Jim Montgomery blends Blues top 3 lines amid drought

Montgomery has been riding the same combinations since opening night. After 12 games, he finally said what everybody watching already knew.

Jeremy Rutherford

@jprutherford

Monty: "This is the most patient I've been as a coach with my lines. It's 12 games where basically you've seen the same lines. The Thomas line isn't producing like they were last year. Same thing with McTavish line. They started off really good and last 5 games they have 1 goal.

That is a coach admitting his patience ran out, and he named names. The Robert Thomas line, the one that carried this team last year, isn't producing. The Mason McTavish line was the early-season bright spot and has gone quiet, with 1 goal in the last 5 games. When your 2 best lines go cold at the same time, sticking with them stops being patience and becomes stubbornness. Montgomery's explanation for the move was short and blunt.

Jeremy Rutherford

@jprutherford

Monty cont'd: "It's just time to make changes to see if there's a spark. So that's why we've mixed up the top-three lines." (2/2) #stlblues

The details are about as big as a shake-up gets without a trade. According to the Post-Dispatch, the Blues rolled out a top 9 at practice where every one of the 3 lines was blended, and that includes splitting up the top line of Dylan Holloway, Thomas and Jimmy Snuggerud. Nobody kept their spot, and that was the point.

Matthew DeFranks

@MDeFranks

In attempt to bust out of goal drought, Blues make widespread changes to forward lines t.co/RaK3QBpojR

It has been building for a while. Back on October 9, after a 3-2 overtime loss to San Jose dropped them to 1-2-1, the Blues had 5 goals at 5-on-5 on 75 shots, a 6.67% shooting percentage. That's the night Montgomery delivered an all-timer: "Right now, if we fell out of a boat and we were trying to score a goal, we would not hit the ocean." Funny then. Less funny now that the drought is close to 124 minutes and the Blues have been shut out in back-to-back games for the first time since November 2018.

The frustrating part for Blues fans is that this doesn't look like a team that can't generate anything. The early numbers said the chances were there and the finishing wasn't. Shuffling lines doesn't fix shooting percentage on its own, but it can change who's getting the puck in the spots where goals actually come from, and sometimes a new linemate is the only thing that breaks a guy out of his own head.

What to watch: whether Thomas gets going away from his usual wingers, whether McTavish can carry a different line the way he carried his own early, and how long Montgomery sticks with these new combos if the first game back doesn't produce. He just told everyone he gave the old lines 12 games. These new ones probably won't get that long.