ST. LOUIS _ For the seventh straight time, the Blues couldn't follow up a win with another win, a streak that goes back to just after Thanksgiving. On Thursday night, the Blues followed up their impressive Winter Classic win over the Blackhawks with a 4-2 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes. The loss left the Blues 2-2 in their season-long six-game homestand with two games to go before setting off on a lot of road games and very few home games.
The Blues now have been outscored 29-13 in the past seven games immediately following wins. Thursday wasn't so much a Winter Classic hangover as it was a post-win hangover.
Carolina got the game-winner on a power-play goal by Jeff Skinner with 6:08 to play in the third period. The Hurricanes got the power play when Brad Hunt was called for slashing trying to break up a breakaway by Jordan Staal.
The Blues had two power plays in the third period but couldn't score and could barely get off a shot against the league's top-ranked penalty kill. Carolina came into the game at 90.9 percent on the penalty kill on the road. The Blues did get one power-play goal on the night, but went one for five in the game and now have one goal in their past 15 times with a man-advantage.
Or maybe the Blues are consistent. They have alternated wins and losses over their past seven games and haven't lost more than two in a row since early November. The Blues aren't giving ground, but they aren't gaining much either.
The Blues got their goals from likely and unlikely candidates. Joel Edmundson got the first and Vladimir Tarasaenko got the second. It was the first of the season for Edmundon and the 19th for Tarasenko.
After giving up a goal 62 seconds into the Chicago game on Monday, the Blues lasted 69 seconds this time. Derek Ryan won a battle along the boards and came in on a two-on-one. Defenseman Brad Hunt was the one and Ryan kept acting like he was going to pass to Jordan Staal, but ultimately he shot and beat Allen to the stickside with a wrist shot. It was the fourth consecutive game the Blues had given up the first goal.
The Blues got a power play 4:33 into the first when Carolina was called for having too many men on the ice, and the Blues quickly responded 50 seconds later by having six players jump into the attack on the power play, which exceeded the limit by one. It was the Blues' ninth too-many-men penalty, tying them with Colorado for the league lead.
The Blues got through that penalty kill and another one later when David Perron was called for interference in the offensive zone. It was Perron's eighth penalty in the past 11 games.
The Blues tied the game early in the second period on a shot from the point by Edmundson around a screen by Perron. It was the first goal of the season for Edmundson and the second of his NHL career, the other coming in March. Edmundson's goal leaves only two Blues skaters, Carl Gunnarsson and Colton Parayko, without goals this season.
Two saves on breakaways by Allen kept the game even. The second was with the Blues on a power play, and after the save, Tarasenko made a long pass up the ice to Robby Fabbri, who took it into the zone and waited for Tarasenko to get into the play. He came in with speed, got the pass in the slot and fired a wrist shot in for 19th goal of the season. It was also his fourth straight goal with an assist by Fabbri and his sixth in the past seven, even though the two haven't started the game on the same line in that span.
The lead, though, didn't last. Jay McClement, one of three one-time Blues draft picks on the Carolina roster (along with Ty Rattie and Lee Stempniak), took a shot that hit Allen and went in to tie the game with 8:58 to go in the second.
It got tricky for the Blues late in the second when Fabbri and Alex Pietrangelo took penalties 17 seconds apart, giving Carolina 1:43 with a two-man advantage. Fortunately for the Blues, Jordan Staal was called for slashing 26 seconds into the five-on-three, giving the Blues a more manageable four-on-three that they were able to kill. The Blues haven't allowed a goal in a five-on-three situation this season.
After Skinner's game-winner, the Hurricanes added an empty-net goal by Ryan to seal it with 1:19 to play.
