Mistakes costly for Blues in 4-1 loss to Penguins

Crosby scores twice, including 400th in his career, turnovers by 

Dunn, Pietrangelo in third difference after St. Louis had goal overturned

By LOU KORAC
ST. LOUIS -- Mistakes can be defining moments. They go a long way in determining wins or losses. 

The Pittsburgh Penguins, those of the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion variety, pounce on them, and the Blues obliged by serving up two costly ones in the third period, and trying to build momentum against an elite team, those mistakes were crucial in a 4-1 loss to the Penguins on Sunday before 18,975 at Scottrade Center.

(St. Louis Blues photo)

Blues defenseman Robert Bortuzzo (41) checks Penguins center Sidney

Crosby during Pittsburgh's 4-1 win on Sunday.

The Blues (34-21-3), playing their third game in basically three and a half days, looked the part. It was evident that this was a tired team as the period wore on and made tired mistakes.

Vince Dunn made the most critical one when his cross-ice pass from the right side to partner Robert Bortuzzo was picked off by Bryan Rust, who beat Jake Allen on a breakaway five-hole at 1 minute 5 seconds of the third period, and Alex Pietrangelo had his pocket picked behind the net moving it and Riley Sheahan scored when Dominik Simon made the play at 11:13.

Game. Set. Match.

"I thought that was the difference in the game," Blues coach Mike Yeo said. "They showed why they've won a couple Cups in the last couple years, the way that they manage the puck and the urgency that they had not to turn pucks over and the way that they created them on us.

"That's a team that with their forecheck, the way that they use their sticks, the way that they poach, if you're not executing, then it's gonna lead to scoring chances against. And we saw that."

In front of a national television audience on NBC leading up to Winter Olympic coverage, the Blues teetered out. Trying to put together another strong performance after back-to-back wins over Colorado (6-1 on Thursday) and Winnipeg (5-2 on Friday) was unrealistic.

"You could say three games in three days or whatever, it doesn't matter," Pietrangelo said. "Every team does that every weekend, so we've got to find a way to get through that."

The Blues were in good shape in this game, tied 1-1 after two periods against a superior team. 

"Yeah. I thought it was good game," right wing Alexander Steen said.

And the Blues even had the early jump and thought they took a 2-1 lead when Pietrangelo's shot beat Matt Murray 31 seconds into the period. But upon further review, Paul Stastny, playing in his 800th NHL game, redirected the shot off the cross bar, down and in with a high stick. A short replay overturned a called goal on the ice.

Thirty-four seconds later, Dunn's costly turnover was in the back of the Blues' net off Rust's stick when he read the play, intercepted the pass through the middle and beat Allen, who made 19 saves, five-hole.

"I have no idea. I don't know," Pietrangelo said of the overturned goal. "I don't even know what happened. Did Paul tip it? I have no idea. We don't usually get those calls."

"Yeah it was obviously tough, but we had a couple of good shifts following up from that. Again, you get 1-1 halfway through the third, you just can't make those mistakes."

Pietrangelo seemed a bit casual with the puck, pushed it a bit ahead of himself not realizing that there was backside pressure, and Simon got inside of him, got a stick on the puck and centered to Sheahan, who curled around Allen and beat him past his right pad to ice the game. for all intents and purposes.

"That's how they live and die, that's how they win Stanley Cups," Allen said. "That's why they're so good. They wait for teams to make mistakes, we coughed a couple nice ones up and mistakes happen. Tough time.

"I think tonight was probably our worst game in a couple weeks to be honest. I think if you ask anyone, our execution was poor, but that break would have been nice to go our way. I didn't really see it from my end. It's the league that called it. It's the way the game goes. We didn't really bounce back the way we should have."

Sidney Crosby, who scored his 400th career goal to tie the game in the first after Kyle Brodziak gave the Blues a 1-0 lead, scored his second into an empty-net with 2:48 remaining to help Pittsburgh improve to 31-22-4.

The Blues had the early life and scored at 3:10 of the second when Brodziak converted a 2-on-1 with Chris Thorburn. 

But before the Blues had time to celebrate and play with the momentum, Crosby tied the game 21 seconds later, from the goal line, off a bad angle, squeezing it inside the near post by Allen and under his blocker.

"I still don't know how it trickled in, it seemed like it took forever, but it's been a long 10 games too," Crosby said. "It's nice to see one go in.

"You're trying to put it in, in that area short side. Sometimes there's a little bit of room there on the post there, sometimes there's not. Somehow it kind of found its way in."

Allen said he thought he had the post sealed off.

"That's why he's the best player in the world," Allen said of Crosby. "I would never play that any differently. He's one helluva smart player.

"That's a pretty good shot."

But it was a momentum-zapper.

(St. Louis Blues photo)

Penguins right wing Ryan Reaves acknowledges the crowd upon his return

to St. Louis for the first time since being traded last summer.

"I can tell you that I've seen that player do that an awful lot of times," Yeo said of Crosby. "He scores goals from the goal line, from below the goal line. He's obviously got his head up and has an ability to look for spots.

"It can be (a momentum-breaker). Through two periods I think we were pretty happy with the way things were going. We even had some looks in the third, we had some pressure. Their goalie made some big saves at big times. And again, we made some mistakes that cost us the game. We obviously have to understand the importance of that. In Winnipeg, we had a great response and scored a big goal after them scoring. But those are critical times, critical moments in the game."

The win for the Penguins marked a triumphant return for Penguins right wing Ryan Reaves, who returned to St. Louis for the first time since the Blues traded him at the 2017 NHL Draft on June 23.

"Yeah, it was fun," Reaves said. "Obviously special with the video, but saw a lot of signs out there, a lot of love, so it was a fun day.

"Yeah, it was great. Obviously I really appreciate that. It was fun seeing that and obviously fans showed me some love, so I had a good time. ... Almost. (The video tribute) almost got to me, but I try not to be too emotional. So yeah, a little bit."