DALLAS — Welcome to another long summer.
Following the Blues’ 2-1 shootout loss to the Stars on Wednesday night, the franchise, its players and coaches and management and fans now all face the six-month return of hockey for the second straight year.
Now in the past is the 11-point improvement from a year ago to a 92-point regular season. Gone is the breakout season from Robert Thomas, and the elite play of Jordan Binnington. The firing of Craig Berube will be about 10 months old when the Blues next take the ice. When hockey returns in the fall, the Blues will be trying to avoid a third consecutive season without a postseason berth.
It all ended on Wednesday night in Dallas, as Jason Robertson lifted the Stars with the game-deciding goal in the shootout.
“We showed that we can compete with the best, for sure,†said Binnington, who made 36 saves. “I think hopefully that sends a message to evolve as a team and make some decisions that are for the better, and for us to be more competitive next year.
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“It’s a great group. It usually is always a good group of guys. It’s unfortunate to not make the playoffs, obviously, but it’s a good final game. We’ve got more. There’s better things ahead.â€
Robert Thomas scored the only goal of the game for the Blues in the second period, ripping shot past Jake Oettinger after winning a puck from Roope Hintz. Mason Marchment tied the game in the third period for the Stars on a rebound in the slot.
With the win, the Stars clinched the best record in the Western Conference, and set up a first-round matchup with either Los Angeles or Vegas. But even with a West-best 113 points, the Stars still had plenty of issues handling the Blues.
ºüÀêÊÓƵ went 2-0-2 against Dallas, as three of the games needed extra time. All four games were decided by one goal. The regular season was bookended by 2-1 shootout losses to Dallas. Each shootout loss to the Stars brought hope for the Blues; one for the current season, and one for the next season.
“I was proud with the way we competed in that game against that hockey club,†Blues interim coach Drew Bannister said. “To come in for us, obviously with the season ending, I thought our guys competed hard and they came here to win and I was really happy with the effort that we had tonight.â€
Both Dallas and ºüÀêÊÓƵ had chances to win the game in overtime.
Jason Robertson nearly finished a 2 on 1 just 12 seconds into the extra period, but was foiled by Binnington’s glove save. In describing the save, Binnington said he “was in compete mode.â€
“Last game of the year, you want to finish strong and set the tone for next year,†Binnington said. “I think we did that in some ways.â€
With 1:41 left in overtime, Thomas almost won the game with his second of the night, as he was faced with a yawning cage. But his shot at a vacant net was deflected wide by just a touch of Oettinger’s stick and Scott Perunovich took a holding penalty just 11 seconds later that killed any chance of an overtime win for the Blues.
Did Thomas think he had that one in overtime?
“Yeah, I really did,†Thomas said with a laugh. “That one’s going to haunt me for a bit. I got nothing to say, that’s a tough one.â€
Like he did all season, Binnington steadied the Blues.
Dallas had seven of the game’s first eight shots on goal. At 5 on 5, the Stars had almost twice as many shot attempts as ºüÀêÊÓƵ. According to Natural Stat Trick, Dallas had three times as many expected goals as the Blues.
In addition to his big save on Robertson in overtime, Binnington came up clutch in the second period on Joe Pavelski’s high tip from the slot and with his blocker on Miro Heiskanen’s wrister. In the third period, he denied Pavelski’s one-timer on the power play and Wyatt Johnston in tight.
It was the 10th time this season that Binnington made at least 36 saves in a game, the third-most such games in the league.
“You need good goaltending to be good in this league, and all the best teams have it,†Thomas said. “We’ve got it as well. It’s just about putting it together in front of him and we’ll be in good shape.â€
The Blues didn’t have anything to play for on Wednesday. They were locked into the No. 16 spot in the draft lottery. They were already eliminated from postseason contention. They were playing in just their second meaningless game of the season, and doing so with an 8:52 p.m. start time.
They emerged for warmup with 14 of the 20 players not wearing helmets — including both goalies — a trend started by defenseman Marco Scandella, and a light-hearted touch on the last day of school.
On Thursday, the Blues will go through exit interviews. They’ll say their farewells. They’ll depart for the summer, and some of them for good. Perhaps more clarity will come regarding the coaching staff.
They’ll dissect another short season that simply was “not good enough,†Binnington said.
“There’s room to grow, lots of lessons learned and guys got to take steps,†Binnington said. “Young guys, middle-aged guys, we’ve got to take steps. Everyone’s got to evolve and expect better, just agree to be better for each other and push each other.â€
And so begins another lengthy offseason..
“It’s going to be a long summer for them, but I think they can reflect back on some things that we did well, and some things that we need to change,†Bannister said. “I think, as a team, at this point next year is going to be looking at getting themselves ready for the playoffs and not getting ourselves ready for the summer.â€