ST. LOUIS — The Blues didn’t start their season-long seven-game homestand the way they wanted to. They didn’t finish it that way, either.
A 5-3 loss to the Sabres on Tuesday night secured a 3-4-0 homestand for the Blues, a disappointing stretch of games for a team that is attempting to claw its way back into the playoff chase in the Western Conference.
The Blues nearly came back from a four-goal deficit to Buffalo on Tuesday night, as Jordan Kyrou’s 23rd goal of the season just 47 seconds into the third period trimmed the Sabres' lead to 4-3, but St. Louis could not find the equalizer.
Vladimir Tarasenko had two chances during 4-on-4 play in the third period. The Blues pulled goalie Jordan Binnington with 2:32 remaining in the third period, and Tarasenko had another prime scoring opportunity with 1:48 left from the right circle.
The Blues last gasp came on a late power play when Peyton Krebs was whistled for a faceoff violation with 1:46 remaining. But Dylan Cozens iced the game for Buffalo with an empty-net goal while on the penalty kill.
Ivan Barbashev and Brayden Schenn also scored for the Blues, who fell behind 4-0 during the second minute of the second minute. Binnington made 26 saves, bouncing back from another poor start to submit a decent final two periods.
When Alex Tuch scored in the first period, it was the fourth goal allowed by Binnington in his last 10 shots faced. Jeff Skinner, Owen Power and Tage Thompson also scored for the Sabres.
The Blues have three games remaining before the All-Star Game, as they head into the break with road games at Arizona, Colorado and Winnipeg.
This homestand offered the Blues a chance to steady their season, to make a push towards the postseason, especially with Minnesota trudging through its schedule to three straight losses. Instead, losses to Chicago and Buffalo pushed the Blues in the other direction.
Asked on Tuesday morning about the homestand overall, Blues coach Craig Berube said “some real good stuff, and some not so good stuff.
“Obviously, the last game (against Chicago) is disappointing, we all know that,” Berube said. “We take some good stuff out of it, but also I find that we let some games slip away. In my opinion, they were right there.
“The homestand wasn’t good enough in the end. But we’ve got a game tonight here. We can do a good job here tonight and get a win, that’s what we’re going to focus on. We can’t focus on what has already happened. Just focusing on tonight’s game before we go on the road.”
The Blues are five points behind the Wild for third place in the Central Division, with one more game played than Minnesota.
Another poor first
For the second straight game, the Blues fell behind by multiple goals in the opening period, as Buffalo scored twice in the first 1:25 on Tuesday, and added a third goal at 9:07 of the first period. On Saturday against Chicago, the Blues allowed goals on the Blackhawks’ first two shots on goal.
Tuesday night, Binnington allowed two Buffalo goals on the first three shots he faced.
Skinner scored 60 seconds into the game after the former Blues forward Thompson took the puck away from Tyler Pitlick in the slot. On the next shift, Tuch scored unmolested in the slot, sneaking past Tarasenko.
The two goals were separated by 25 seconds, which was the fourth time this season the Blues allowed two goals within 30 seconds. It also happened on opening night vs. Columbus (18 seconds), on Dec. 1 vs. Carolina (21 seconds) and on Dec. 6 at the Islanders (21 seconds).
After the second goal, Berube used his timeout to deliver a message to his team.
Power’s goal made it 3-0, as he finished a backdoor tap-in in front of Robert Thomas. Buffalo had the puck for about 30 seconds in the offensive zone prior to the goal, circling the zone and generating prime chances in the slot from Tuch and Power.
A bad first period could have gotten worse thanks to a pair of consecutive Logan Brown penalties. He was called for goaltender interference after bumping Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen in the crease, and when he was released from the penalty box, subsequently cleared the puck over the glass for a delay of game penalty.
The Blues killed both penalties, keeping the deficit at 3-0 at the first intermission.
Fighting back
The Blues mounted a minor comeback attempt in the second period after falling behind 4-0 just 70 seconds into the second period. A Colton Parayko neutral-zone turnover became a Thompson goal, as the key piece in the Ryan O’Reilly trade notched his third point of the evening. The goal dropped Parayko to minus-4 on the evening.
Goals by Barbashev and Schenn brought the Blues within two goals. Barbashev’s goal was his second in as many games, and nearly a carbon-copy of his goal against the Blackhawks on Saturday night, as he spun a backhand from the slot past Luukkonen. Schenn picked the top corner on the rush for his 12th goal of the season.
Both Torey Krug and Justin Faulk had two assists in the second period. For Krug, they came in his first game back in the lineup since Dec. 23.
St. Louis had a chance to trim the lead to one goal in the second period with Rasmus Dahlin in the box for cross-checking. The Blues managed one shot on goal during the power play, and neither team scored during a frantic back-and-forth finish to the period.
