Three Takeaways From Blues' 4-1 Loss In opposition to Hurricanes

The primary interval was so good for the St. Louis Blues, one nearly received a way that they even deserved a better lead than one.

Effectively, not solely did they not lead by one, they had been tied, and every little thing was finished in by the final minute of 1 interval and the primary minute of the subsequent.

Andrei Svechnikov and Eric Robinson scored twice inside a 42-second span, and Martin Necas prolonged his level streak to 13 video games to gasoline the Carolina Hurricanes’ come-from-behind 4-1 win in opposition to the Blues at Lenovo Middle on Sunday.

The Blues (8-10-1) had been coming off a 3-2 additional time win on the Boston Bruins on Saturday, whereas Carolina (13-4-0) is coming off a 4-0 win on residence ice in opposition to the Ottawa Senators on Saturday, however after a terrific begin to the sport, it turned in a second’s discover.

Let’s take a look at the takeaways from this one:

* Nice first interval derailed by penalty — The Blues had been crisp, they had been buzzing within the early going.

Carolina, which got here in 6-1-0 at residence this season, wasn’t anticipating St. Louis to return with the fury it did.

The Blues had the sport’s first six photographs and took a 1-0 lead when Jake Neighbours was the recipient of some stable stick-checking by Justin Faulk, Pavel Buchnevich after which Jordan Kyrou, who fed Neighbours within the slot for the end at 6:05:

The Blues had been relentless, in Carolina’s face. Nearly enjoying the Hurricanes’ sport. They saved that going all through till Oskar Sundqvist took a impartial zone holding penalty on Jackson Blake with 59.2 seconds left.

It took all of the momentum and wind out of the Blues’ sails as a result of in a interval once they had possibilities to pad the lead by two, possibly three targets, Carolina tied it simply 35 seconds into the facility play when Svechnikov redirected a pinpoint Necas cross off the left facet of the half wall by Joel Hofer:

So as an alternative of feeling good about the way in which they performed in a troublesome barn and having a lead, it was 1-1 and time to regroup, one thing the Blues do not deal with properly at instances.

They actually did not come out with a objective to start the second when Eric Robinson, who had a aim and two assists, put Carolina forward for good at 2-1 simply 17 seconds into the second when he scored from the slot.

Hofer did not deal with the breakout cross properly, lacking Ryan Suter off the mark, then kicked out a juicy rebound of Dmitri Orlov’s long-range shot for Robinson to complete.

* Missed alternatives — Now in a well-recognized place chasing the sport, the Blues continued to get possibilities.

Jordan Kyrou, Pavel Buchnevich, Dylan Holloway, Brandon Saad, Alexey Toropchenko, all with Grade A scoring alternatives. Some are paid to complete, some are in these positions by sheer laborious work.

However as has bee typically the case, lack of end simply plagues this crew.

Pyotr Kochetkov made 29 saves within the sport, however I did not really feel just like the Blues made his life tough, and the lone energy play the Blues received within the sport was an unmitigated catastrophe with no photographs on aim, nor any shot makes an attempt.

One other alternative to tie the sport with a person benefit aim and nothing comes from it, not even a sliver of momentum. There is a cause they’re twenty ninth within the league in power-play effectivity (13.6 %).

* Martin Necas one-man wrecking crew — Bear in mind when the Hurricanes had been taking fliers on Necas in the summertime, providing up the twelfth choose within the 2017 NHL Draft, and we wrote in this space why the Blues should unequivocally should be all-in on the 25-year-old?

Ahh, properly. Would have been a pleasant acquisition of a participant to suit proper into the mould and material of how they’re making an attempt to construct right here. But when the Blues had been in a position to make that transfer, relying on what the Hurricanes wished, would they’ve bee in a position to pull off the double offer-sheet strikes for Philip Broberg and Dylan Holloway? We’ll by no means know and that is a dialog for one more day, however on at the present time, and in current weeks, Necas has been torturing the league.

He had two targets and two assists on Sunday, giving him 27 factors (10 targets, 17 assists) in a 13-game level streak. His final sport with out a level: Oct. 19 in a 4-3 loss in opposition to the Blues at Enterprise Middle.

Necas scored to make it 3-1 at 12:25 of the second off a misplaced puck within the offensive zone and a damaged play the place the puck lay there for a shooter:

He scored off a depraved shot from a face-off set play at 16:47 of the third interval to make it 4-1:

The Blues completed the street journey 1-1-1 and return residence for 2 video games earlier than hitting the street for 3 to the New York space previous to Thanksgiving.

Here is what coach Drew Bannister, Neighbours and Holloway needed to say postgame: