GLENDALE, Ariz. — With a 2-0 lead after a strong first period, the Blues had a key victory and a firmer grasp of fourth place and the playoffs in their sights.
Instead, the 2-0 lead vanished in the second period at Gila River Arena, and by the time the game ended, so did fourth place in a 3-2 loss to the Arizona Coyotes.
So at the moment, with just 13 games left to play, the Blues are on the outside looking in. They still have two games in hand with the Coyotes, but have 10 of their remaining games against West Division heavyweights Colorado, Vegas and Minnesota.
The Blues fell to 19-18-6, staying at 44 points. Arizona improved to 20-20-5 for 45 points.
Between a two-game suspension, an upper-body injury, and some time as a healthy scratch when coach Craig Berube said he wasn’t playing with enough passion, it’s been a rough season for Sammy Blais. And let’s not forget the game he missed due to a COVID-19 false positive — Feb. 20 against San Jose.
But Blais has kept plugging. He reaped the benefits Saturday, scoring the Blues’ first goal just 83 seconds in. It was his sixth goal of the season, matching his career high, and his third goal in five games. Blais routinely plays up and down the lineup, but lately he’s been in the high-rent district — playing with past All-Stars Ryan O’Reilly and David Perron.
“I think he's doing a great job getting in there and being physical at the right times and reloading hard,” O’Reilly said Friday. “You could just see we're starting to build something.”
Blais came skating down the slot and took a pass from David Perron and beat Darcy Kuemper stick side with a wrist shot. Kuemper might have been a little rusty since he hadn’t played since March 8 with a lower-body injury.
Later in the period, Blais was slashed by Nick Schmaltz threatening to score again in front of Kuemper and the Arizona net. Tyler Bozak scored on a rebound of his own shot with just six seconds left on the power play.
It was Bozak’s third goal of the season, all coming in the 12 games since he returned from a concussion.
So it was 2-0 entering the second period, but Arizona wasted little time cutting into the lead. After an extended period of zone time for the Coyotes, defenseman Alex Goligoski was left uncovered in the slot and whistled a one-timer past Jordan Binnington just 101 seconds into the second period.
That made it a 2-1 game and continued the Blues' second-period woes. Midway through the period, after Blais took the first of his two minor penalties in the period, Arizona struck again.
Just 15 seconds after Blais went off for tripping, St. Louis area product Clayton Keller scored on a one-timer from the right circle. His 13th goal of the season tied the game at 2-all.
With that goal, the Blues had been outscored 53-36 in the second period this season, or minus-17. Only Columbus (minus-20), Ottawa (minus-19), Philadelphia (minus-19) and Nashville (minus-18) are worse in the second period in the NHL.
By way of comparison, the Blues are on the plus side in both the first and third periods. Binnington has given up more goals in the second period (41) than in the first and third periods combined (38) this season.
For Arizona, they kept up the momentum in the third period, taking a 3-2 lead four minutes in on a net-front deflection by Michael Bunting of a Jakob Chychrun blast from the point.
