3 Takeaways from Blues 6-3 loss to Golden Knights

The St. Louis Blues fell victim to the vengeful Vegas Golden Knights 6-3 on Wednesday, Dec. 6, in St. Louis. The Blues recently prevailed at Vegas 2-1 in overtime on Monday.

William Karlsson, Jack Eichel and Jonathan Marchessault each scored their 12th goal of the season for Vegas.

It was also the 200th goal of Marchessault’s career. The 32-year-old became one of Vegas’ original franchise players after scoring 30 goals for the Florida Panthers during the 2016-17 season.

With the win, Vegas (17-5-5) remains in the early lead for the President’s Trophy with 39 points. While the Blues (13-11-1) remain fifth in the Central Division standings with 27 points, two points behind the Arizona Coyotes (29).

Here are three takeaways from the Blues loss over the Golden Knights:

__Like a good Neighbours, St. Louis’ offense was there__

After Zach Whitecloud scored the first goal of the game for the Golden Knights, Jake Neighbours responded with a goal of his own one minute later to tie the game 1-1. It was Neighbours’ 10th on the season. The Blues added two more goals from Kevin Hayes and Jordon Kyrou to enter intermission with a 3-1 lead.

Unfortunately for the Blues, the offense was unsustainable.

“We just got away from our gameplan,” Blues center Brayden Schenn said, “got away from what was working in the first period.”

__The champs strike back__

The Golden Knights dished out payback in a big way during the second period with four goals from four different scorers to take a 5-3 lead. After Marchessault tied the game 3-3, Keegan Kolsar tipped in the go-ahead goal 27 seconds later. After a penalty for too many men on the ice by the Blues, Michael Amadio scored the Knights’ final goal of the period with only 18 seconds remaining.

“Just kind of mental breakdowns,” Blues goalie Jordan Binnington said, “some not so strong plays on our own end and then some penalties. It’s tough because we had a two-goal lead.”

__Killed by penalties__

Boos filled the Enterprise Center throughout the third period with fans voicing their displeasure with each St. Louis penalty. The Golden Knights were given seven power plays, which led to two of their four goals in the second period.

The Golden Knights were awarded with eight power plays throughout the game and converted on three of them. With four penalties in the third period, it was nearly impossible for the Blues to mount a two-goal comeback when constantly in penalty kill mode.

“We killed so much in the third,” Blues head coach Craig Berube said. “It really took a lot of guys out of the game. It’s taxing on guys that are killing.”

__Looking ahead__

The last eight game have seen the Blues alternate between winning and losing. Meanwhile, Central Division rivals are beginning to string together wins and create separation in the standings.

The Blues go on the road on Thursday at Columbus and then Chicago on Friday.

“We need to control what we can control,” Blues defenseman Nick Leddy said. “I don’t think looking at the standings helps at all. I think we got to focus on what’s in here … I think we all know how good we play when we do play consistent.”