Blues’ defense has been a bigger problem than their offense

In my opinion, the St. Louis Blues have problems on both offense and defense. But the Blues’ defense is a bigger problem than the offense. Here’s why.

Blues defenseman Justin Faulk has been reportedly hated by some Blues fans in the past, and I’m not sure why. I don’t have a favorite defenseman, per se, but I’m neither his No. 1 fan nor a hater.

A few weeks ago, I thought that Faulk was going through a small slump. I had a conversation with a Blues fan who respectfully disagreed with me at the time. He said: “I don’t think Faulk’s been in a slump. He’s been the one solid piece on the defensive corps all season long. He’s got the best +/- on the entire team, and he plays second-highest minutes next to [Colton] Parayko.”

“Faulk leads the defense in shots on goal, and is second in points on defenseman behind [Torey] Krug.”

He added: “I think the problem has been finding the right fourth line combo to take the pressure off the top three. And Faulk’s defense has been the absolute best all season long.”
He had a good point, so I can’t disagree with him 100%.

However, the rest of the Blues’ defense — and defensive play — has been pretty bad.

I’m not the type to be negative about the NHL, but Thursday’s game against the Philadelphia Flyers was pretty much over in the first period.

From what I saw, Blues goalie Jordan Binnington looked confused guarding the net, the defense seemed to back out, and there weren’t any shots on goal for the first ten minutes. I understand that goalies can have their ups and downs, but I feel like Binnington lacked confidence. Binnington ended the game by stopping 22 of 26 shots on Thursday.

Binnington isn’t the Blues’ only problem defensively. The Blues’ defense — and defensive play — has been disappointing. There’s only so much patience one can have. Thankfully, there's just a little over a month left in the regular season. The Blues may be affected by the current absence of Torey Krug, who’s out week-to-week with an upper-body injury.