COLUMBUS, Ohio — With the NHL regular season nearly three-quarters complete, and most of the Western Conference in a heated race for postseason position, it’s time for a sense of urgency for all concerned.
Strangely, urgency has been strangely lacking in the Blues’ game lately. The malaise continued Saturday at Nationwide Arena, when the Blues fell behind 1-0 early, tied the game briefly in the opening period, but then played catch-up the rest of the way in a 5-4 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets before a sellout crowd of 19,005.
The Blues trailed 2-1, 3-2, and 4-3, but each time Columbus scored next to make it a two-goal deficit for St. Louis.
The Blues got a hat trick from David Perron and Alexei Toropchenko’s first NHL goal. But not much on defense or in goal, where Ville Husso allowed a season-high five goals.
At 34-18-9 for 77 points, the Blues are now just one point ahead of the Minnesota Wild, who defeated Chicago, 3-1, Saturday. The Wild have one game in hand, having played 60 games to the Blues’ 61.
Since the start of that lost week in New York, the Blues are 2-4-3 – not exactly kicking it in gear for the stretch run.
Playing against one of the league’s worst defenses, the Blues had more momentum at the start of Saturday’s contest. But still found themselves in a familiar position lately – playing catch-up.
After the Blues lost a wall battle, fourth-liner Emil Bemstrom found himself left alone backdoor and scored on Husso 3 1/2 minutes into the game.
But the hottest of the Blues, Perron, got his team on the board with his 19th goal of the season. It was a power-play goal, with Columbus’ Jake Bean off for hooking Pavel Buchnevich.
Skating down the center of the ice, Perron took a pass from Brayden Schenn in the neutral zone and kept going, beating Blue Jackets goalie Elvis Merzlikins. For Perron, it gave him goals in six straight games, and 10 goals in his last nine contests.
But Columbus regained the lead before the first period had ended on an uncharacteristic penalty by Ryan O’Reilly behind the Columbus net. Gustav Nyquist, left all alone backdoor, scored his 15th goal of the season to give the Blue Jackets a 2-1 lead.
Less than four minutes into the second period, a longtime Blues nemesis — Patrik Laine — make it 3-1. Laine, you may recall, scored five goals in one game against the Blues on Nov. 24, 2018. It was Craig Berube’s third game as interim head coach after the firing of Mike Yeo — and it was an 8-4 Blues loss.
On Saturday, Laine scored off a Columbus rush, on a shot that Husso probably should have stopped. It was Laine’s 24th goal of the season and his 19th in his last 22 games this season. He’s feasted on the Blues during his career, with 16 goals in 17 games.
But the Blues’ made it a one-goal game on Toropchenko’s first NHL goal. It came on a net-front rebound, something sorely lacking in the Blues’ offense lately. The goal came with 6:17 left in the second period.
The Blues outshot the Blue Jackets 11-7 in the period, and thanks in part to a late power play, took some momentum into the third period.
Sean Kuraly dulled that momentum. When left all alone in the near slot, he scored to make it a 4-2 Blue Jackets lead seven minutes into the third. But just 30 seconds later, Perron drew a hooking penalty and made the Blue Jackets play with another power play goal. It was his 20th goal of the season and a 4-3 game.
But once again, the Blue Jackets responded by making it a two-goal game when Jakub Voracek’s fourth goal of the season, in traffic, got by Husso. So it was 5-3 Columbus with 7:36 left to play.
With Husso pulled for an extra attacker, Perron scored again for the hat trick with 1:20 to play. About a half-dozen hats were tossed to the ice at Nationwide. But that’s where any good feelings ended for the struggling Blues.
