The Blues lost in regulation for just the second time in the past 16 games, falling to Carolina, 5-2, on Friday night at PNC Arena in Raleigh, N.C.
A short-handed goal by Carolina's Sebastian Aho in the second period, set up by a puck-handling gaffe by goalie Jake Allen, broke a 2-2 tie and forced the Blues to play catchup and a third-period goal by Jordan Staal made the job tougher.
The Blues scored first, taking a 1-0 lead 6:59 into the game when Oskar Sundqvist tipped in a shot by Vince Dunn. It was the 12th goal of the season for Sundqvist.
Carolina scored two goals in the first to take the lead and then Dunn tied the game 2:13 into the second. The Blues had a power play when Brett Pesce was sent off for holding. Carolina's Teuvo Teravainen cleared the puck the length of the ice and Aho chased after it. Allen skated out toward the boards to get it, but he couldn't handle it and the puck got past him. Aho took possession and skated behind the net while Allen scrambled back toward his goal. He dived for the net, but not in time to stop Aho's wraparound from putting the Hurricanes ahead.
The Blues had a couple chances to tie the game in the third but couldn't get the puck in. After Zach Sanford couldn't handle a rebound in front of the goal, Carolina soon came down and got the insurance goal. Andrei Svechnikov added an empty-net goal to seal it.
It was the front half of another back-to-back set for the Blues, who play Dallas at Enterprise Center on Saturday night.
