Lack of Blues chances allow late-game turnover to decide game in 4-2 loss to Utah
On Thursday night, the Blues allowed their fate to be decided by a few bounces.
In falling behind 18 seconds into the game, in amassing two shots on goal during the second period, in putting one shot on goal in the game's final 11:28, in going scoreless again on the power play, the Blues narrowed their path to victory in an eventual 4-2 loss to the Utah Hockey Club.
St. Louis failed in so many different areas of the game that Jordan Kyrou's late-game turnover cost it when Dylan Guenther turned the misplay into the game-winning goal for Utah with 3:21 remaining in the third period.
About three minutes earlier, Kyrou scored to tie the game, potentially rescuing a subpar outing for the Blues and putting them in a position to steal a point out of their first matchup with Utah. But when he attempted a pass to Ryan Suter at the offensive blue line, Guenther tipped the puck away and led a 2 on 1 for Utah. Guenther tried saucing a pass to Logan Cooley, but it deflected off a sliding Colton Parayko and into the back of the net.
"Just got to be more direct there," Kyrou said. "Time of the game there. Just got to put that deep."
Blues coach Drew Bannister: "It's just a bad bounce, but at the end, it shouldn't be in there at that point."
It was the second time in the last four games that Kyrou turned the puck over late in the third period that directly led to the game-winning goal for the opposition. Last week in Philadelphia, the Flyers scored when Kyrou had a neutral-zone turnover that became Bobby Brink's game-winner.
On Thursday, Bannister said the Blues were "lucky to be where we were" with the game tied late in the third period.
"As a team, we have to recognize that we hadn't played well for 55 minutes of the game, and we're in a 2-2 game," Bannister said. "And we just have to push that to overtime."
Parayko and Kyrou scored the Blues goals on Thursday night, and Joel Hofer made 27 saves. Guenther (game-winner), Michael Kesselring, Matias Maccelli and Jack McBain (empty-netter) scored for Utah.
Overall, the Blues slogged their way to just 15 shots on goal. It was just the third time in the last dozen seasons that St. Louis put as few shots on net. It was the fifth time this season than an NHL team had 15 or fewer shots on goal. Kyrou's game-tying goal was the team's only shot on goal in the final 11:28 of the game, and that included nearly two minutes of an extra attacker with Hofer on the bench.
"I think we were just a little bit sloppy with the puck," Blues forward Brandon Saad said. "They do a good job of clogging up the neutral zone. They've got a lot of speed and skill going the other way, so I think we just got stubborn with it and didn't get pucks in deep."
On the power play, the Blues went 0 for 3, and that encompassed three minutes of a major penalty when Maveric Lamoureux was ejected from the game for kneeing Alexey Toropchenko. St. Louis had 6:34 of power-play time on Thursday night and had two shots on goal, and one was during the 26 seconds of a 5-on-3 advantage.
At 5 on 5, the Blues had 0.99 expected goals, the first time this season they've been below one expected goal, according to Natural Stat Trick.
"I think doesn't break out as well today," Blues forward Pavel Buchnevich said. "Lots of times, just chuck the puck. Can't get the speed and doesn't put the puck on the goalline, and doesn't get any forecheck. Just tough game for us."
The Blues understand that their offensive attack won't be the same while they're without top-line center Robert Thomas and top-four defenseman Philip Broberg. That's why they've preached a defensive mentality, and why they want to grind wins out in the interim. As they beat Toronto and Tampa Bay, the Blues embraced that and scrapped together enough offense to earn two points.
While the offense is limited, Kyrou has sparked both creativity and concern for the Blues.
When he scored on Thursday night, it was the third straight game that Kyrou scored after he went 10 games without a goal. He leads the Blues in just about every offensive category: goals (5), assists (7), points (12), shots (43) and shot attempts (87). Kyrou has 25 more shot attempts than his next closest teammate.
On Thursday, he led the Blues again with eight shot attempts, which piggybacked off his 10 attempts against Toronto on Tuesday, nine in Philadelphia on Oct. 31 and 10 in Montreal on Oct. 26. In the last three games, Kyrou has scored a third of the team's goals.
But his mistakes have been loud and preventable. The Blues could have two (or more) points in the standings in recent games if Kyrou's puck management was more in line with the game situation.
"Just time management there," Kyrou said. "Three minutes left in the game. Instead of trying to drop it back, just put it in (deep). That's it. It's on me there."
The timing of Kyrou's error made it the most consequential of the evening, but the Blues allowed Kesselring to score just 18 seconds into the game when he beat Dylan Holloway up the ice and towards the Blues net.
It was the sixth straight game that the Blues fell behind 1-0.
"I think our brains were turned off," Bannister said. "For whatever reason, I don't know why. That play shouldn't've happened. The D beat us up the ice, and we got puck-focused and not watching, checking our responsibilities. A little bit of a fluky goal, but if we're doing our jobs, that goal doesn't happen."
Even after Kesselring's goal, the Blues didn't respond with a shot on goal until after the first television timeout of the game, a harbinger of what was to come Thursday night.
"We didn't put pucks into areas where we were able to get pressure on it," Bannister said. "When we did, our second guy was late arriving. It was too easy for them to break out. We didn't put enough pressure on their defense early on when they went down to five (defensemen) to really generate much o-zone time."
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