In another chance to win third straight game, Blues fall flat in 4-2 loss to Utah

Matthew DeFranks, St. Louis Post-Dispatch on Jan 18, 2025

Published in Hockey

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SALT LAKE CITY — It's a bad punchline for the Blues at this point in the season.

Who's the only team in the NHL without a three-game win streak? The Blues.

The Blues missed another chance on Saturday night in Utah, losing 4-2 to damper the good vibes built after wins over the Flames on Tuesday and Thursday. St. Louis dropped to 0-7-1 this season with a chance to win three games in a row.

Tyler Tucker and Jake Neighbours (power play) scored for the Blues, and Jordan Binnington made 29 saves.

Saturday was the third time since Christmas that the Blues squandered a chance to win three in a row. They lost to Buffalo on Dec. 29 to halt momentum. They lost Jan. 4 in Columbus to ruin another chance. Then came Saturday against a Utah team the Blues are battling in the standings.

The Blues conclude a brief two-game trip in Vegas on Monday afternoon.

Thomas and Buchnevich benched in first

Blues top-line forwards Robert Thomas and Pavel Buchnevich were benched for the final 9:29 of the first period after Utah took a 3-1 lead. Clayton Keller’s goal came with the top line on the ice, and Thomas was on the ice for all three Utah goals in the first period.

Neighbours, the third member of that top line, received his only shift after the Keller goal when the Blues went on the power play in the final 13 seconds of the first.

In the second period, Blues coach Jim Montgomery shuffled his lines constantly, and that included swapping Buchnevich with Zack Bolduc, putting Buchnevich on the third line with Oskar Sundqvist and Mathieu Joseph. The Blues moved the pieces around all period, and eventually landed back at Neighbours-Thomas-Buchnevich for the final few shifts of the second.

Of course it’s Keller

St. Louis native Keller has always performed well against his hometown team, but Saturday was a new chapter against the Blues. Keller tied a career high with four points, and piled on to the point-per-game pace that entered Saturday against the Blues.

Keller had three points in the first period alone, and added an assist on Logan Cooley’s goal in the second period. Keller now has 34 points in 30 career games against the Blues.

Keller had the secondary assist on Michael Kesselring’s power play goal that tied the game at 1 at 6:06 of the first period. He found Nick Schmaltz open on the back door for a tap-in 2 1/2 minutes later, as Cam Fowler veered just far enough from the crease to allow Schmaltz open ice.

Schmaltz is also a Blues killer, as he entered Saturday night with 35 points in 34 games against St. Louis.

Then Keller scored himself with 9:29 left in the first period, scoring on a delayed penalty after Neighbours appeared to be called for hooking or tripping Logan Cooley. Cooley maintained possession on the ice, and then found Keller to open up a 3-1 lead for Utah.

The Blues were outshot 17-6 in the first period, a minus-11 margin that was tied for the second-worst in a first period for St. Louis this season.

Tucker’s one-two combo

Tucker scored his second goal of the year and got into his third fight of the season on the same shift in the first period. Tucker flung home a point shot after a won faceoff from Sundqvist, scoring before Connor Ingram even got set. At the same time as Tucker’s point shot, Utah forward Liam O’Brien threw his stick aside, expecting a fight with Tucker.

Instead, Sundqvist won the draw to Tucker, and he scored on an unsuspecting Ingram just 2:05 into the first to give the Blues a 1-0 lead.

On the ensuing faceoff at center ice, O’Brien was cross-checking Blues forward Nathan Walker before puck drop, and then discarded the mitts for a tilt with Tucker. Tucker drove O’Brien into the boards in front of the Utah bench, and left him bleeding from his forehead.

The game was 2:08 old, and Tucker was just an assist away from registering a Gordie Howe hat trick. It was Tucker’s first NHL game with a goal and a fight. He now has four points in his last five games.