The St. Louis Blues entered the month of April knowing they couldn't be a bunch of fools. There's no more dates on the calender once April switches to May unless they can sneak into the playoffs.
As they took on the Los Angeles Kings, the Blues opened up the game the way the San Jose Sharks did against the Blues just a couple nights prior. St. Louis was the better team and the Blues were more on the front foot offensively, but unlike that game, there were no goals in the first period.
St. Louis had plenty of looks. They hit the net 10 times, had several scoring chances and might have had close to 20 shots if they had hit the target more instead of missing.
Things seemed to be going well when the Blues earned an early power play. However, as has become a bad habit lately, St. Louis took a penalty, which negated over half their power play.
Both those calls went by the wayside. St. Louis also had another power play in the final five minutes of the first, but despite the improved possession, they couldn't really challenge the goaltender much in that two minutes.
Anton Forsberg did have to make some good stops, but Jordan Binnington was challenged a couple times as well, which might have been an equal or higher percentage given that the Kings only had six shots. Either way, it ended 0-0 after 20.
The Kings came out hot in the second period. They outshot the Blues 6-2 in the first six minutes and that included another Blues power play.
It appeared as though the Kings took the lead almost midway through the period. However, the referee clearly waved it off due to goalie interference before a review was even necessary. Despite the initial protest of Joey Vitale, the replay clearly showed Binnington getting hip checked in the head.
The Blues offense started waking up a little in the second half of the period. They had the Kings hemmed in their zone, forcing a defender to have almost a two-minute shift. However, their best chance was a Logan Mailloux rush to the net that just slipped off the backhand before he could tuck it in.
That miss, as well as so many others, (the Blues had 11 misses halfway through the game) cost the Blues. St. Louis took a penalty late in the period and the Kings scored just 13 seconds in.
The Kings got the puck high to low and then to the right circle. Despite a lunging effort from Binnington, there wasn't much he could do about the shot and it was 1-0 with about three minutes left.
The second period was just kind of a mess. The Blues got outshot 13-4 overall, despite the fact they'd had 43 attempts after two periods. The inability to hit the net was their undoing in that frame.
Things opened up sloppy in the third. A careless turnover nearly led to a good Kings chance, but Colton Parayko nipped it in the bud for about the third time in the game. Then, the Blues got in a fight about three minutes in.
The period kept sailing by without much of a true push by the Blues. They had looks, but the offense wasn't really there, but they finally got some luck late.
With just under four minutes left, the game got tied up. It appeared to take at least one deflection on the way through to the front of the net, but even if it got through clean, it went off the skate of Robert Thomas, which gave him the goal.
St. Louis almost took the lead with 2:41 left. Pius Suter got a partial break as former Blue Joel Edmundson got spun around, but the Swiss forward chipped the puck over the net.
It felt destined for a late collapse again when the Blues took a late tripping call with 2:06 remaining. The Blues managed to kill that off though and it went to overtime.
The teams traded chances in the first minute of overtime. St. Louis had a big scramble in front of the net, but Philip Broberg couldn't tuck it in on the backhand and then Adrian Kempe fumbled the puck on the breakaway and Binnington got a toe on it.
Then the Kings won the game before the two minute mark. Trevor Moore went coast to coast and Jonaten Berggren took a poor angle and couldn't get a stick across without taking a trip. Moore had an uncontested forehand shot available from in front and roofed it over the blocker for a 2-1 win.
Con: Lack of offense
Win or lose, the Blues offense dried up like some beef jerky over the last couple games. Maybe they got a few goals against the Sharks, but the shot totals were substandard.
While 17 shots isn't horrible, it's not going to win enough games either. That's all the Blues had with seven minutes left.
Given the amount of chances the Blues had, that few shots on goal is borderline ridiculous. Another example of how many shots missed, St. Louis had 22 scoring chances with six minutes left and only 20 shots on goal. That means some of their best looks didn't even hit the net.
The Blues got the late goal and credit to Thomas for being on front of the net. However, there was zero finishing, next to no offensive grit and an overall lack of what got the Blues back into the race.
Pro: Perseverence
It's frustrating when things aren't going your way the way you'd like. The Blues were the better team for long stretches in this game, but the Kings just kept playing defensive hockey until they could strike.
Nevertheless, the Blues stuck with things and didn't hang their heads. They kept trying and managed to get the game tied when it would have been easy to get discouraged.
It's a small win, but necessary for a team that had so many struggles early in the year.
Con: Coughing up another one
Credit to the Kings. They played the kind of game they needed to on an off night and when they turned it on, it was just enough.
That said, these are two gut wrenching losses on this road trip. You battle back and tie things in San Jose, only to lose in the final minutes.
Then you tie the game and get to overtime in Los Angeles, but only muster one shot in overtime.
Overview:
As mentioned, these are really bad losses. You had the chance to take points in winnable games as well as beat teams you're in direct competition with.
Instead, now you find yourself behind the eight ball. You've fallen farther behind teams when you have several to leap over if you have any hope of getting in the playoffs, and you've also fallen off the wagon in terms of playing the way that got you back into the race.
There's a lack of detail, lack of speed and lack of grit in these last two games. It's still lightyears ahead of what ailed this team earlier in the year, but they're hitting a bit of a skid at the wrong time.
All that said, it's a matter of inches. If Mailloux tucks home his backhander early, it's a different outcome. If the puck doesn't slide off Broberg's backhand in overtime, he tucks it into an empty net instead of having the puck just slide into the pad.
Even with the losses, the Blues are just four points back of the Kings for the final playoff spots. The issue is now you've made it very hard on yourself down the stretch.
St. Louis has a game against the Pacific leading Anaheim Ducks and then two against the Colorado Avalanche. You don't really have the option of losing in regulation in those games and you still need help from other teams now.
Another issue is some of these teams are playing each other. Nashville plays against the Kings soon, so whoever gets points in that situation is bad for St. Louis.
Focusing on this game alone, it was just a slog. The game dragged, there wasn't much to be excited about and it was another late game to stay up for only to see a bad result.
Things are still there for the Blues if they can find themselves again, but they've lost any potential cushion they had. They need to find a win streak and fast.
It might come down to those small inches in games like these, but when it's all about bounces and those inches and you lose, it's no moral victory to think it could have gone the other way.