Final score: Dallas 2, Blues 1 in OT. Blues escape with a point on the road. Not so bad, right? Right?!

Nope.

The Blues were thoroughly dominated. Shots on goal were 16 to 37, in favor of the team wearing green. Faceoffs were 26 to 43 (37.7% to 62.3%), again in favor of the team wearing green. The Blues had almost as many penalty minutes (10) as shots on goal (16). It was ugly after the first period, quite frankly, and you'd be kidding yourself to think otherwise. The Blues were outhustled, outworked, and were chasing the puck all night long against a Stars team who had lost 3 of their last 4 games.

The Blues are still a young, developing team. They've got holes on the roster that won't be filled in one season (or off-season, for that matter), and the Stars are clearly more talented. But I really wasn't pleased with the effort and I'm sure if coach Jim Montgomery were asked to answer honestly he'd tell you the same thing.

The Stars were battling hard to win every puck battle, they won 62% of the faceoffs, and controlled the play all night long. Poor Binnington was under siege all game. The Blues never really punched back at any point, never even attempting to match the energy and effort being put forth by the Stars who were clearly desperate to win after a short losing streak.

If only the Blues could muster that same level of intensity once in a while.

Trading for Cam Fowler to solidify the top 4 on defense isn't insignificant, but the real problem is that offensively this team is still lethargic and doesn't control play with puck possession and creating scoring chances.

Since Montgomery became the coach and coached his first game on 11/25/2024 against the New York Rangers, the Blues rank 20th in goals for per game (2.9), 29th in the NHL in shots on goal per game (24.4, all strengths), 30th in the NHL in % of scoring chances for at 5v5, and 15th in the NHL in % of high danger chances for at 5v5.

Dylan Holloway and Zack Bolduc have been on a tear since Montgomery became the coach, that's encouraging and hopefully a sign of better days to come offensively. But overall, it still isn't good enough.