The St. Louis Blues continued to look like a quite different team against the Dallas Stars, from even what we saw a month ago. Unfortunately, their win streak came to an end and the amount of games left doesn't leave them a lot of wiggle room.
Things got off to a poor start. The Blues took an early power play and Dallas made them pay, which would become a reoccurring theme.
Mason Marchment beat Joel Hofer past the blocker with a wrister fom the right circle to make it 1-0 before the game was two minutes old.
St. Louis tied it less than two minutes later. Zack Bolduc banged home a backdoor rebound to make it 1-1.
Then the game got too loose in the last half of the period. Dallas retook the lead with just under seven to go.
Matt Duchene also beat Hofer from the right circle. Hofer had tripped on a rut, or something, and didn't look comfortable on the next shot. Who knows if it just threw him off mentally or if he briefly tweaked something, but it didn't pass the eye test.
Then it got really crazy. St. Louis tied it on a Dylan Holloway power play goal with 86 seconds left, which was justice since Holloway got slashed.
However, Pavel Buchnevich gave it right back, taking a penalty in the final minute. Wyatt Johnston snuck one under the blocker with two seconds left to take a 3-2 lead into intermission.
The Blues came out of intermission with Jordan Binnington in net. The Stars didn't care, scoring on a fabulous passing play just 66 seconds into the second to make it 4-2.
St. Louis kept fighting, with the Aussie, Nathan Walker, getting them within one about eight minutes in. Alexey Toropchenko had drawn a penalty while on a partial breakaway, but Walker came in and batted the puck in out of midair on the rebound to make it 4-3.
The Blues kept pressing, outshooting Dallas 19-7 in the second period. They couldn't tie it though and that would cost them.
The Stars added two more power play goals in the third, giving Johnston a hat trick and a 6-3 win. The final score wasn't indicative of how the Blues played, but a loss is a loss.
Con: Penalty kill
This game was ultimately decided by the Blues penalty kill. St. Louis had one power play goal, allowed four power play goals and lost by three.
You do the math, but that works out to essentially ending the game tied if your PK does something. The disappointing thing was that the Blues PK has been really solid since the 4 Nations break.
They were not solid in this game. Hofer could have potentially saved one or two of those, but they weren't easy saves either.
I think the fatigue of games in succession caught up. The PK had been much more active lately, but they were no match for the speed of the passing of Dallas, fell into a shell and allowed way too much room to work.
Even if you only kill one or two, you give yourself a legitimate shot at the end instead of grasping at straws down by three.
Pro: Still fighting
Due to poor officiating and their own inadequicies, the Blues were behind the eight ball repeatedly, but they kept plugging away. They tied the game twice and scored another goal when down 4-2.
Earlier in the season, this game could easily have become one of those 8-goal embarassments. Instead, the Blues showed that they're still fighting. They just didn't have enough in this game.
Con: Penalties
We already touched on the penalty kill struggles and I briefly mentioned the poor officiating, but you still have to look in the mirror. The Blues put themselves in that spot.
I appreciate the enthusiasm of the fourth line, but Radek Faksa can't make that hit early in the game. You throw everything off when you force your team into special teams before it's even two minutes old. Similarly, you can't take a penalty in the final minute of the first either.
Kyrou didn't help matters either. You can't take offensive zone penalties. Those almost always kill you.
The call for the final power play was a phantom call, but Kyrou still gave the ref the option. You reach your stick from behind around the guy's waist and an official will almost always give the benefit of the doubt to the attacker who falls down.
Pro: 5v5
What was really disappointing about this game, beyond the loss, was the Blues were the better team at five-on-five. They were more physical and outshot Dallas at a two-to-one margin, 42-21 overall.
If your penalty kill gets things done or you just take fewer penalties, the Blues win or they get to overtime. Instead, the result fell as it was.
When it was five on five, the Blues were right there with the Stars, if not better. Keep playing like that and getting better special teams play and things go your way.
Overview:
What stings about this game is we knew it was coming. The Blues weren't going to rattle off 10 wins or anything like that.
The thing that stinks is that there just isn't time. We can say the Blues outplayed the Stars other than the power plays, but moral victories are only acceptable if you're in a guaranteed playoff spot or maybe back in December.
Now, you just need wins. Pretty or ugly, you just need wins.
A loss, no matter how good, just doesn't help anything. Dallas is one of the top teams in the West for a reason, but they played well enough in spurts to beat them. It was just a slight shortcoming.
If we're honest, Hofer wasn't very good. I won't say he was bad or he was the reason the Blues lost, but he didn't look comfortable from the start.
Maybe that first goal threw everyone off. Maybe if the PK deflects a pass or Hofer makes a save there, the whole game turns out differently. Instead, they score, Hofer doesn't look quite right the whole first and the PK allows a goal every time out.
It doesn't get easier either. They have the Ducks sandwiched between two games with the LA Kings and then travel all the way across the country to Pittsburgh. Regardless of records, that's a tough travel trip.
Hopefully the PK cleans itself up and the Blues get back on the winning track.