ST. LOUIS — The Blues didn’t play a one-goal game and didn’t go to overtime on Saturday, and while both are changes of pace for the Blues, neither can be remotely considered progress.
The Blues lost to Vegas, 5-1, at Enterprise Center, though unlike the previous three games (and one win before that), this one didn’t come in overtime. A tight, playoff-like game through two periods got away from them in the third period, where Vegas scored four times, the last into an empty net. The Blues got one just one point in their quick two-game homestand and now clear out for a long trip, where the results will almost assuredly be better.
The Blues are 0-4-3 in their past seven home games, and it’s been more than a month — not since Feb. 2 — since they won in regulation at home. Overall, their previous eight games had been decided by one goal, a good indication of the narrow margins the Blues are dealing with now.
David Perron brought his fifth career point streak of at least eight games into the game (five goals, five assists), and his fourth with the Blues, but it came to an end as he didn’t have a hand in the team’s only goal. He’s also had an eight-game point streak in each of the previous four seasons, putting him in some elite company. The only other active NHL players to have eight-game point streaks in five or more consecutive seasons are Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby.
The teams saved most of the scoring for the third period after Vegas had scored on its first shot of the game and that score held up into the final 20 minutes.
Vegas extended its lead to 2-0 early in the third. After a couple good saves by Ville Husso, the rebound of a shot by Max Pacioretty went straight to Vegas captain Mark Stone, who was alone on the faceoff dot to Husso’s right and drove it in, 92 seconds into the period.
Vladimir Tarasenko got his fourth point in his four games since coming back from shoulder surgery, backhanding a pass from behind the goal line as he fought off Vegas’ Chandler Stephenson. Sammy Blais got the puck in front of the net, made a quick move for a better angle and beat Marc-Andre Fleury. It was the third goal of the season for Blais.
And then it was a two-goal deficit again, as Pacioretty came down the left wing with a step on Vince Dunn and scored from outside to make it 3-1 with 12:35 to go in the period.
The Blues had 53 seconds of a two-man advantage, where they historically can’t score — their most recent in the regular season came in December of 2016 — and once again they didn’t, though they came close a few times. In the combined 3:07 with a man advantage, the Blues couldn’t close the margin.
Vegas scored on its first shot on goal, as Shea Theodore got open in the slot, took a backhand pass from Jonathan Marchessault from along the boards and beat Husso. While the goal was made possible by the Blues turning the puck over and then no one defending Theodore, it was the latest installment in an unsettling trend for Husso.
The goal marked the third time in Husso’s 10 appearances this season that the opponent has scored on its first shot on goal, and the sixth time they have scored on one of the first three shots. Husso stopped the next seven shots he faced, and all season he’s done better after the first period, but once again, it meant the Blues were playing from behind.
But equally troublesome was the Blues giving the puck away in their own end, something coach Craig Berube had stressed as key for his team.
“The turnovers in your own end and in the neutral zone, they really take advantage of them,” he said. “They’re a quick strike team, they’ve got good speed, they jump all over it. We can manage the puck better than we did last night, our breakouts and through the neutral zone can be a little more direct, be a little bit harder on the walls and things like that, winning puck battles, that will be key.”
Though the shots on goal were even in the first period, the Golden Knights had far more zone time and much the better chances.
Rookie Dakota Joshua, playing in his seventh NHL game, got in his first fight. He crushed Ryan Reaves into the boards behind the Vegas goal, and Reaves then tripped him as he skated away. When Joshua got up, Keegan Kolesar of Vegas was waiting for him and they punched it out.
The Blues didn’t score in the second but came close a few times, several on a late power play that produced a flurry of chances before the period came to an end but the Blues still couldn’t get the puck past Fleury, playing both ends of the back-to-back games.
Vegas got a power play with 5:42 to go when Husso was called for delay of game, but the power play lasted only 15 seconds before Alex Tuch was called for hooking. Husso didn’t have much work in the period, facing only five shots on goal.
