Another game there for the taking for the St. Louis Blues, another game that frustratingly slips away.
This time, another 3-2 setback to the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden in New York on Monday.
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The Blues (7-10-6) got goals from Dylan Holloway and Brayden Schenn, and Joel Hofer made 17 saves on the fourth game of a season-high five-game road trip where the Blues are now 1-1-2 with one final game Wednesday against the New Jersey Devils.
“I didn’t think we played with the requisite of intensity and connected and puck support that we’ve been playing with the three previous games,” Blues coach Jim Montgomery said.
Let’s look at Monday’s game observations:
* First 10 minutes of third where game was lost — In a 1-1 game on the road, the Blues were in a good spot to grab at least perhaps a point, maybe two with a strong final period.
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But they got pinned into their zone to begin the third, had a chance to get a puck out that caromed away eventually and a redirection in front by Alexis Lafreniere of Vladislav Gavrikov’s left point wrister just 40 seconds in gave the Rangers a 2-1 lead and getting that all-important go-ahead goal:
And when Adam Edstrom made it 3-1 at 8:56 of the period on a shot from in tight surrounded by three Blues on the play, it would be a tall task for a team struggling to score more than two goals to make a comeback:
It would wind up being the 20th and final shot on goal for the Rangers in the game.
“Obviously not the way we wanted to start it for sure,” Blues defenseman Colton Parayko said. “Tough to go down two in the third.”
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* Blues inability to win when scoring first — Monday marked the 13th time the Blues scored first in a game, and it was a beauty of a goal when Holloway tied for the team lead with his sixth, and the line did a great job of forechecking pucks back after Parayko’s initial keep-in from the right point:
It marked the eighth time in the past nine games the Blues have scored first, but they fell to 5-3-5 in those games when the league on average, teams that score first win roughly 67 percent of the time.
In just seven of those games, they’ve continued to forge forward and increase the lead, and it’s impossible to gain each and every point when scoring first, but the Blues, who have 20 points on the season, have left 11 points on the table in this instance.
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“That’s the difference in winning games, burying those chances,” Holloway said. “It’s good to get those chances, but we’ve got to bear down and score.”
And considering the Rangers came in a woeful 1-7-1 on home ice, scoring just 13 goals and shut out in a franchise-most five of those games, this was a chance to not only extend a lead against a team that has had trouble scoring and lost four in a row.
* Rangers tying goal opened door for struggling home team — Up 1-0, the Blues were in a good spot until Vincent Trocheck tied it 1-1 at 10:06 of the second period.
The Blues had multiple forward lines on the ice that needed to get a puck in deep, but it never made it past the opposing side’s blue line, and therefore, defensemen Cam Fowler and Logan Mailloux’s shift was extended way too long at 2:19 each. Oskar Sundqvist, who was one who had a chance to get a puck deep but it got knocked down in the neutral zone, keeping the Blues’ D on the ice, was on for over two minutes himself until he could finally get a change right before the goal, and on the goal, the Blues left an opening on an up pass through the middle creating a 2-on-1 that Trocheck wristed into the top right corner:
“Yeah it is an extended shift and that’s why in the second period there tends to be more goals scored in the league because it’s hard to get your changes in the second and the five guys got to help each other get their changes,” Montgomery said. “Forwards always get off the ice, D-men don’t because they’ve got to stay. Then the next guys that come out, they’ve got to make sure they’re protecting good and that they’re helping out the D, so they can get off the ice.”
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* Hofer made key saves early to give Blues chance to go ahead — The numbers on the night don’t look great for Hofer (.850 save percentage), but his saves on Braden Schneider at 8:24 of the first period and Mika Zibanejad at 15:45 of the first period allowed the Blues to stay in a 0-0 game.
* Goal scoring has dried up — Monday marked the fifth straight game that the Blues scored two or fewer goals, and it coincides with their goaltending being better of late.
And this comes with Brayden Schenn, who scored his first goal in 12 games on Saturday in a 2-1 win at the New York Islanders, now has goals in back-to-back games when Pavel Buchnevich’s shot caromed off the Blues captain and past Igor Shesterkin with 1:15 remaining to make it 3-2, but that’s as close as the Blues would get:
But Schenn missed a breakaway in the first period at 8:24 of the first period, even though it was at the end of a shift. Jake Neighbours had a great chance to give the Blues a 2-1 lead at 16:42 of the second period off a shot from the slot after a Robert Thomas pass. Schenn also fanned on an open look in the bumper with 3:16 remaining in the game while the Blues were on a four-minute power play, and Holloway whiffed on a hard pass by Thomas in tight with 19.3 remaining that would have tied the game.
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All the lack of goal scoring has coincided with the top guys not getting it done.
Jordan Kyrou hasn’t scored in five games; Thomas has one goal in 10 and no points the past three games; Jimmy Snuggerud has no points the past four games and one goal in 12; Buchnevich now hasn’t scored in 15 games; and from the defense, Fowler and Parayko each hasn’t scored yet this season.
This team needs its top players to produce, or these results will look all too familiar.
* Power play had chance to be difference — Yes, the Blues’ power play has been good, and it’s 12th in the league at 22.4 percent. But going 0-for-4 (the last one was only three seconds at the end of the game) did them no favors and they produced only three shots on them.
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The one that had to be frustrating was a double-minor given to Brett Berard for high-sticking Neighbours, who was also high-sticked by Schneider in the second period, with 5:51 left. It was there where Schenn fanned on his attempt, and the Blues passed on a couple open looks with 2:41 remaining.
“Yeah there were a couple of shots that were passed up,” Montgomery said. “We whiffed on a great chance to tie the game up, right at the net front (Holloway’s chance late), in a pulled goalie situation. We need to start making some of those plays in those areas so that we can have wins where we come from behind and get on a streak.”
* Mailloux looked better — Mailloux, who was called back up from Springfield of the American Hockey League on Saturday after playing five games with the Thunderbirds (two goals), was a minus-2 in the game and played 13:59 but I thought he was more assertive in this game that any of the previous ones he played in prior to being sent down.
He attacked more confidently, played a physical role, and he rung a shot off the post when Montgomery put him on the ice during the third-period power play. There was nothing he could have done differently on the goals that were scored while he was on the ice.
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“I thought Mailloux was very assertive,” Montgomery said. “I liked him on the PP there at the end when we gave him an opportunity. I thought he was very aggressive and had a good shot-first mindset, but made some passes. The minus-2, I know the second goal, he had nothing to do with it.”
Mailloux, who was playing alongside Cam Fowler, had one hit and one blocked shot with one shot on goal.
“I kind of felt more like myself out there,” Mailloux said. “I was moving pucks, getting in the play, getting some shots off. So unfortunate kind of ending, but I felt better for sure.”
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