The St. Louis Blues do not have much time to sit with Thursday’s 3-2 overtime loss to the San Jose Sharks. By Saturday at 6 p.m. CT, they are back at Enterprise Center for Blue Jackets vs. Blues, and the bigger question is not simply how they respond, but whether they can turn decent play into a result that holds up for 60 minutes.
That is where Jim Montgomery’s postgame message lands. He said the Blues were in complete control for long stretches, but that they need to be comfortable winning 2-1 rather than chasing a wider margin. He also pointed to the mistakes that led to San Jose’s second goal and the overtime finish, a reminder that close games can flip quickly once they reach 3-on-3 hockey.
What the numbers suggest
The Blues generated 26 shots on goal and blocked 12 shots in the loss, which tells you they were involved in the right kinds of battles. Joel Hofer also made 24 saves on 27 shots, so the game was not lost because St. Louis was overwhelmed. It was lost because the details around those shots and saves were not clean enough to keep control of the result.
That fits Montgomery’s broader point about style. He wants the Blues to play with a “skate them into the ground” mentality, but that only works if the team is comfortable grinding out lower-scoring games. A team can dominate stretches without dominating the outcome, and that is the edge St. Louis is still trying to sharpen.
A home test with some pressure attached
The Blue Jackets visit as the Blues chase their first regulation home win of the season, and the timing matters. This is the third consecutive home opener loss for St. Louis, which adds a little more weight to what might otherwise be a routine early-season game. The next stretch is not especially forgiving either: the Blues go on a three-game road trip starting Oct. 13 against the Ottawa Senators before returning to host the Winnipeg Jets on Oct. 20.
Cam Fowler’s view after Thursday’s loss was more measured. He said a deeper look at the games shows plenty of positives, and he argued that the veterans have to help younger players absorb that mindset. That is fair enough, but it also underlines the current tension in St. Louis: the process may be better than the results, yet the Blues still have to prove that the process can survive tight games, not just look encouraging in them.
Blue Jackets vs. Blues is not a season-defining matchup in October, but it is a useful early marker. If St. Louis can turn a solid underlying performance into a cleaner finish, Thursday’s loss becomes a lesson. If not, it becomes part of a larger pattern the Blues will have to fix quickly.
