ST. LOUIS _ The Blues are getting out of town, just in the nick of time it seems.
In maybe the most predictable result of the season, the Blues lost to Boston 5-3 on Tuesday night at Scottrade Center. The Blues closed their six-game homestand with a 3-3 record, and hit the halfway point of the season with a resounding thud.
Blues' fans were delighted by the return of former captain David Backes, who cheered when he took his first shift on the ice and got a standing ovation when a video tribute appeared on the scoreboard in the first period. Fans were faced with a dilemma over who to root for in the second period when Backes got in a fight with defenseman Joel Edmundson, but the way the game was going by then, they probably felt they could root for Backes. Backes ended up with 17 minutes of penalties on the fight, meaning he spent much of the latter stages of his return in the comfort of the penalty box.
It was the ninth straight time the Blues have followed a win with a loss, and they still haven't won consecutive games in their past 18 outings. Over their past nine games, they have alternated losses and wins, and they were right on schedule for a loss this time.
The Blues have lost their home mojo, with just three wins in their past eight games in St. Louis. And now they go on the road, which has been an even less cooperative venue for them, for three games in California.
In another unsettling trend, goalie Jake Allen started the game but did not finish. Blues coach Ken Hitchcock pulled him after the first period, with the Blues down 3-0 and Carter Hutton finished the game. It was the third time in his past five starts that Allen didn't finish the game. In one of them he was lifted as a medical precaution late in the third period, but in the other two, he got the old-fashioned hook. After starting the season 11-0-2 at home, Allen has lost three of his past five at home, including three straight at Scottrade Center, with only a win at Busch Stadium to break things up. He would have gotten the loss on Tuesday, but a goal by Kyle Brodziak with 24 seconds to play took him off the hook and gave the loss to Hutton.
There was one bit of good news: Colton Parayko scored his first goal of the season, on a power play early in the second period. It came on his 101st shot on goal of the season, more than any other player in the league had taken without scoring a goal.
The Blues had two more power plays in the second period but couldn't score on them, costing them a chance to get back in the game. But chances were few and far between for the Blues, who had just two shots on goal in the first period and were outshot 16-9 in the second.
For the sixth time in their six-game homestand, the Blues gave up the first goal, and this time they kept on going, falling behind 3-0 after 20 minutes.
After a string of giving up goals in the first three minutes, the Blues held off until the 8:19 mark this time. With Boston on a power play after David Perron was sent off hooking, Brodziak made a nice play to get the puck but couldn't clear it out of the zone. The Bruins got the puck to Frank Vatrano, who beat Allen to the glove side to make it 1-0.
The second goal came, almost literally, out of nowhere. Brandon Carlo took a shot from outside that hit the end boards, bounced back onto the rear of the net, rolled off, hit Allen's left skate and went in. The Bruins made it 3-0 when Brad Marchand scored, again beating Allen on the near post.
When the second period began, it was Hutton in goal for the Blues, and the backup has now seen action in five of the Blues' past seven games.
Just 26 seconds into the period, Parayko was called for boarding and Torey Krug scored on the power play to make it 4-0. Parayko responded his goal 3:57 into the period but despite all the chances in the period, there was no more scoring.
Backes came to the defense of Krejci, but he got the wrong guy. Jori Lehtera hit Krejci from behind and knocked him into Edmundson, who fell on top of Krejci and stayed there, which no doubt made him look guiltier than he was. Backes made a beeline for Edmundson, dropped his gloves and went at him in the kind of thing he did all the time in his 10 seasons with the Blues. A limited number of punches were thrown, but the point was made. Backes got five for fighting, two for instigating and a 10-minute misconduct.
The Blues got a power-play goal from Patrik Berglund with 9:46 to go in the third to cut the lead to 4-2. He took a pass from Alex Pietrangelo and shot from the top of the right circle, with his shot hitting Tuukka Rask's glove and the post on its way in. It was the seventh goal in the past 11 games for Berglund after he had just one goal in the first 30 games.
Boston got an empty-net goal to make it 5-2 when a pass went in off the skate of Vladimir Tarasenko. Brodziak then scored with 24 seconds left off a pass from Scottie Upshall.
