ST. LOUIS — Monday night was not a step in the right direction for the Blues.
Looking to snap out of the first four-game losing streak of the Craig Berube Era, the Blues went backward, and emphatically so, with a 5-1 loss on Monday night to the Los Angeles Kings at Enterprise Center. It’s the first time the Blues have lost five in a row in regulation since February of 2018.
Unlike previous games, the Blues didn’t wait till the third period to collapse. This time they did it in the second period, when they allowed four goals in six minutes, 15 seconds, to go from being down 1-0 to trailing 5-0 and bringing an early end to goalie Jordan Binnington’s evening — though it was some lax defending from the Blues that mostly was responsible. The Kings’ first three goals all came on backdoor plays.
The Blues was booed off the ice after the second period. Not many people still were on hand at the end of the game.
The Blues’ goal came from fourth-line forward Alexey Toropchenko, 43 seconds after Binnington left in favor of Thomas Greiss.
The Blues now have two days off until they face the New York Islanders on Thursday, looking to avoid a six-game losing streak for the first time since 2014.
The offense had some chances in the third period, but by then it didn't matter much. The Blues remain hesitant to do one of the essentials of the game, namely shooting, as evidenced by the team failing to get a shot off on a three-on-0 break in the second period.
Backdoor blues
After getting their first goal on a backdoor play, the Kings decided to stick with a winning formula and it got them two goals early in the second period to open up their lead.
The first one, with Rasmus Kupari feeding Carl Grundstrom, came 3:44 into the period and made it 2-0. The next one came 1:22 later with Vilardi passing to Anze Kopitar for another tap in at the back post.
After that play, Blues coach Berube called a time out and spent the break chastising his team.
Thirty-three seconds after the third goal, Justin Faulk got a two-minute high-sticking penalty. Just as the penalty expired, a shot by Viktor Arvidsson was blocked by Binnington, but Trevor Moore got the puck to Arthur Kaliyev who had an open net to make it 4-0.
End of the night for Binnington
One second before the halfway point of the second period, the Kings took a 5-0 lead on a shot by Grundstrom that hit Faulk’s stick, changed directions and beat Binnington at the post.
Almost immediately, backup Greiss started getting ready to get in the game.
Binnington finished the night allowing five goals on 19 shots, though he was helpless on the backdoor plays.
0 for 3 on 0
In between the Kings’ second and third goal was a play that might have pretty much summed up the Blues season so far.
The Blues had a three-on-none break, with Jordan Kyrou having the puck on the left with Ryan O’Reilly in the middle and Brayden Schenn on the right. Goalie Jonathan Quick was the only King back.
Kyrou kept the puck, presumably trying to draw Quick to him for a pass to someone else for an open-net shot. But Kyrou waited too long to make the pass and by the time he did, Quick was able to extend his stick and poke-check the puck away. It went back the other way and 27 seconds later the Kings made it 3-0.
Delayed trouble
The Blues gave up a goal while a man down, but while killing a penalty, to start the scoring.
With a delayed penalty called on Jordan Kyrou for hooking, the Kings pulled their goalie and, with an extra attacker, worked the puck around until Kevin Fiala found Gabriel Vilardi open at the back post and he deflected the pass in with 6:48 to go in the first period.
For Vilardi, it was his eighth goal of the season, putting him into a tie for second in the NHL in goals. He’s already just two goals off his career high for a season. It’s the fourth straight game with Vilardi scoring a goal.
The Blues had a power play earlier in the period where they were denied a goal when Quick slid over to his left to make a lunging save on Vladimir Tarasenko.
The Blues once again couldn’t finish chances. Pavel Buchnevich couldn’t get his stick on a backpost feed and Schenn had a wraparound chance knocked away by Drew Doughty.
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