ST. LOUIS _ The Blues are running out of re-set buttons for goalie Jake Allen.
After the starting goalie sat out three straight games, the Blues said before Thursday's game against Washington that they had seen enough in practice that he was ready to return.
Well, Ken Hitchcock had seen enough in the game that he pulled Allen not once but twice in a 7-3 loss to the Capitals. He gave up two goals on the first three shots that he faced, and was yanked temporarily. He returned but after the Caps built their lead to 4-1, he left again and that time for good.
So, Allen's ongoing issues escalated even further Thursday, as he's now been pulled in four of his last six games. In his last three starts, he's allowed 10 goals on just 36 shots for a .722 save-percentage. But as any fans in the crowd of 19,316 at Scottrade Center will confirm, Allen shouldn't be the only Blues player under the microscope after they gave up five-plus goals for the third straight home game and 42 overall in their last 10 at home.
The Blues, who are now 2-6-1 in their last nine games at Scottrade Center, will head on the road for their last three games before the NHL All-Star break. It begins Saturday in Winnipeg, followed by stops in Pittsburgh and Minnesota.
So with that schedule in front of them, the path doesn't get any easier for the Blues, who had a four-point lead on fourth-place Nashville in the Central Division. The Predators were in Calgary on Thursday night and have a game in hand.
The Capitals scored seven goals in their game and lost 8-7 in overtime to Pittsburgh. They got to seven again on Thursday, and were never in jeopardy of losing this one.
The Caps led from the start, and despite the Blues getting a goal from Jaden Schwartz early in the second period for a 2-1 deficit, the visitors were just getting started.
In the Blues' last two meetings with Washington, Alex Ovechkin had hat tricks in each. The Caps' captain didn't have a goal Thursday, but nearly everybody else did.
T.J. Oshie, who was playing his second game in St. Louis since being dealt to D.C., scored the goal that regained Washington's two-goal lead at 3-1 and sent the Capitals on their way.
Oshie's 16th goal of the season was passing clinic by the Caps top line. Nicklas Backstrom fed the puck to Ovechkin, who dropped it back to Backstrom, who left it for Oshie.
Allen bit to his left and was way out of position, allowing Oshie to bury a backhander into an empty net with 16:13 left in the second period. That goal marked the ninth straight game the Blues had allowed three or more at Scottrade Center.
Allen remained in the game, but not for long.
Washington's Brett Connolly scored on a breakaway for a 4-1 lead with 12{ minutes left in the period. Defenseman Carl Gunnarsson fell at the blueline, putting Connolly on a path all alone to the net, where he beat Allen glove side.
That was the end of Allen, who was replaced by Hutton for the second time in the game, but it was not the end of the Blues' follies.
The Capitals made it 5-1 just 12 seconds later when Patrik Berglund fell with the puck in front of the net, turning it over to Marcus Johansson in the slot and his quick shot beat Hutton for a 5-1 lead.
And later in the period, after David Perron took a hooking penalty, Justin Williams scored a power-play goal from the slot for a 6-1 lead. With each goal marking another occasion, that was the sixth time the Blues had given up six goals this season, after giving up a half-dozen only five times all of last year.
Washington made it seven in the third period when Evgeny Kuznetsov scored the Capitals' fifth unanswered goal for a 7-1 lead.
Alexander Steen scored two late goals for the Blues, but it was well too late.
The seventh goal of the night for Washington was the third goal against Hutton, who surrendered those on just eight shots. It was his seventh straight appearance, including three starts and fourth in relief. Hutton started Thursday night on the bench, but was called to action just 7:41 into the game after Andre Burakovsky and Jay Beagle put Washington ahead 2-0.
Burakovsky squeaked a shot between the glove and the leg pad of Allen for a 1-0 lead just 5:37 after the puck dropped. Beagle scored from the slot, after being fed a puck from behind the net from linemate Daniel Winnik.
The Blues pulled Allen after that goal, but only briefly. Hutton came in and Allen sat on the bench for 2:22, but then returned. He didn't make it through the end of the net, though, and the Blues will now have a tough decision on when Allen gets back in the net again.
