St. Louis Blues defenseman Justin Faulk let his team have it following Saturday night's 8-1 dismantling at the hands of the Washington Capitals.
"It's completely unacceptable," Faulk said. "It's just not all right at all. I don't think that should ever happen, a situation like that. We need to have respect for each other and the game. You can't just go out there and play summer hockey for a period and think that's all right at any point.
"We're grown men in this league and need to put in an effort that's acceptable. It's not going to go your way every night, but ... that's just unacceptable."
The Blues trailed 3-1 entering the third period, but the Capitals scored five unanswered goals on 13 shots in the final 20 minutes to run away with the contest.
It's St. Louis' second 8-1 loss in a two-week span. The Ottawa Senators similarly spanked the club on Oct. 29, but the Blues were down 6-0 before the last frame.
Captain Brayden Schenn took ownership of the two lopsided defeats.
"With that happening in Ottawa and happening again tonight, it all starts with me," Schenn said. "I can't let that happen again this season. It's just unacceptable. You're gonna lose hockey games, but to get embarrassed on home ice on Saturday night, you can't let that happen."
He added, "You can't sugarcoat it when you let in eight."
The Blues narrowly lost 2-1 to the Philadelphia Flyers in their following game after the Ottawa beatdown but won their next two contests versus the Tampa Bay Lightning and Toronto Maple Leafs.
St. Louis will get a chance to rebound Tuesday against the Boston Bruins.
"It's easy to sit here and be negative about the situation," coach Drew Bannister said. "There's many reasons to look back in the last two weeks, we've had two games where it's just unacceptable the way we're playing in those situations. ... Then we bounce back with some good efforts, but we haven't been able to sustain it. ... We can't take one or two steps forwards and keep taking these steps back."
St. Louis is fifth in the Central Division with a 7-8-0 record and .467 points percentage. The season hasn't been easy for the Blues, who've been railroaded by injuries. Forward Robert Thomas isn't expected to return until at least early December because of a broken ankle, while defenseman Philip Broberg was given a four-to-six-week recovery timeline for a leg injury.
Bannister said he believes the Blues already have everything they need to turn things around.
"We need more from all of us in here," he said. "Changing guys in and out of the lineup obviously isn't an option right now, but the players themselves and the group in the room, if they play to their potential, we'll win hockey games."
