VANCOUVER, British Columbia _ The on-again, off-again St. Louis Blues hit the "off" switch Thursday at Rogers Arena.
Hoping to avenge a 6-1 drubbing by Vancouver two Sundays ago in St. Louis, the Blues instead failed to record a modest two consecutive wins for the fourth time this season, losing 5-1 before 18,261.
Although the scores of the two games were very similar, the Blues actually showed a pulse in this game, especially in the first period. But they couldn't solve Vancouver goalie Jacob Markstrom, who won his sixth consecutive start.
They close out this three-game swing through western Canada with a Saturday afternoon contest in Calgary. But any chance to generate real momentum prior to Christmas _ a stated goal by more than one Blues player _ is pretty much gone.
Goalie Jake Allen, who didn't make it out of the first period the last time these teams met, stuck around for the whole thing this time. He didn't have a puck ricochet off the end-boards glass and then off his back into the goal. He didn't surrender a hat trick to Brock Boeser.
Heck, the Blues didn't even have a penalty for too many men on the ice.
Nonetheless, Allen and the rest of the Blues still lost. Their efforts at creeping back towards respectability were dashed once more, falling to 13-16-4 for the season. Vancouver, meanwhile, reached the .500 mark (17-17-4) with their sixth win in eight games.
The Blues had some hop to their step, not to mention 15 shots on goal, but Markstrom _ just 2-4 against the Blues over his career entering Thursday's contest _ made it clear he was on his game in a scoreless first period.
The Blues dominated offensive zone time with strong forechecking and worked to establish a net-front presence. At the other end of the ice, they were crisp and decisive in terms of getting the puck out of their end.
Vladimir Tarasenko had the first of many good chances for the Blues when he skated right down the slot less than 3 { minutes in but Markstrom turned away his shot. Tyler Bozak, who had a point in each of the past three games entering Thursday's contest, had good chances early and late.
With 3:37 left in the period, Brayden Schenn took a whack at a fat rebound from the right wing, but to no avail.
Because of that continuous offensive pressure by St. Louis, it was the other team getting penalized for a change. Vancouver's Derrick Pouliout was sent to the box for slashing Robert Thomas at the 4:50 mark. Then Bo Horvat took a seat for two minutes for holding Schenn.
But the Canucks' penalty kill has been sizzling this month. They killed off both Blues power plays to run their streak to 21 consecutive PKs dating back seven games.
Any momentum gained in the opening period was quickly lost to Vancouver at the start of the second period. Aided by a pair of penalties against St. Louis, the Canucks had the first eight shots _ two of which got behind Allen.
Just 17 seconds after David Perron went off for tripping, Horvat was left alone net front _ never a good idea. Elias Pettersson found him with a cross-rink pass and Horvat had an easy backdoor tap-in for his 17th goal of the season and a 1-0 Canucks lead at the 5:51 mark of the second.
Twenty-eight seconds later it was 2-0 Vancouver when Adam Gaudette had an unassisted tap-in from about the same spot as Horvat's earlier goal. The Blues challenged the goal on the basis of goaltender interference, but to no avail. It looked like there was little in the way of contact with Allen, at least before the puck was in the net.
All those shots the Blues had in the first period didn't carry over to the second. They didn't get their first shot of the period, by Jaden Schwartz, until nearly eight minutes had expired. After outshooting the Canucks 15-5 in the first, the Blues were outshot 14-3 in the second.
Vancouver seemingly took any suspense out of this one early in the third period. Allen hasn't given up many soft goals lately, but after making a couple of sharp saves early in the period, Josh Leivo squeezed one through on a bank shot off Allen's back _ it looked to have hit the A in Allen on his uniform _ from behind the goal line for a 3-0 Canucks lead just 128 seconds into the third.
At the 6:33 mark, Tarasenko gave the Blues some life with his second goal in as many games and his 11th of the season. He did it the hard way, skating down below the goal line, then cutting back in to beat Markstrom with three Canucks skaters around him.
That gave the Blues some temporary life. Bozak and Vince Dunn had excellent chances around the midway point of the period, and the Blues were just a goal away from making a game of it.
Then along came Jake Virtanen to make it 4-1 for Vancouver. Back near the blueline, he threaded a shot through a maze of players and past Allen for his 11th of the season with 8:36 to play. That basically left the Blues out of luck, and out of time.
Loui Eriksson then made it 5-1 with an empty-net goal with 4:36 to play.
