The St. Louis Blues started their four-game homestand by earning three of a possible six points in games against the Chicago Blackhawks, Dallas Stars and Los Angeles Kings.
But Blues coach Jim Montgomery will be seeking improvement Thursday night when his team hosts the streaking Utah Mammoth in another Western Conference matchup.
St. Louis delivered a solid performance during its 3-1 victory over the Stars on Saturday, but was fortunate to earn a point in the 2-1 overtime loss to the Kings on Tuesday night.
Los Angeles controlled the first two periods of that game and outshot the Blues 28-18 overall.
“It’s disappointing,” Montgomery said. “We don’t start on time. We didn’t come close to executing the game plan. We’re going to have to change things up and do things different. The intensity we started the game with, just it wasn’t there. It was lacking. We need to find more consistency with how we play.”
Montgomery benched forward Alexandre Texier during the game and limited rookie winger Jimmy Snuggerud to just 11 shifts. During Wednesday’s practice, Oskar Sundqvist replaced Texier on the fourth line and Jordan Kyrou reunited with Robert Thomas and Pavel Buchnevich on the top line.
A lower-body injury had sidelined Sundqvist, while Kyrou had been playing on a line with Brayden Schenn and Mathieu Joseph.
Montgomery sees familiar signs of trouble with his team’s game.
“It’s the same thing as last year,” Montgomery said. “We’re going through the exact same thing as last January. And we’re going to have to get it changed. We’re going to have to go to work all together. That’s how you gain consistency is through communication. It’s by players holding players accountable, coaches holding players accountable, players holding coaches accountable. We’re not getting the job done right now with our consistency, with effort and execution. We have to demand more of each other.”
The Mammoth rolled into St. Louis after winning all four games on their homestand, capped by their 4-3 overtime victory over the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday.
Utah coach Andre Tourigny was pleased with his team’s effort at both ends of the ice.
“Colorado is a team that doesn’t give up a lot of goals,” Tourigny said, “They gave up only nine goals in the six games before that game, so I’m proud of the offense we created and the way we clogged the middle, especially from the second period on.”
Tourigny is seeing the sort of consistency from the Mammoth that Montgomery is seeking from the Blues.
“We don’t want our performance to go up and down,” Tourigny said. “We don’t want to level to our opponent; we want to be good every night. But we all know that’s a hell of a team on the other side. And I think the most important thing for me is the way we progress during the game, the way we adapt, the way we react to the way they wanted to attack us and the read of how our guys did and all of it. I think I’m really proud of them for that.”
Mammoth forward Jack McBain is questionable for this game after he exited against Colorado with an upper-body injury.
