The 2025-26 campaign has been an up-and-down one for the St. Louis Blues so far. It has been a season of blowout losses and injuries continuing to pile up for the Blues, to big wins and staying in the playoff race despite the adversity. The team is still trying to find its footing, and after a 4-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Monday, Justin Faulk spoke out on that.
“It was a good measuring stick for us,” Faulk said, per NHL.com’s Corey Long. “I think it showed us we’ve got more to go and we think so too. We took a lot of penalties (four). It makes it hard. They’re going to find a way eventually it seems, so you want to try to limit them as much as possible.”
The Blues trailed almost instantly against the Lightning, giving up a goal just 21 seconds into the game. The team also surrendered a powerplay goal in the first period. Faulk found the back of the net in the second frame to cut it to a one-goal game, but an Anthony Cirelli goal in the second and another tally on the powerplay for the Bolts in the third put the game out of reach.
Even in the loss, Faulk was named the game’s third star.
“He’s been really good all year long,” Blues coach Jim Montgomery said of the veteran defenseman. “I thought tonight he was by far our best player. You want to make things happen when you’re on the ice and he made a lot happen out there.”
Faulk has been one of the top players for St. Louis all year. He is tied for the team lead with 10 goals, while sitting second on the roster with 20 points. He needs to maintain that level of production if the team wants to defeat some of the best in the NHL.
“[In] tonight’s game we saw what an elite team plays like for 60 minutes. How they support pucks, how they battle for pucks and how they execute in all three zones with and without the puck,” Montgomery said of the Lightning.
The Blues are now 14-16-8 on the year, which places them three points behind the Los Angeles Kings and Utah Mammoth for playoff spots in the Western Conference. The team does not return to the ice until Saturday, following the holiday break. In that game, they will face the Nashville Predators for a third time in their last eight contests.