ST. LOUIS — A playoff spot for the Blues is pretty much inevitable. The combination of results to keep it from happening is pretty remote. So maybe for old times’ sake, the Blues revisited those days when they had trouble doing the simple things.
Against an Anaheim team long since eliminated from the playoff race but which has been throwing wrenches in the works around the division, the Blues trailed 2-1 in the third period, battled to get even and then lost in a shootout 3-2 on Wednesday night at Enterprise Center.
The loss gave them a point, but it ruled out any chance of them clinching a playoff spot on Wednesday, no matter what happened in the Arizona-Los Angeles game that was the other half of the Blues’ clinching scenario. They will now have to wait until Friday, when the Blues play at Las Vegas, the Coyotes play at San Jose and the Kings play Colorado.
The game was almost certainly the last in St. Louis for former captain David Backes, now with the Ducks. After the game ended, the Blues lined up to shake hands or hug Backes, and he got another big ovation when he was announced as the game’s No. 1 star.
The Blues would have clinched a playoff spot by now if it hadn’t been for their troubles with Anaheim. In their past four games against the Ducks, the Blues have managed just four of eight possible points.
The Blues' injury list is starting to look like it did earlier in the year — there were four regulars not on the ice on Wednesday. The Blues were without forwards Vladimir Tarasenko and Sammy Blais and defensemen Torey Krug and Vince Dunn, which would not normally be a precursor of success.
Tarasenko had missed two games in Minnesota with a lower-body injury not related to his shoulder surgery and was back in the lineup on Monday, where he was a non-factor, getting off no shot attempts in 15:36 of ice time. Somewhere along the way, he aggravated whatever had kept him out before and he was a scratch once again. Coach Craig Berube said he was “pretty much” on a day-to-day basis.
Krug missed his third game in a row and Dunn missed his sixth, though both were on the ice with the team in the morning skate. Blais, who had been making steady contributions since coming back into the lineup after a string of healthy scratches, is day-to-day with an upper body injury. Mackenzie MacEachern was back in the lineup for the first time since March 13.
Anaheim took a 2-1 lead 2:15 into the third when the Blues lost a puck battle along the boards and Troy Terry down low fed Haydn Fleury coming through the slot with an open backdoor to aim at.
The Blues then got a scare when goalie Jordan Binnington got caught up in a pile in front of the net that kept him lying face down, and looked to be getting repairs for a cut on his chin but remained in the game.
Kyle Clifford, back in the lineup because of the growing injuries, then tied it with 14:31 to play, tripping in a pass from Ivan Barbashev from along the boards. It was the fourth goal of the season for Clifford and his first since Feb. 13.
With 4:28 to go in the third, Clifford was called for holding, giving Anaheim a power play, which the Blues killed and almost turned into a goal. Jaden Schwartz got the puck just as time expired on the power play and was able to go on a two-on-one with Clifford coming out of the box. Schwartz passed to Clifford, but goalie Anthony Stolarz got over to make the save with about 3:20 to play.
The first period was a bit ragged at times again, and featured Niko Mikkola’s first NHL fight, against Max Comtois. Mikkola put his superior reach to good use.
But the Blues settled down when their now dangerous power play got on the ice. After some good chances, Ryan O’Reilly sent a cross-ice pass to Mike Hoffman, but it wasn’t in the right place for him to uncork one of his one-timers. Didn’t matter. Hoffman had enough time and space to control the puck, skate in a bit and then fire a three-timer past Ducks goalie Anthony Stolarz.
The Blues had their nine-game streak with a power-play goal snapped on Saturday in Minnesota, but they’re up to two on a new streak and are up to ninth in the league at 22.5%.
The second period continued the theme of the first period, with the Blues being on the brink of creating a dangerous-looking chance, only to mess up the pass. Meanwhile, the chances Anaheim was getting were looking better and better. Finally, on another scattered defensive setting for the Blues, Mikkola was without his stick. He quickly stepped up to borrow Zach Sanford’s stick, but in that moment, he left Anaheim’s Max Jones with too much room to work with in front of the net and he redirected a pass from Sam Carrick to tie the game with 7:03 to play in the period.
About two minutes later, Brayden Schenn, set up in front of the crease, took a shot by David Perron to the neck, leaving a visible imprint of the puck. After briefly being crouched over in front of the net in pain, he skated over to the bench but stopped just before getting there and began slamming his stick against the glass.
