Goals: Tarasenko (16) and Thompson (2)
Record 23-15-2
- The Blues traveled to Dallas for the first time this season to face division rival and their former coach, Ken Hitchcock. The Blues had won both previous meetings in St. Louis this season, but the Stars have climbed to the top wild card spot in the West and the Blues have been on a downward trend, losing 4 of their last 5.
- The Blues started with some heavy pressure in the early going. 2 1/2 minutes into the game, Dallas goalie Ben Bishop found himself out of the net trying to play a puck when Brayden Schenn gained control behind the net and quickly tried to stuff it around the post before Bishop could recover. However, a Dallas defender dove into the opening and denied Schenn who has only scored 1 goal in his last 8 games. I think he misses his little buddy, Jayden Schwartz. (We all do!)
- Berglund had an opportunity right in front of the goal, but his shot missed the net. Tage Thompson nearly put one in the upper right corner when his shot hit Bishop in the head. But for all the chances they had, the first period ended with no score.
- Dallas' Mattias Janmark scored the game's first goal when Jason Spezza threw the puck right across the ice in front of Jake Allen, the pass hit the outstretched stick of Janmark and beat Allen on the weak side.
- The score wold remain 1-0 for 20 more minutes until Tarasenko stole a puck and skated into the offensive zone and sniped one past Bishop to tie the game.
- One minute and five seconds later, Tage Thompson beat Bishop to put the Blues up 2-1. It was Thompson's second career NHL goal and looked like it went between a defender's legs and past Bishop on the stick side. The tide had turned and it felt good to see some offense happen so fast.
- The lead held for 6 minutes or so when Scottie Upshall got a stick to the face and drew a penalty for a St. Louis power play, giving the Blues a chance to extend their lead. But, as has been the case most of the season, the Blues failed to score with the man advantage and let Dallas hang around, something they would regret before the night was over.
- The Blues went 0-4 on the power play in this game including a 5 on 3 advantage at one point. They are now 1 for their last 17 (5.9%) in the last 6 games and are 26th in the league at 15.5% on the power play. Worse yet, I think they are 0-6 when having a 5 on 3 advantage.
- Dallas tied the game a little over 2 minutes after killing off the penalty. Allen ended up out of the net during an offensive barrage by Dallas after making a save, but as he scrambled to get back into the crease he was knocked down by Paul Stastny by some incidental contact and found himself horizontal, stretched out across the goal crease. Jamie Benn scored his 16th goal of the year on a backhand shot over the outstretched Allen.
- Momentum had swung in Dallas' favor and what seemed like a game the Blues might win a few minutes earlier, now seemed like one that they'd be lucky to win.
- The feeling of despair got worse when Edmondson was called for roughing with 2:38 left in the game. 17 seconds into the power play, the Stars' Alexander Radulov scored the go-ahead goal from the top of the right circle. It looked like Allen was screened on the shot and as he tried to sneak a look to his right around the defender, Radulov's shot beat him on his left side.
- Another goal by Radulov into the Blues' empty net accounted for the final score of 4-2.
- The Blues didn't play smart with the 2-1 lead, and a couple of bad breaks ended up costing them any points in this one. 20 minutes in penalties didn't help, 13 giveaways was out of character and only 3 takeaways showed that we didn't defend well. We did manage to block 27 shots and out shot the Stars 37-31, but the final score was all that mattered as we have failed to earn any points in games where we have been outscored in regulation this season.
#AllTogetherNowStL #LGB
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