The St. Louis Blues had a chance to keep their momentum rolling Tuesday night, but the New York Rangers shut that down with a 3-1 win that snapped the Blues’ three-game streak.
St. Louis generated 33 shots and got a solid night in net from Joel Hofer, but the second period once again told the story.
The Rangers struck first in the middle frame, and the Blues never fully recovered from there. The loss also fit a frustrating pattern for St.
Louis, which now sits at a goal difference of 12-20 and keeps running into trouble in the second period.
If there was one bright spot, it came from Pius Suter. He was the only Blue able to beat Rangers goaltender Dylan Garand, scoring his fourth goal of the season. It wasn’t enough to change the outcome, but it kept the Blues from being blanked in a game that was close to becoming their third shutout loss in five games.
The biggest issue, though, was the power play. St.
Louis went 0/6 with the man advantage, and that’s a brutal number in a game where the opportunities were there. After the power play looked a little sharper in the Boston win, going 2/3, this was a sharp step backward.
The Rangers have a strong penalty kill, but six chances should have produced something.
The Blues also needed more from their top six, and they didn’t get it. In a matchup where that group was expected to drive the offense, it came up empty.
The Rangers’ top six is dangerous, but St. Louis has speed and shooting ability of its own, and that edge never really showed up.
The second-line battle, in particular, was a miss. Mason McTavish was supposed to be able to outmatch Rangers captain J.T.
Miller, but that impact never came. McTavish finished with a team-low -3, and that was a big part of how the game tilted.
Hofer deserves credit even in defeat. He stopped 28 of 30 shots and was not the problem for St.
Louis. He was simply beaten by a strong performance from Garand.
Hofer drops to 6-4-1 on the season, and while this was a tough result, it was hardly a night where the Blues’ goaltending let them down. Jordan Binnington has had a rough start, and if he had been in net, there is no guarentee that a different result would have occured.
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