In their last five games, The St. Louis Blues they are 1-4-0. They stayed afloat in sixth place in the Central Division, but fell to 13th in the Western Conference. Many things are to blame for their recent poor play, but injuries may be the number one problem that is the root of all their problems.

The first was the loss of defense Torey Krugwho was placed on injured reserve (IR) after requiring ankle surgery in September for an injury he was diagnosed with in July. The Blues then received more bad news when defenseman Nick Leddy was placed on IR on Oct. 22 with a lower-body injury, and finally, forward Robert Thomas suffered. a broken ankle on Oct. 22 against the Winnipeg Jets, with a return expected for Dec. 5; however, none of these returns are guaranteed.

Just when it looked like the Blues’ injury plague had been stopped, they received more bad news on Oct. 29 after their game against the Ottawa Senators: Mathieu Joseph was ruled out and Kasperi Kapanen was day-to-day. Let’s look at what this has done to the Blues line-up in the last few games since the injuries started.

Blues struggle to avoid drawing in games

The Blues have had a lot of trouble keeping the puck out of the net since the start of the season, following one or more objectives eight times in the last 10 games. They have a 3-4-0 record when scoring first and compared to their 2-2-0 record when scoring first, it doesn’t look as good as they have struggled to keep up with the number of goals conceded . in the last nine games.

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This problem could be caused by injury problems that have weakened their defensive formation; Leddy or Krug are not available to help them solidify their own zone and prevent other teams from scoring first downs. While the Blues are 12th worst in goals against (36) this season, they are also 25th in goals for (28), meaning on the other hand they are not scoring enough to break the goals they allow. The offensive side is now without Thomas on their top lines and puts up a lot pressure on them to rely on players like Jordan Kyrou and Jake Neighbours, who is still trying to find his leadership roles within the club.

To make matters worse, losing Thomas won’t help their power play, which has scored four goals in 26 chances. The Blues’ power play ranks 23rd in the league and needs it to flourish to improve their goals.

More defensive damage causing more defensive breakdowns

Once again, with the loss of Krug and Leddy, the Blues don’t have much to work with defensively, despite loading up on depth in the offseason and failing to find a solution to their defensive woes. This has also hurt their penalty kill units, and it will most likely get worse – the Blues currently rank 25th on the penalty kill (73.3 percent).

Defensive struggles also affected their goalkeeper, with a Struggling Jordan Binnington and a pro Joel Hofer looking to push for starting position. After an 8-1 loss against the Senators on Oct. 29, it doesn’t look so good for the goalie right now and is the last team to figure out what’s going wrong offensively and defensively.

Binnington is 1-4-0 in his last five games, followed by a relief appearance against the Senators, with a .894 save percentage (SV%) and a 2.97 goals-against average (GAA), while Hofer is 3-1. -0 record with a .916 SV%, a 3.13 GAA and a shutout in his last four. It’s obvious here that the Blues missing their most important defensive players is hurting their goaltending, which has been great to start the season, especially with Hofer.

Action plan to avoid further damage

It seems the Blues are out of options; however, this was similar to last season when they started with a 5-4-1 record and lacked the key pieces needed to put points on the board, followed by poor defensive play. This is head coach Drew Bannister’s first opportunity in a full season as an NHL coach, making it difficult for the Blues to find a way to win with whatever they have left that hasn’t been weighed down by injuries.

The good news is that the Blues still have some of their core stars and key players like Colton Parayko, Kyrou, Pavel Buchnevich, Justin Faulk, Neighbors and Philip Broberg, who have stood out the most between the entire roster, both offensively and defensively. The bad news is that they have to overwork those players to fill the voids from injuries. Hopefully over the next few games they will have the right amount of depth and also it’s moments like these when teams find great players that come out of nowhere.