Down 3-0 entering the third period, the Blues staged a furious comeback and came within the width of a goal post of tying the game but went on to lose, 5-2, to the Jets on Saturday night in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Goals by Brayden Schenn and Ryan O'Reilly got the Blues within a goal late in the third and Vince Dunn had a shot go off the post. But after the Blues pulled goalie Jordan Binnington with about two minutes to go, the puck got turned over and first Blake Wheeler and then Patrik Laine scored into an empty net.
Until then, the Blues had been peppering Winnipeg with shots, outshooting them 12-5 in the third period. They had plenty of chances, but couldn't get the puck past Winnipeg goalie Connor Hellebuyck.
The loss left the Blues at 1-3 on their post-All-Star Game tour of Western Canada, with the only win coming in a shootout. The Blues have lost five of their past six games in what constitutes their toughest stretch of the season.
Though the result was the same, it was a definite improvement over Friday's loss in Edmonton. The Blues had 40 shots on goal in the game. The website moneypuck.com ran 1,000 simulations of the game and based on chances created, figured the Blues should have won 53.5% of the time.
But it came down to a goal with 15 seconds to go in the second period that made the hole deeper and then a gamble again for coach Craig Berube, who pulled Binnington for a sixth attacker. But that hasn't been a good situation for the Blues. They have pulled their goalie 12 times this season trying to score and they have given up 13 empty-net goals. (This was the second time they've allowed two empty-net goals in the same game.)
Schenn, who had not scored in his previous 14 games, broke the shutout with his 18th goal of the season, coming with 6:40 to go in the third. With the lines having been re-arranged for the third period, Robert Thomas got the puck to Jaden Schwartz, who fed Schenn for a snap shot and a goal to make it 3-1.
With 4:10 to go in the third, the Blues cut the lead to 3-2 on a goal by O'Reilly. Jay Bouwmeester kept the puck in the Jets zone, Zach Sanford, who has seven points in the past five games, fed O'Reilly in the middle of the ice and he put it in off the post.
But after pulling Binnington, David Perron couldn't keep the puck in at the blueline, Winnipeg got possession and scored.
The Blues once again had the bulk of the chances in the second period, but once again they couldn't score and they found themselves in a 3-0 hole after the second goal of the night by Jack Roslovic and then a potential backbreaker with 15 seconds to go in the period.
The Blues have come back from a 3-0 deficit once this season, scoring four in the third period against Chicago on Dec. 14.
Roslovic's second goal came with 2:55 to go in the second. A shot by Dmitry Kulikov hit Roslovic in front of the net before it could get to Binnington in goal. Roslovic got the puck on the side and shot and scored.
The Blues came back from down 2-0 on Friday; 3-0 is a different matter. As the clock ran down, Andrew Copp skated the puck into the zone with minimal interference and beat Binnington.
The Blues had plenty of scoring chances in the period, but Hellebuyck had good looks at most of them and made the saves.
The Blues had a power play midway through the second period, but 25 seconds into it, Perron was called for hooking when a puck got past him and it wiped it out.
After the rough start they had on Friday, the Blues came out with way more energy and pep than they did in Edmonton, but they fell victim to a bad bounce and gave up the first goal.
The Blues had several good scoring chances but were denied by Hellebuyck and then killed off Winnipeg power play after a slashing call on Colton Parayko.
But Winnipeg scored with 1:16 to play in the period. The Blues were clearing the puck out of their zone, but it hit linesman Greg Devorski and came back in, setting up a two-on-one for the Jets. Sami Niku fed Jack Roslovic for the goal.
The game marked the 1,000th in his NHL career for veteran forward Alexander Steen, who was born and raised in Winnipeg while his father was playing for the first incarnation of the Jets. Steen got a standing ovation from the Winnipeg fans during a stoppage in the first period. His father Thomas has seats right behind the Blues bench for the game.
Berube remade most of his lines for the game, keeping the O'Reilly, Perron, Sanford line, but changing every thing else. Berube broke up Schwartz and Schenn, playing Schenn with Steen and Troy Brouwer and putting Schwartz with Robert Thomas and Tyler Bozak. Mackenzie MacEachern is back in the lineup, on the fourth line with Ivan Barbashev and Sammy Blais.
It's quite a swing for Brouwer, who was sent down to the minors on Monday and was deciding whether or not he was going to go when Oskar Sundqvist got hurt and the Blues recalled him to the team.
