ST. LOUIS _ The Blues didn't lack for scoring chances in a showdown of the top teams in each conference, but they lacked for goals and lost, 3-0, to Tampa Bay at Scottrade Center on Tuesday night.
The Blues had plenty of odd-man rushes and plays around the net, but they couldn't get one in. The game may have been summed up on one play: Down 1-0 with 7:53 to go in the third period, Vladimir Sobotka got the puck just to the right of the Tampa Bay net with goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy on the other side of the crease. With an open net to shoot at, Sobotka managed to put the puck through the crease. As the puck slid away toward the corner, Sobotka shood frozen, lifting his eyes to the heavens.
Vasilevskiy made 32 saves in recording the shutout.
Brayden Point opened the scoring at the 19:15 mark of the first period for the Lightning, who received third-period goals from Nikita Kucherov at the 13:37 mark and Tyler Johnson's empty-netter at 19:38.
