Stop us if we’ve called this Groundhog Day before. Once again, as repetitive as it sounds, the St. Louis Blues [http://thn.com/stlouis] do lots of good things in a hockey game, only to have it decided in extra time, only to come away with half of the objective goal. Simon Nemec scored at 2:58 of overtime for the New Jersey Devils [http://thn.com/newjersey], who never led in this game until then and they come away with a 3-2 win against the Blues at Prudential Center in Newark, N.J. on Wednesday. The Blues (7-10-7) closed out a five-game road trip 1-1-3 – one win (not good) but yet somehow take half of the points at stake (five). That’s because they lost three games on this trip by identical 3-2 scores in OT. Kind of hard to do, but it has to somewhat feel like a waste (again) getting good goaltending by Jordan Binnington (26 saves). Cam Fowler scored his first goal this season and had an assist, and Robert Thomas had a power-play goal. Let’s get to the game observations: * You want to know why you’re always on the wrong end in OT? – When you win the opening face-off, like Pius Suter did, to gain possession, it’s a huge advantage. But the problem, like tonight, for the Blues in these 3-on-3 competitions is they don’t regularly go north-south with the puck and try and attack. For the fourth time in seven games that have gone beyond regulation, the Blues failed to get a shot on goal. Now granted, they didn’t have the puck too long after Philip Broberg put Thomas in a tough spot with a pass along the left side wall and he got checked off it by Devils captain Nico Hischier, but it’s too many possessions and too many back outs of the zone. And it seems once the opposition gains control and can look to win the game, the Blues don’t seem to get the puck back. That was the case on Wednesday when the Devils gained the zone, defenseman Dougie Hamilton twice shot pucks, and the Devils were able to get the puck retrievals. Once the second one happened, Hischier makes a play with it behind the net, curls around left to right and finds Nemec alone at the left post and the defenseman slammed it past Binnington. Now, who’s responsibility was Nemec? Fowler and Jordan Kyrou were both on the ice. Seemed like Fowler was caught in no man’s land, and it was too late to realize there was a man behind him after Kyrou was there with Nemec but decided to move up to the higher slot to try and pick up Dawson Mercer. It almost seems like communication – if there was none – needed to happen there on who had who. But regardless, it would up as a familiar result: * Second period was actually really good – Yes, second periods haven’t been kind for the Blues this season, being a period-worst minus-14, and yes, they lost the second period Wednesday 1-0 thanks to a Hischier power-play goal at 8:49, but I liked the Blues’ second much better than I actually did in the first when they scored twice. They sustained more O-zone time and weren’t under the kind of siege they were in the opening period when Binnington had to make 13 saves, and a number of them between the dots because the Blues didn’t look like they were skating toe to toe with the Devils, who took advantage of some sloppy puck play by the Blues early. The Devils were able to gain the zone easier in the first, and the Blues took that away in the second period. They had an extended shift with roughly five minutes left in the period that unfortunately for them yielded a number of blocked shots by the Devils. But the Hischier goal, that ended a Blues penalty kill streak on the road at 14, came off a tripping call on Justin Faulk, one in which he was indecisive on making a line change and that hesitancy cost him the minor, came when Tyler Tucker was caught out of position trying to get to Timo Meier’s one-time shot that once it got through without it being blocked, Hischier was open for the rebound and he slammed it through Binnington at 8:49 to tie the game 2-2: * Offense continues to be dry – For the fifth straight game on this trip and sixth straight game overall, the Blues can’t get past two goals in a game. They started well again when Fowler’s one-time rip on a puck off the boards beat Jacob Markstrom at 2:16 of the first period to make it 1-0: And after allowing Meier’s tying goal at 11:02, Thomas gave them the lead again at 2-1 when he found some room at the top of the left circle, changed his angle and wired a shot top corner on the short side of Markstrom at 14:37 to make it 2-1: But there it is again: the Blues score first and don’t won. They are now 5-4-6 when scoring first. The Devils (15-7-1), meanwhile, came in 10-1-1 when scoring first. Good teams get the lead and build on it, then hold it. This is why the Blues are where they are and New Jersey is where it is. There was Oskar Sundqvist on a rare breakaway with a chance to give the Blues a two-goal lead in the second but couldn’t beat Markstrom 6:11 in. Could have made it 3-1 there. And in the third, Mathieu Joseph, who I thought had a nice game playing 13:29 with three hits and a shot on goal with a plus-1 rating, took a pass from Broberg and used his speed to get to Markstrom but couldn’t put the Blues up 3-2 with 6:46 remaining. There were a couple others, but those are the chances that are the difference between a point and two points in a lot of these games. Probably the biggest difference, and coach Jim Montgomery has harped on it often, is the lack of net front presence and playing between the dots, and when they do get there, it just doesn’t seem like it’s enough of a battle to win those loose pucks or fly by's. * Four-minute power play wasted – For the second straight game, the Blues wasted a four-minute man advantage. In a 2-2 game after Logan Mailloux, who got the second assist on the Fowler goal for his first point in 11 games with the Blues, was high-sticked by Ondrej Palat with 18:00 left in the game, it was a chance to grab the game and perhaps pull away. But despite five shots on goal and three Devils blocks, there just never really seemed like a threat of putting New Jersey’s PK under duress there. Kyrou had the best chance on the second half of the PP when he took a Thomas pass in the slot and changed the angle of his shot but couldn’t beat Markstrom. There’s another chance for one of the Blues’ top players to be a difference maker in a game. * Blues playing much better defensively, getting the goaltending – Remember earlier in the year when the Blues were scoring five or more but still on the losing end of things? They only allowed more than two goals once (three to the New York Rangers on Monday) in regulation and despite allowing 14 first-period shots in which Binnington was razor sharp in, the forecheck became much better and didn’t allow the Devils to play their rush game, limiting New Jersey to 15 shots the rest of the way after the first period. If the Blues can start potting some goals and playing defense/getting this kind of goaltending, maybe wins will follow. Image [https://deweb-519a7.b-cdn.net/post-images/4c75bd08-3a78-45ce-bef3-12594c7ec7c1.jpeg] For action-packed issues, access to the entire magazine archive and a free issue, subscribe to The Hockey News at THN.com/free [https://thehockeynews.store/products/print-subscription]. Get the latest news and trending stories by subscribing to our newsletter here [http://eepurl.com/i7OC4I]. And share your thoughts by commenting below the article on THN.com or creating your own post in our community forum.
