Blues shut out by Jets in hotly contested game

By foxsports
Published

ST. LOUIS -- This season, the St. Louis Blues have dominated the second period, where they've outscored opponents 92-72.

But on Tuesday against the Winnipeg Jets, it proved their one weakness.

The Jets' Chris Thorburn, hovering near the Blues' crease, snuck a puck past Jake Allen to give Winnipeg the only goal for either team less than three minutes into the second period. Although it looked like Allen was screened by Blues defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk and Thornburn on the play, the goaltender took full responsibility.

"Should've had it," Allen said. "Should've had it."

It got worse.

The Blues' lone goal, a second-period shot by Paul Stastny coming down on the rush, was waved off by the officials after they determined Stastny slashed Winnipeg's Tyler Myers, who'd been defending him on the play. Myers' stick was definitely on the ice, and Stastny did touch it, but it looked like nothing more than typical stick play.

Blues coach Ken Hitchcock agreed with the call.

"It was a penalty," he said. "It was unfortunate, because Stastny made a great play to get open."

Stastny wasn't as sure that the call should have been made.

"I was just battling, I think, getting stick position, plain and simple," he said. "I thought nothing of it. I think if I thought I'd gone extremely hard, I would've been hesitant about it, or if I'd have broken his stick, I would have understood it's an easy call."

Watch the Blues Live pregame and postgame shows before and after every St. Louis Blues game on FOX Sports Midwest.

Stastny admitted he was surprised when the goal was called off, and maintained his innocence on the play.

"If it was a 50-50 where I felt a little guilty, I would have thought about it," he said.

"I got no comments about the refs," teammate T.J. Oshie said. "We can talk about something else."

The poor second-period performance, during which the Blues were outshot 17-8, followed a strong first period by the Blues against a Jets squad facing the second game of a back-to-back. In the first, the teams were virtually even in shots on goal, with the Jets generating 11 and the Blues 12. St. Louis found its rhythm again in the third period, with 10 shots on goal to the Jets' three, but couldn't solve Jets goalie Ondrej Pavelec.

"We had all the momentum after the first period. We played a great first period and we gave it back in the second," Hitchcock said. "The second period kind of gave them some hope and some life and gave them some energy. We had them really on their heels. They looked tired from playing last night."

This late in the season, there's little time to waste on regrets. 

"Get to practice tomorrow, regroup and go back on Thursday," Oshie said afterward. "There's big points left for us here."

HAT TRICK

• Referees under siege. The slashing call against Stastny wasn't the only one that raised eyebrows in Tuesday's game. Oshie got a four-minute high-sticking penalty in the second against Mark Stuart, which created some confusion on the ice.

"I thought, Oshie's penalty, from where I was standing, the ref called both guys initially, and didn't take both guys," Stastny said.

Fans booed the refs loudly for the rest of the second period and again when the referees skated out for the start of the third.

Then, during, a Blues power play later in the period, the Jets' Jim Slater hit David Backes high with his stick immediately after the faceoff. According to Stastny, Backes was bleeding afterward. No call was made.

• Shut out. Before Tuesday, the Blues' record against the Jets this season was 3-0-1. Their numbers were better when facing Jets goaltender Michael Hutchinson, who had only an .861 save percentage against them. But Pavelec, who beat the Blues once in a shootout this season, got the call for Winnipeg on Tuesday and proved perfect in net, stopping 30 shots. 

Oshie said the Blues had opportunities, but that some guys could've taken more shots.

"We had some power plays, some good chances," Oshie said. "Couple guys have to shoot the puck a little bit more. I'm probably at the top of that list."

"Both goalies were great," Hitchcock said. 

Hitchcock said previously he'll ride the hot hand when it comes to deciding whether Allen or Brian Elliott starts in net for the Blues this week; he declined Tuesday to discuss whether Allen will be in net Thursday against the Chicago Blackhawks. 

"I don't know," Hitchcock said. "Let's talk about that tomorrow."

You can follow Elisabeth Meinecke on Twitter at @lismeinecke or email her at ecmeinecke@gmail.com.