Takeaways: Despite Being Reduced To Four Defensemen, Blues Can’t Close Out Another Third Period Lead, Fall 4-3 In Overtime To Sabres

The good news for the St. Louis Blues is they were able to pick up a point.

But the win drought now sits at four games, and it happened in similar fashion: losing a third-period lead, and it led to a 4-3 overtime loss to the Buffalo Sabres at KeyBank Center on Thursday.

Brandon Saad scored twice, his first goals since scoring twice against the Winnipeg Jets on Oct. 22 (10 games), Pavel Buchnevich scored his first non empty-net goal in 14 games (Oct. 11 at the Vegas Golden Knights) and Brayden Schenn had two assists.

But ultimately, this game came down to the Blues (7-9-1) locking down another game in the third period and after being a perfect 5-for-5 in that role to begin the season, they have now lost two in a row (0-1-1) in that role.

Lets take a look at the three takeaways:

* Third periods are a problem — We all know what happened Tuesday when the Blues were outscored 3-0 and blew a 2-0 lead, their first such instance this season. And they were faced with it yet again on Thursday.

When Saad scored his second of the game on a goalmouth scramble of a loose puck at 17:15 of the second period for a 3-2 lead, the Blues had another lead to protect:

They didn’t just sit back and “play safe” like the players described on Tuesday. They in fact outshot the Sabres 8-6 in the third, and Jordan Kyrou had himself a chance to score a late winner but instead dented the left post with roughly four-and-a-half minutes left.

But what I didn’t like was the way the Blues defended leading up to Alex Tuch’s tying goal in the third period.

Watch how the Buchnevich line defends this, giving acres of space in the neutral zone for the easy zone entry. From there, the Sabres worked the puck well, and the game is tied 3-3 with 7:03 remaining.

And this, after the Blues got a reprieve when they were successful in winning a goalie interference challenge moments earlier when a goal scored by Zach Benson was negated by Benson’s infraction for interference:

Challenge Initiated By: St. Louis

Type of Challenge: Goaltender Interference

Result: Call on the ice is overturned – No goal Buffalo

Explanation:

Video review determined Buffalo’s Zach Benson impaired Jordan Binnington’s ability to play his position in the crease prior to Dylan Cozens’ goal. The decision was made in accordance with Rule 69.1 which states, in part, “Goals should be disallowed only if: (1) an attacking player, either by his positioning or by contact, impairs the goalkeeper’s ability to move freely within his crease or defend his goal.”

The broader issue for the Blues in the third period is they’re now a minus-9, outscored 23-14 in close-out periods, including 11-1 the past four games. Not good.

* Saad, Buchnevich scoring bodes well — Saad scored his first two goals in 10 games, and Buchnevich scored a beauty of a goal that tied the game 2-2 in the second period:

Scoring three 5-on-5 goals by top-end players is what the doctor ordered. The Blues need more of it moving forward.

* Injuries piling up — The Blues lost two defensemen to injuries in the game. First, P.O. Joseph went down with a lower-body injury in the second period and the Blues were reduced to five d-men. Then Scott Perunovich hurt himself in the third period, and unlike Joseph, he stayed on the bench but didn’t play.

It forced Ryan Suter (33:06) and Colton Parayko (30:37) to each log 30-plus minutes in the game.

Forwards Radek Faksa and Kasperi Kapanen each left the game momentarily but were able to return.

Hear what players, and coach Drew Bannister had to say following the game: