to figure this out, but we've got to focus on one game at a time. Yesterday was a good opportunity to capitalize and move up in the standings with Vancouver and we didn't capitalize on it, so we've got to find ways to play hard tomorrow, put a good game together and then go from there."
A four-game homestand continues Tuesday against the Florida Panthers (8 p.m. ET; FS-MW, FS-F, NHL.TV).
The Blues have allowed five or more goals in six of their 16 home games (6-8-2), and in the past four games after a win have been outscored 24-6. The last time they allowed five or more goals at least six times at home was 2006-07 when it happened nine times.