BLUES Though the lead changed three times in the first two periods, the St. Louis Blues were unable to hang on as the visiting Vegas Golden Knights pulled away to win 6-3 at Enterprise Center.
Jake Neighbours added his team-leading 10th goal of the season, reaching double digits for the first time in his young career. Kevin Hayes and Jordan Kyrou also scored, giving the Blues a 3-1 lead after the first period. Four goals in the second from Vegas - including three in a 2:36 span - flipped the momentum away from the Blues' favor.
Vegas' eight power plays - a single-game record for the young Golden Knights franchise - made the Blues' comeback efforts difficult. 18 of the Golden Knights' 49 shots on goal came on the power play, including 10 across four power plays in the first 12 minutes of the third period.
"We took too many penalties in the game - I think that was one of the biggest problems," said Craig Berube. "It was hard, a lot of killing burnt out a lot of guys tonight."
The Blues will look to clean up their penalties this weekend, traveling to Columbus and Chicago for a road back-to-back. After Saturday's matchup with the Blackhawks, the Blues will play six of their next eight games on home ice.
They'll visit the struggling Blue Jackets with a record of 13-11-1, worth 27 points and fifth in the Central Division.
BLUE JACKETS Among the youngest teams in the NHL, the Columbus Blue Jackets have struggled in the win column as they prioritize development and long-term growth. A nine-game (0-7-2) losing streak last month is the primary driver, as outside of that stretch the Blue Jackets have largely played solid hockey.
A tumultuous coaching search this offseason ultimately resulted in Pascal Vincent taking over this young roster, led by veterans Boone Jenner and Johnny Gaudreau. Out of Columbus' Top 7 point scorers this season, only Jenner and Gaudreau are over the age of 27. Defenseman Zach Werenski leads the Blue Jackets in points ahead of Thursday's games, with his 19 assists sharing fifth among all blue liners.
Wins over New Jersey and Boston coming out of the losing streak gives the Blue Jackets some hope going forward, as does the play of Blue Jackets rookies Adam Fantilli and Dmitri Voronkov. The two forwards both rank in the Top 10 in rookie scoring this year.
After falling 7-3 on Long Island to open a back-to-back, the Blue Jackets are coming off of three straight losses - the second being an overtime defeat against the Los Angeles Kings. Columbus had a 3-0 lead after two periods, but the Kings fought back for the overtime win at Nationwide Arena.
The Blue Jackets host the Blues with a record of 8-15-5, worth 21 points and eighth in the Metropolitan Division.
HEAD TO HEAD The Blues went 2-0-0 last season against Columbus, winning both games 5-2. The Blues are 5-0-0 against the Eastern Conference this season, the only perfect record in the West.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
BLUES Jordan Kyrou, who scored his second career hat trick in Columbus last season. Kyrou scored his fifth goal of the season on Wednesday night in highlight-reel fashion, up to 17 points this season.
BLUE JACKETS Adam Fantilli, the No. 3 overall pick in the 2023 NHL Draft. The 19-year-old forward shares second in rookie scoring with seven goals and eight assists for 15 total points this year.
BLUE NOTES
Wednesday night's 6-3 loss was just the second game the Blues lost when scoring at least three goals, now 10-2-0 in such games this season
The Blues are 30-for-34 (88.2%) on the penalty kill in road games this season, the third best mark in the NHL. Their five shorthanded goals in road games leads the League
Jordan Kyrou has two multi-point games in his last four, posting a goal and an assist on Wednesday night vs. Vegas
Jake Neighbours and Chicago's Connor Bedard are the only players in the NHL under the age of 22 leading their team in goals this season
Torey Krug's next assist will be No. 100 as a Blue
Jordan Binnington is just seven games away from matching Grant Fuhr for No. 4 on the Blues' all-time leaderboard for games played as a goaltender, playing his 242nd with the franchise on Wednesday night.
The St. Louis Blues hope to find some consistency when they visit the Columbus Blue Jackets on Friday night.
The Blues have alternated wins and losses in their past eight games.
On Wednesday, St. Louis had a chance to climb four games above .500 for the first time since the end of the 2021-22 season, but the Blues blew a 3-1 lead against the visiting Vegas Golden Knights and lost 6-3.
"We're going in spurts," Blues captain Brayden Schenn said. "We have big wins, and then we just can't seem to follow it up."
St. Louis posted back-to-back wins against the Anaheim Ducks and Arizona Coyotes to cap a four-game road trip, only to come home and get blown out by the Nashville Predators 8-3 on Nov. 24.
The Blues beat the Chicago Blackhawks on the road, but then lost to the Minnesota Wild, who had lost seven straight and fired their coach the day before.
A win at home against the Buffalo Sabres on Nov. 30 was soured by a loss on the road to the Coyotes. St. Louis then beat the Golden Knights in overtime on Monday before blowing the two-goal lead against them two days later.
"There's no sense in looking back at the past eight games," Schenn said. "We got a split with the Knights. We should have had four points, but now you look forward to the weekend against two teams that are below us in the standings. But, as we know, you don't take anyone lightly in this league and we need to find a way to grab four points this weekend."
The Blue Jackets are coming off a 7-3 loss against the New York Islanders on Thursday night. They lost their grip after surrendering three goals in the final 5:30 of the second period to fall behind 4-2.
That defeat came two days after Columbus blew a three-goal lead to start the third period against the visiting Los Angeles Kings in a 4-3 overtime loss.
On the bright side, Adam Fantilli had two goals and an assist against the Islanders. It was the first multi-goal game and first three-point game in the NHL for the third overall pick in the 2023 NHL Draft.
Fantilli said he felt comfortable on a line with Kent Johnson and Emil Bemstrom, who was recalled from Cleveland of the American Hockey League on Wednesday and scored against the Islanders.
"We're young guys, we're trying to prove ourselves still, and we know how hard we have to work," Fantilli said. "We're trying to do that; we're trying to help our team as much as possible."
Columbus played its most recent game without forward Patrik Laine, defenseman Erik Gudbranson and goalie Elvis Merzlikins because of illnesses, defenseman Adam Boqvist sat out with a shoulder strain, and center Cole Sillinger missed his fourth straight game with an upper-body injury.
Spencer Martin started in goal against the Islanders and stopped 29 of 36 shots in the first game of the back-to-back set.
Merzlikins was placed on injured reserve on Wednesday, putting 22-year-old Jet Greaves in line to make his second NHL start on Friday. Greaves was recalled from Cleveland when Merzlikins went on IR.
Greaves made his presence known in his only NHL start on April 4 of last season, setting franchise records in a goaltending debut for saves (46) and shots faced (49) in a 4-2 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs.
In addition to Greaves and Bemstrom, the Blue Jackets also recalled defenseman Nick Blankenburg on Wednesday and he made his season debut against New York.
