May 8, 2013; St. Louis, MO, USA; Los Angeles Kings defenseman Slava Voynov (26) celebrates his game winning goal against the St. Louis Blues during overtime in game five of the first round of the 2013 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Scottrade Center. The Kings defeated the Blues 3-2. Mandatory Credit: Scott Rovak-USA TODAY Sports

The St. Louis Blues once led their first round playoff series with the Los Angeles Kings by 2 games to none. Losing 3-2 to the Kings in overtime Wednesday night at Scottrade Center cost the Blues the game, the series lead (they’re now down 3 games to 2) and home ice advantage. Slava Voynov scored 8 minutes into the extra frame and St. Louis now faces elimination in Game 6 in LA.

The Blues had an opportunity to put the Kings up against a wall Wednesday night. With a win the Blues would have re-taken the series lead and maintained their home-ice edge, knowing that even an LA win in Game 6 would mean coming back to St. Louis to finish things. Including playoff games, the Blues had won eight straight in the friendly confines and only allowed 8 goals in that span- one per game, a stingy GAA by any measure.

Things have been different since losing Game 4 earlier this week. The Blues have now given up SEVEN goals in two games, and it beginning to look a lot like February. That’s how far back you”d have to go to see the Blues lose more than 3 games in a row. They came up short Wednesday despite out-shooting LA 36-25.

May 8, 2013; St. Louis, MO, USA; Los Angeles Kings goalie Jonathan Quick (32) makes a save against the St. Louis Blues during overtime in game five of the first round of the 2013 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Scottrade Center. The Kings defeated the Blues 3-2. Mandatory Credit: Scott Rovak-USA TODAY Sports

Jonathan Quick was once again near the top of his game as the Blues swarmed the LA net and out-shot the Kings 12-8 in the 1st period. Unable to solve Quick (and of course, firing a few shots high and wide) the Blues missed their chance at taking the game’s first lead, though that hasn’t meant a lot in this series so far.

The Kings struck first, just 14 seconds into period 2, stunning the Scottrade crowd. The Blues were careless and had iced the puck right off the initial face-off, which brought the puck down into their end. Until Game 4, St. Louis had been dominating the dots, actually leading the entire league in face-off win percentage, but these last two game saw LA turn the tide and it cost the Blues. Patrik Berglund got tossed from the circle and LA won the second draw, fired a puck on net and Brian Elliott couldn’t hang on to the rebound. Jeff Carter banged it in for his second goal of the series. Alex Steen was able to tie the game 1-1 later in the 2nd, which instantly brought the crowd back to life and gave St. Louis reason to believe they were still in the game.

That feeling was short-lived. Special teams weren’t prominent in Game 5 with only three penalties called all night, but a Tripping call against Barret Jackman inside the final minute of the 2nd period put the Blues down a man entering the 3rd. The Kings took advantage and Carter scored again inside the first minute of the period to put the Kings back on top, 2-1. The rest of the game felt desperate for St. Louis. They continued firing shots on Quick but looked to be on their heels as LA dug in and basically beat the Blues at their own game, being stingy in their own zone and preventing the Blues from getting the puck in very deep.

With time ticking away and only 44 seconds left Alex Pietrangelo fired a shot that found its way through traffic (Jaden Schwartz was camped in front of Quick) and into the net to tie the game 2-2. The Scottrade Center crowd erupted. The Blues had life and the game went into overtime.

It really felt like the momentum had shifted entirely back to the St. Louis side of the ice. Going into the extra frame I was certain the Blues would score and win Game 5. The line of Schwartz, David Backes, and Steen had been playing like gangbusters all night. The Blues were fired up, the fans were in a frenzy. It wasn’t to be, however, as 8 minutes in Voynov led an odd-man rush into the St. Louis zone and ripped off a shot that got through Elliott’s pads for the game-winner.

May 8, 2013; St. Louis, MO, USA; St. Louis Blues center Jaden Schwartz (9) is tripped up by Los Angeles Kings defenseman Jake Muzzin (6) during the second period in game five of the first round of the 2013 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Scottrade Center. Mandatory Credit: Scott Rovak-USA TODAY Sports

What a let-down. The first thought was that Ells most certainly should’ve stopped the puck. He looked out of position for the first time in 2 weeks. Upon further review you can see Schwartz, working hard to backcheck into the play, get his stick on Voynov’s hands just as the shot was made altering the direction of the puck. Ells was ready for a high shot but it got cut off and stayed low. Such is the way of overtime and the playoffs.

Schwartz, Steen, Vladimir Sobotka, and the CPR line all played out of their minds Wednesday night. Inexplicably, we didn’t see the CPR line much at all in the 3rd period despite them giving the Blues some of the best shifts of the game, especially down below the red line in the offensive zone. Equally as mind boggling was the fact that throughout the game AND into overtime we saw Andy McDonald and Chris Stewart on the ice, shift after shift, though they did absolutely nothing and haven’t really at all in this first round series.

May 8, 2013; St. Louis, MO, USA; St. Louis Blues center David Backes (42) falls into Los Angeles Kings defenseman Drew Doughty (8) during the second period in game five of the first round of the 2013 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Scottrade Center. Mandatory Credit: Scott Rovak-USA TODAY Sports

I’m not usually a fan of dramatic changes to the lineup, but I’d really like to see Coach Hitchcock make some major changes for Game 6. I’d be glad to see Kris Russell in for Roman Polak. I would much rather see a big kid like Dimitrij Jaskin skating instead of McDonald. Mac looks too small and too lost out there against the Kings and is hurting the team. Stewart, well, he’s been invisible but at least he has the size to match up with LA.

Game 6 is tonight in Los Angeles. The Blues need a win to stay alive and bring the series back home to St. Louis for the finale Monday night. Elliott shouldn’t be effected by the overtime loss, he’s been stellar and will continue to play well. It’s Quick the Blues need to worry about, and they’ll need to fire on all cylinders to have any chance of winning. Hitchcock said after Wednesday’s game that it was about the best the Blues have played. Their best didn’t look good enough to beat the Kings. St. Louis has failed to find that extra gear required to succeed in the post-season. They better find it tonight.

GO BLUES! Long Live the Note!

May 6 2013; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Kings center Anze Kopitar (11) celebrates with teammates Dustin Brown (23), Jeff Carter (77) and Slava Voynov (26) after scoring a goal in the third period in game four of the first round of the 2013 Stanley Cup playoffs against the St. Louis Blues at Staples Center. The Kings defeated the Blues 4-3 to tie the series 2-2. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

The St. Louis Blues failed to hold multiple leads and lost to the Los Angeles Kings 4-3 Monday night at the Staples Center in LA. Despite two goals from TJ Oshie, the Blues fumbled the game and their series lead and head back to St. Louis to face the Kings in Game 5 Wednesday night tied two games apiece. Brian Elliott stopped 25 of 29 shots he faced.

St. Louis started Game 4 looking like a team on a mission. Bound and determined to finally finish plays, take advantage of extra chances, and solve LA goalie Jonathan Quick, the Blues jumped out to an early lead. They did almost everything right in the first half of the opening period Monday night, with David Backes scoring on a rebound and Oshie netting a power-play goal. Five minutes into the game the Blues held a 2-0 lead and seemed to be on their way to taking control of the series.

The Backes goal came barely over a minute in, and it was a picture perfect example of the Blues capitalizing on Quick’s aggressive style, something they couldn’t manage in Game 3. St. Louis moved the puck up the ice smoothly and Jay Bouwmeester fired a shot wide. Quick came out high to cut down the angle but left the net wide open for Backes, in just the right position to bang the puck home.

To say the Blues had been struggling on the power-play would be a gross understatement. After scoring on their 1st man-advantage of the series they’d gone their last 12 chances without a goal, until Monday night. Oshie, screening Quick, got his stick on a shot from outside by Kevin Shattenkirk for his first ever playoff goal.

St. Louis couldn’t have asked for a better start to the game and I hoped they’d keep the pedal floored. They didn’t, and against the defending Cup champs, that’s just asking for trouble. LA was happy to oblige, taking advantage of two bad pinches by Blues defensemen and scoring twice before the horn sounded on the opening 20 minutes of play. Jeff Carter was sprung on a breakaway and scored to make it 2-1 at 9:33 and five minutes later the Kings would skate in on a 3-on-1 thanks to a horrible play at the LA blue line by Jordan Leopold.

Dustin Penner finished the gorgeous tic-tac-toe passing display to tie the game 2-2. The Blues, who had given up only three goals in the previous three games had hung Elliott out to dry not once but twice in a matter of minutes with bad puck control and poor decisions. The strength of this St. Louis team had morphed into a pathetic mockery of itself and it cost the Blues the game, the series lead, and any momentum they still clung to from winning the first 2 games at home.

May 6 2013; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Kings right wing Dustin Brown (23) is defended by St. Louis Blues defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk (22) in game four of the first round of the 2013 Stanley Cup playoffs at Staples Center. The Kings defeated the Blues 4-3 to tie the series 2-2. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

The Kings dominated the Blues throughout the 2nd period, out-shooting St. Louis 13-6 and out-muscling them for the puck in almost every area of the ice and winning battles the Blues had been winning for three games in a row. Somehow, the Blues maintained their relative dominance in the face-off circle and Oshie managed to put the Blues up 3-2 with his second goal of the night. The lead was deceiving however, as St. Louis remained on its heels for the rest of the night.

The pressure by LA finally got to Ells and the Blues in the 3rd period. Roman Polak, in particular, had one of the worst overall games by a St. Louis defenseman that I can remember. He inexplicably sent the puck behind his net rather than clear it up the boards and, while the rest of the team fought (unsuccessfully) for the puck, stood flat-footed in front of Elliott while Anze Kopitar skated in behind him to tie the game 3-3.

Barely a minute later, Justin Williams, parked in front of Elliott and Polak, would tip in a shot from the left circle to give the Kings their first lead of the game and what would ultimately be the game-winning-goal.

The Blues obviously got goals from forwards Monday night, something they’d been struggling to do this series and really throughout the last month of the regular season. Elliott made some good saves to keep the game close but had very little chance to stop any of the 4 LA goals. This loss was not on him. The Blues made too many mistakes with the puck on defense, positioned themselves poorly on defense, and couldn’t give their forecheckers footing by continually failing to get the puck deep into the offensive zone.

The line of Oshie, Patrik Berglund, and David Perron was on the ice for all four LA goals. Polak was on for most of them, along with his partner Barret Jackman, though I think all of the St. Louis defensemen fell short Monday night. Jaden Schwartz continued to play like a man possessed, stealing pucks from much bigger Kings skaters, never giving up on plays in the corners, but one guy can’t do all the work.

May 6 2013; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Kings defenseman Robyn Regehr (44) checks St. Loius Blues right wing Vladiimir Tarsenko (91) into the boards in game four of the first round of the 2013 Stanley Cup playoffs at Staples Center. The Kings defeated the Blues 4-3 to tie the series 2-2. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

The “CPR” line, broken up to accommodate Vladimir Tarasenko, ostensibly added to the lineup to provide a scoring boost, was ineffective and primarily invisible, and was on the receiving end of big hits more often than not. The Russian rookie saw barely five minutes of ice time, and the move left me scratching my head given that he was hardly used. He can’t score from the bench, am I right?

The series is now a best-of-three match-up, and while the Blues have two of those games at home all the momentum is with the Kings. All the pressure is on St. Louis to maintain that home-ice advantage. Wednesday night’s game is a “must win” if the Blues hope to stay in this thing and have a solid chance at moving on into Round Two. The sky isn’t falling, yet, but the Blues better do a double-take, wake up and smell the coffee, pull up the boot straps, or whatever they feel necessary to avoid another game like Monday’s if they don’t want to be watching the playoffs from the outside by mid-May.

GO BLUES! Long Live the Note!