The St. Louis Blues saw their five-game winning streak snapped in a 1-0 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday night.
But despite the success before the loss, interim head coach Drew Bannister did not let his team off the hook after the game.
“We didn’t play well enough to win a hockey game tonight, no question about that,” Bannister said. “Everybody was a passenger tonight. There was no one that really stood out and led the way and got us going.”
The Blue Jackets entered the game having lost four of their last five games and without star rookie Adam Fantili, who was cut on the leg by a skate over the weekend. But the Blues only managed four shots on goal in the first period and had nine total through 40 minutes of play. Elvis Merzlikins ultimately made 21 stops for his first shutout of the season.
“The first period, we weren’t skating, we weren’t engaged at all. The second period, I thought we started to skate a little more but again, we were playing cute hockey and cute hockey doesn’t win at this level,” Bannister said. “Not surprised by the result by how we played, but surprised by how we reacted and played the game and started the game, no question.”
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The Blues fired head coach Craig Berube on Dec. 13 and tapped Bannister, who was the club’s AHL head coach, as the interim replacement. Since taking over, Bannister has guided the Blues to a 13-7-1 record and a playoff spot. The Blues currently occupy the second wild-card spot in the West thanks to a tiebreaker with the Predators.
The Blues will now enjoy an 11 day break over the All-Star weekend and will return to the ice on Feb. 10 in Buffalo.
When asked if the break will help flush the bad memories of the loss to the Blue Jackets, Bannister said he hopes not.
“I think this one is going to sit there for a while,” he said. “It should sit there for a while.”
