Saturday, Nov. 07, 2009

Flyers up next for sputtering Blues

Lack of offense continues to be a major problem

St. Louis Blues fans love to shine their criticism spotlight on the defense whenever the team loses.

And while defenseman Eric Brewer did knock a puck into his own net Thursday in a 2-1 overtime loss to Calgary, that's not the reason the Blues lost the game.

The real reason is a continued lack of offense that is at various times puzzling, maddening and frustrating.

The Blues will continue their search for the back of the net with a 6 p.m. game today at Philadelphia against former Blues star defenseman Chris Pronger and the Flyers.

High expectations for this season notwithstanding, even the most conservative Blues fan figured on increased goal production. That hope was based on the return of injured players Paul Kariya and Erik Johnson and another year of experience for the team's bright young nucleus.

Through 13 games, the offense continues to be as scarce as World Series championships for the Chicago Cubs.

While the Blues finally snapped their shutout streak at 168 minutes, 7 seconds on Thursday when a puck deflected into the net off of rookie Lars Eller, they failed to get anything else by Flames netminder Miikka Kiprusoff.

That game was on the heels of back to back shutouts at home.

"We didn't get the win and we got one (goal), that's a start," Blues goalie Chris Mason said. "I think the biggest thing is we played well and kind of stuck with the system for most of the game there. That's definitely a step in the right direction."

Only Nashville (28 goals) has scored fewer than the Blues, who have scored 30 through 13 games. Seven other NHL teams have already reached or surpassed the 50-goal mark

"We had some guys that elevated their game more than we've seen lately," Blues coach Andy Murray said after the loss on Thursday. "We've got some other guys that still have got room to grow. It's a tough league."

Murray's message seems to be that continued hard work will be rewarded. But how long will it take?

"Our guys are down in the dumps in the dressing room," he said. "Obviously my job is to try to pick their spirits up a little bit, talk about how hard they work and how they battled.

"If we continue to play like this and play this hard, we'll get a just reward in the end."

Many of the team's top forwards, the players with proven track records and high goal totals, have been among the biggest culprits during the slump.

* Paul Kariya (four goals, seven points) has no points in his last five games and no goals in last six. He's scored only two goals after netting two in the season opener against Detroit.

* Keith Tkachuk scored three goals in his first three games and has none in his last 10. Tkachuk has only one point in his last five games, but still leads the team with three goals and nine points.

* Brad Boyes (two goals, six points), who scored 76 goals the past two seasons, has two through 13 games and is scoreless in his last five contests.

* David Backes is on a seven-game point drought with just one goal and one assist all season. His lone goal came on Oct. 15 in Phoenix.

* David Perron has three goals and six points, but hasn't scored in nine of 13 games.

* Patrik Berglund (two goals, four points) has just one assist in his last six games. Berglund had only one shot Thursday against Calgary and has been held without a shot three times in 13 games.

The Blues' power play, a source of optimism last season until the playoffs, is 25th out of 30 teams with a 14.6-percent success rate (7-for-48).

Eller's goal Thursday snapped an 0-for-26 power-play drought. The Blues also failed to connect during a 5-on-3 chance lasting 1 minute, 37 seconds.

"Overall our power play needs to move the puck quicker," Murray said. "We need to shoot when the chance is there. There needs to be quicker puck movement overall -- and we need all of our guys to make good decisions."

Eller hopes to get an extended shot of proving his worth to the Blues. How did he view the transition from minor-league Peoria to facing one of the Western Conference's top teams in Calgary?

"You've got to have another level of anticipation out there," Eller said. "It's just faster and you've got to make even smarter decisions all the time."

Scouting the Flyers

Now 35, Pronger still is capable of being a dominant defenseman and his first month with the Flyers is living proof. He leads the league in average ice time (27 minutes, 17 seconds a game) and average shifts (32).

He used to play more than 30 minutes a game while with the Blues. Through his first 12 games with the Flyers, Pronger had two goals and nine assists for 11 points.

While battling a nasty flu bug, the Flyers are the top scoring team in the NHL at 3.67 goals per game before Friday. Six players are in double-figure scoring.

Five Flyers missed practice Wednesday because of the flu.

Contact reporter Norm Sanders at nsanders@bnd.com or 239-2454.