ST. LOUIS -- The Blues lost Game 5 in the second period.
A strong start and a powerful push in the third weren't enough to fill the hole they dug for themselves in the middle frame, where the Minnesota Wild scored twice to go up 3-1.
The Blues got on the board first Friday -- a fantastic power-play goal less than halfway through the initial period from Vladimir Tarasenko, set up beautifully by a pass from Alexander Steen across the Minnesota crease. But moments later, when a clearing attempt by the Blues ended up going right to Jared Spurgeon's stick in the neutral zone, the Wild seized their opportunity. Spurgeon sent the puck to Marco Scandella, who came in on the rush, and his one-timer beat Blues goaltender Jake Allen to tie the game 1-1 in the first.
Despite finishing that first period with 12 shots on goal to the Wild's three, the Blues never quite recovered.
"We had a little bit of a lull. I didn't think we responded as hard as we could have maybe when they scored their first goal," Blues coach Ken Hitchcock said. "That gave them a little bit of wind."
The Wild took it and sailed. With 5:09 left in the second, all of defenseman Zbynek Michalek's efforts on Chris Stewart along the board in the Blues' zone weren't enough to knock Stewart off the puck. His pass to Nino Niederreiter, hovering between the two faceoff dots at center ice, was precise, and Neiderreiter's shot on goal equally deadly. In addition to scoring a goal on the power play less than two minutes later, the Wild outshot the Blues 13-6 in the second. Meanwhile, their goaltender Devan Dubnyk helped ensure none of the Blues' 19 shots in the third went in.
In the end, that may have been the most discomfiting thing. The Blues had chances Friday throughout the game. They just couldn't bury them.
"We've gotta score more," Hitchcock said, "We've gotta finish on these chances that we get. You can't get the three, four chances in the second period in a series where their goalie's playing really well, you can't get those chances and not finish them and expect to win."
The cost of not finishing them, in addition to losing 4-1, is playing Game 6 as an elimination game on the road in Minnesota. Should the Blues win, they'll have to survive a second elimination game Wednesday at home.
HAT TRICK
• Jake takes responsibility. Despite not allowing more than two goals in 12 consecutive games going into Friday, St. Louis' rookie goaltender didn't take it easy on himself postgame after letting in four goals on 19 shots.
"I should have stopped them," Allen said. "Not good enough on my part."
• Penalty killing. Less than a minute after the Wild scored their second goal of the night and went up 2-1 in the second period, Blues defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk was whistled for interference. His team surrendered a goal on the penalty kill under a minute later. Admittedly, the goal was fluky -- it looked like a redirect off defenseman Jay Bouwmeester's skate, and Allen appeared to misjudge the puck with his stick, sending it into the net.
But, fluky or not, the Blues' penalty kill is trending in the wrong direction. Minnesota now features the most productive power play in the postseason at 36.4 percent. Although the Blues' penalty kill was cumulatively the NHL's best from January through the end of the regular season, it's now at the bottom of the league among postseason teams, and its immediate company isn't fortuitous -- the three teams just above them are Vancouver, Winnipeg and Montreal. Vancouver is one game away from elimination, Winnipeg is out and Montreal, though they were once up 3-0 against Ottawa, have dropped their past two games.
• Tarasenko. It's becoming difficult to write a Blues game story without mentioning Tarasenko, who scored the Blues' only goal Friday. He leads the entire NHL in postseason goals currently with six, and has now tied Shattenkirk and Anaheim's Corey Perry for the overall lead in points at seven. The only game he hasn't managed a point for the Blues this postseason was their 3-0 loss in Minnesota on Monday.
You can follow Elisabeth Meinecke on Twitter at @lismeinecke or email her at ecmeinecke@gmail.com
