Lack of scoring problematic for Blues again in 2-1 loss to Stars

14th time St. Louis has been held to one or fewer goals, now tied with Stars 

with 72 points for third in Central Division despite holding Dallas to 16 shots

By LOU KORAC
DALLAS -- It's a recurring theme, and one that if the Blues don't fix soon, and by soon, the NHL Trade Deadline, the playoffs will be in serious jeopardy.

Once again, the Blues played the kind of road game necessary to win. They limited the potent Dallas Stars to 16 shots on goal, which are the fewest shots allowed by the Blues in a game this season.

(St. Louis Blues photo)

Blues left wing Jaden Schwartz (17) battles with Stars center Martin Hanzal

during Friday's 2-1 Dallas victory at American Airlines Center.

But again, specifically for the 14th time, the Blues scored one or fewer goals in a game. It came back to bite them again in a crucial 2-1 loss to the Stars on Friday night at American Airlines Center.

The Blues (34-22-4), who dropped their third in a row, outshot Dallas 29-16 for the game, and native local boy Ben Bishop was there to thwart everything except for a late Brayden Schenn power-play goal with Jake Allen on the bench for a 6-on-4 goal. 

But as often has been the case, the lack of finish has been problematic, and it was again.

In the process, the Blues and Stars (34-20-4) are now tied for third place with 72 points each, five points behind first-place Nashville and Winnipeg, but more importantly, the Stars are technically ahead of the Blues with two games in hand.

"The effort was certainly there and I think puck possession-wise, we were doing a lot of good things, we generated some looks," said Blues coach Mike Yeo, whose Blues had more shot attempts than the Stars (65-37). "We hit some posts and we didn't finish, but we're not at the point where we should take too many positives from that. Those are things that we should do and we're capable of doing and now we've got to find a way to win these hockey games."

So what was lacking?

"I think more traffic, for one," Yeo said. "We still passed up on shots, and you look at the first goal they scored, and obviously it's a bouncer. We can say it's bad luck, but when you put more pucks at the net, then you're going to get some more of those opportunities and the second goal they scored, they got the net-front that I think we can do a better job of getting. It's a game that we could have won, but we didn't win. We have to look at it and we have to make sure that we win these close games."

Players were frustrated afterwards, especially knowing they threw plenty at the Stars but had nothing to show for it.

"We've said it before, you have to score goals to win hockey games," Schenn said, who scored with 1 minute 14 seconds to play. "Our goalies have been lights-out for us all year here, and Jake has a great game for us tonight and we're unable to get any run support for him. I don't have an answer for you. We have chances and we're unable to finish them."

And for Allen, who made 14 saves and was the unfortunate goalie to have two goals go in off his own players (the first by Carl Gunnarsson's leg and the second off Alex Pietrangelo's stick), the frustration was even more noticeable.

"They get two fluky-ass goals and we hit, I don't know how many posts, crossbars, skates," Allen said. "I know our forwards are frustrated because they played really well. I thought they did, threw a lot of things at the net. We just didn't get rewarded tonight. It's disappointing because points are so valuable right now. They threw two wacky pucks at the net, hit our players and go in the net. That's the way the game goes. It's unfortunate. I thought we played a better game than they did. Just couldn't get a bounce.

"... I thought we did a great job. We came into a tough building, it's a team that's playing well. I thought it was a good, solid game. Obviously beside the score, it was unfortunate. I know a lot of guys are frustrated in here because we played a good hockey game. We just couldn't catch a bounce."

Bishop, who was pulled in his last start after allowing four goals on 20 shots in a 6-0 loss to Vancouver last Sunday, was the best player on the ice according to Stars coach and former Blues coach Ken Hitchcock.

"The goalie was the best player in the game for either team," Hitchcock said. "And we looked like a team that had not played in the league for a week and got away with that part of it. We had some real gutty performances by some guys, especially on the back end."

Janmark's power-play goal at 2:42 of the second period gave Dallas a 1-0 lead. His centering pass to Jason Spezza was kicked by Blues defenseman Carl Gunnarsson in an attempt to block the pass.

Johns' slap shot from the right half wall beat Allen short side after the shot deflected off the stick of Blues defenseman Alex Pietrangelo at 10:33 of the third period for a 2-0 lead.

"It was going sort of the to the other side, almost at me and went glove side," Allen said. "It's the way she went tonight.

"It was sort of coming at me. I really didn't need to move. Just sort of went to the other side."

Even down two late, the Blues had a chance when John Klingberg was called for a four-minute high-sticking penalty on Vladimir Sobotka with 4:18 remaining. But the Blues generated little during the first two minutes before getting Allen to the bench and then getting plenty of opportunities at the net. 

Schenn's power-play goal with Allen pulled for an extra attacker at 18:46 of the third period made it 2-1 when he tucked in Jaden Schwartz's pass. But too little, too late, as the Blues made a few last gasps to tie to no avail.

(St. Louis Blues photo)

Blues defenseman Alex Pietrangelo (27) moves the puck past the Stars'

Devin Shore on Friday in Dallas.

"Power play got one at the end, I thought we had some chances tonight," Schenn said. "We were able to get one, good push at the end, unfortunate we didn't get a couple with the four-minute power play.

"This time of year, especially in this division, there's not going to be a whole lot of offense. It's so tight-checking, teams are so good in this division. Some nights you're going to get the bounces, tonight we didn't. It's frustrating that we lost the way we did, we played well, played hard, didn't give them a whole lot. Have to find ways to score goals and help our goalies out."