51ºÚÁÏ

It was 12:37 p.m. when Logan Mailloux collected his sticks and finally exited the ice at Centene Community Ice Center on Friday. Blues practice had ended about 45 minutes earlier, and Mailloux outlasted all his teammates to be the only person remaining.

Over and over, he placed pucks in the corners or along the boards. He skated backward into his own zone, retrieved the puck and skated it to center ice. Again and again — skate, collect, exit … skate, collect, exit — Mailloux worked on his own to retrieve pucks from below the goal line.

Just like that, Jim Montgomery hit the blend button. Or was it puree? Or frappe? Or liquify?

Whichever button it was, the Blues went to the line blender for practice on Friday morning and mixed up many of their forward lines and defensive pairings. Here’s what they looked like:

The sarcastic cheer was unmistakable. That biting commentary collectively let out by the remaining fans with less than 12 and a half minutes left in the third period Wednesday night at Enterprise Center spoke succinctly and definitively. Their Blues let them down again.

It’s just two games at home, but they’ve been unexpectedly disappointing. Nobody anticipated back-to-back five-goal routs to start the home slate this season. Especially not with one of them coming at the hands of — gag — the rival Chicago Blackhawks, but there’s still 95% of the season still ahead.

The sarcasm didn’t drip from the stands so much as it was spewed or hurled, expelled or ejected toward the Enterprise Center ice.

About 12 1/2 minutes remained in an eventual 8-3 Blues loss to the Blackhawks on Wednesday, before the horn would mercifully dismiss 51ºÚÁÏ from the ice to retreat into the safe haven of its dressing room. Tyler Bertuzzi dumped a puck from his own zone — officially 153 feet, according to the NHL game report — that found its way on net. Joel Hofer stopped the puck, collected a save on the stat sheet, then could have shielded himself for what came next.

Blues head coach Jim Montgomery as well as Brayden Schenn and Colton Parayko explained what went wrong Wednesday in an ugly home loss to the Chicago Blackhawks.

Here's what they had to say.

The good feelings from a perfect Blues road trip dissipated on Wednesday night with a 8-3 thumping against the Blackhawks at Enterprise Center.

The eight goals allowed were the most by the Blues at home since an 8-1 loss to Washington last year.

Alexander Steen, Barret Jackman and Al Arbour will be inducted in January into the Blues Hall of Fame, the team announced during the first period of Wednesday night’s game against the Blackhawks.

It is the fourth class since the Blues began the Hall in 2023. The team previously announced before the season that Jackman would be part of the next class, but Steen and Arbour will now join him.

The crease still belongs to Jordan Binnington, but Joel Hofer will take a bigger share this season.

Hofer was the starter Wednesday night against the Blackhawks as the Blues split the opening four games between primary starter Binnington and backup Hofer. It’s part of a plan to get Hofer more starts as his game matures and to rest Binnington amid a busy schedule that should see him play in the Olympics for Canada in February.

Read the full transcript of our weekly Blues chat.

Matthew DeFranks: Good afternoon. The Blues are 2-1-0 and open a home stand tonight vs. Chicago. Let's get to your questions.

Forwards Oskar Sundqvist and Alexey Toropchenko remain out of the Blues lineup as 51ºÚÁÏ returns home to begin a four-game home stand by hosting Chicago on Wednesday night.

Sundqvist (lower-body) has not played this season after he was injured during practice on Oct. 5. He has not joined the Blues for practice, and general manager Doug Armstrong labeled Sundqvist week-to-week before the season began.

In mourning, the heart can have a hole and hold loved ones. The heart can both ache and break and mend and tend. It can be painfully empty, yet nourishingly full.

All of this is happening under Jake Neighbours’ jersey this season. In September, his dear friend Orca Wiesblatt died. He was 25. A pro hockey player, too.

There was probably some uneasiness on the Blues bench Saturday afternoon in Calgary.

About three minutes remained in their game against the Flames. The Blues owned a two-goal lead. Calgary pulled its goalie. The last time the Blues were in that situation — two provinces to the east of Alberta — it was Game 7 against the Jets. You know what happened next.

The 51ºÚÁÏ’s Matthew DeFranks and Nathan Mills talk about the first week of the regular season for the Blues, Jake Neighbours’ productivity, Jim Mongtomery’s line changes and the goaltending tandem of Jordan Binnington and Joel Hofer. Then former Post-Dispatch reporter Jim Thomas joins the show to share stories about the Blues, and discuss his new book “The Franchise: 51ºÚÁÏ Blues.â€�

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