ST. LOUIS _ The Blues just can't figure it out at Enterprise Center this season. After spotting Dallas a 3-0 second-period lead Tuesday, St. Louis got a David Perron goal to close the gap and had plenty of chances in spurts over the second and third periods.
But they couldn't get another shot past Dallas goalie Ben Bishop _ the former Blue _ and lost for the fifth time in their last seven home games. (Oddly enough, the Blues have won four of their last five on the road.)
In any event, the win one, lose one (or two) trend continued against a physical, tight-checking Dallas team. The Blues fell to 17-20-4 on the season while their Central Division rivals improved to 23-17-4, getting two goals by Tyler Sequin.
A goal by John Klingberg and Tyler Sequin's second of the game gave Dallas a 3-0 lead just over six minutes into the second period. But the Blues finally got on the board with Perron's 15th goal of the season to make it a 3-1 game after two.
The Blues found themselves on the wrong end of a 5-on-3 power player after penalties against Robert Bortuzzo (kneeing) and Zach Sanford (slashing) in the opening minute of the second period.
It was only the third time all season and the first time since Oct. 13 against Chicago that an opposing team had a 5-on-3 advantage against the Blues. St. Louis was within 25 seconds of killing one of the penalties when Klingberg scored his sixth goal of the season with a quick shot with plenty of traffic in front of Jake Allen.
Seguin then scored his 17th of the season on a goal that had Allen slamming the post with his stick in anger. The shot slipped under Allen's armpit from a tight angle.
Just 23 seconds after Seguin's score made it 3-0, Perron skated around from behind the Dallas net, circled around the right faceoff circle, and surprised Bishop with a quick backhand. The goal extended Perron's point streak to eight games.
Seguin's first goal, at the 11:27 mark of the first period, gave the Stars a 1-0 after 20 minutes.
That made it five goals in just 20 shots by Blues opponents over the last four periods at Enterprise. The New York Islanders had four goals on just 14 shots in a 4-3 triumph over the Blues on Saturday.
Dallas got its goal on only six shots in the first period Tuesday. But that was two more than the Blues, who generated good offensive zone presence at different times but managed only four shots on goal. (They had eight shots blocked and eight miss the net in the period.)
The Blues couldn't convert on two power plays, running their streak of futility to 4 for 42 with the man advantage since the beginning of December.
