ST. LOUIS _ Three mistakes over the course of 60 minutes made the difference as the Blues lost to the Pittsburgh Penguins, 4-1, on Sunday afternoon at Scottrade Center.
The Blues, playing their third game in 3 { days, outshot the Penguins 34-23 but paid a steep price the mistakes they made.
"That's how they live and die," said Blues goalie Jake Allen. "That's how they win Stanley Cups. That's why they're so good. They wait for teams to make mistake and we coughed a couple nice ones up."
"It wasn't the worst game we played," defenseman Alex Pietrangelo said. "If you look at the overall effort, it was there. There were just a couple mistakes you can't make."
"I think we ran out of energy a bit at the end of the game," forward Alexander Steen said. "They had more than us there and caused some mistakes and some turnovers. We missed some good scoring chances and they had some good saves."
The teams went into the third period tied at 1. The Blues got their goal from fourth line center Kyle Brodziak but Pittsburgh tied the game 21 seconds later when Jake Allen didn't cover his post tightly enough and left some kind of a hole that Sidney Crosby squeezed a puck through. It was the 400th goal of Crosby's NHL career.
"That's why he's the best player in the world," Allen said. "I would never play that any differently. He's one hell of a smart player. It was a pretty good shot."
"I still don't know how it trickled in," Crosby said. "It seemed like it took forever. It's been a long 10 games, so it's nice to see one go in."
It was a quick swing of emotions for the Blues in the third. It looked as if they had taken the lead 31 seconds into the period on a shot from the blueline by Pietrangelo. The play, however, was reviewed by the league, which showed that Paul Stastny had knocked the puck in with a high stick, and the goal was waved off.
Thirty-four seconds later, it was the Penguins that scored a goal, and this one counted. Vince Dunn was too casual on a cross-ice pass in the neutral zone, and Pittsburgh's Bryan Rust picked it off and had a breakaway, beating Jake Allen for the goal to make it 2-1.
"We broke," said Blues coach Mike Yeo. "We made the mistake that cost us the game and they didn't."
The Blues got a power play 1 { minutes later and had some good chances but Matt Murray made the saves. It looked like the Blues could have had a two-man advantage when Rust pulled down Dunn, but there was no call. (Not that the Blues are very good on five-on-threes anyway.)
Another Blues mistake put the Penguins up 3-1. Pittsburgh chipped the puck into the Blues' zone and Pietrangelo retrieved it behind the net. He was pressured by Dominik Riley, who took the puck away from him and put it in front of the goal, where Riley Sheahan got it alone in front of Allen. After a little bit of stickhandling, he put it behind Allen.
"I was just trying to put the puck too far in front of me, but they're waiting for that," Pietrangelo said. "They're waiting for mistakes and we can't do that. ... I can't make that mistake. Trying to make a play at the end of the game down a goal. You could say three games in 3 { days, but it doesn't matter. We have to find a way to get through that."
"That's a team that pressures the D," Yeo said, "so whether your first-year D or you've been in the league for 10 years, you have to understand the opponent, the pressure that you're feeling, and be able to deal with that."
The Blues pulled Allen for a sixth attacker with 2:58 to go, but Crosby scored into the empty net 10 seconds later.
"They showed why they've won a couple Cups in the last couple years, the way they manage the puck," Yeo said. "The urgency they had not to turn pucks over and the way they created them on us."
Allen was starting in consecutive games for the first time December, with Yeo pointing to his play in his past two starts, against Boston and Winnipeg. The tough schedule continues for the Blues on Tuesday, when they play at Nashville, followed by a game at Dallas on Friday.
