Blues' power play struggles continue in loss to Utah

ST. LOUIS — The Utah Hockey Club made its inaugural appearance at St. Louis on Thursday, Nov. 7, and celebrated the historic occasion with a 4-2 win over the Blues.

“I think we’re still sloppy with the puck,” Blues forward Brandon Saad said. “They do a good job of clogging up the neutral zone. They got the speed and skill going the other way. So I think we got stubborn with it and didn’t get pucks in deep.”

Colton Parayko and Jordan Kyrou continue to swing a hot stick for St. Louis. Kyrou scored his fifth goal of the season and found the net for the third consecutive game. Parayko also scored his fourth goal of the season and third in three games.

However, as a team, the Blues couldn’t pull the trigger on offense, having only 15 shots on goal against Utah’s 31.

“The first thing that stood out to me was our forecheck,” Blues head coach Drew Bannister said. “We didn’t put pucks into areas where we were able to get pressure on it. When we did, our second guy was late arriving and it was just too easy for (Utah) to break out.”

The Blues had plenty of opportunities to score with three power plays, but came up empty-handed each time. The Blues had two first-period power plays, including a two-man advantage for 26 seconds. They also had three minutes of power-play time early in the second period after a fight between Pierre-Olivier Joseph and Utah’s Maveric Lamoureux, but didn’t even get a shot on goal.

Entering the game, the Blues were at the bottom of the NHL in power-play goals and 30th in power-play percentage.

“We have one power play a game. Of course, we’re not going to score,” Blues forward Pavel Buchnevich said. “It doesn’t have a feeling. It doesn’t have confidence. If we got two or three a game, or four, maybe you generate something, get momentum.”

The Blues are 5-5 when the opponent scores first, a trend that has been continuous since their 5-1 win at Toronto on Oct. 24. Michael Kesselring gave Utah an instant 1-0 lead 18 seconds into the game with wrist shot, assisted by St. Louis native Clayton Keller.

“I think our brains were turned off for whatever reason, I don’t know why,” Bannister said. “That play should not have happened.”

After Parayko’s goal tied the game in the first period, Utah responded in the second with Matias Maccelli scoring a goal and the defense holding St. Louis to only two shots.

Kyrou’s goal made it a 2-all game late in the third period, but Utah took control with the go-ahead goal from Dylan Guenther, his seventh of the season. Guenther capitalized on a drop pass attempt from Kyrou that was tipped.

“I’ve just got to be more direct there,” Kyrou said. “Time of the game there, I’ve just got to put that deep.”

Jack McBain later scored on an empty-netter from the opposite end of the ice in the game’s closing seconds.

St. Louis goalie Joel Hofer had 27 saves in his second loss of the season. Utah goaltender Connor Ingram only needed to stop 13 shots for win No. 6.

The Blues’ homestand continues Saturday, as they host Washington.