A great road start for the Blue Jackets turned into a disastrous finish in a stinging 5-3 loss to the St. Louis Blues on Oct. 10 at Enterprise Center.
Despite leading 2-0 after the first period, the Blue Jackets(2-2-0) lost all of their momentum in a brutal second period and were outscored 5-1 over the final 40 minutes by the Blues (2-2-1), who scored four goals on 26 shots against goalie Jet Greaves.
Pavel Buchnevich scored into an empty net to seal it for the Blues with 43 seconds left.
Jimmy Snuggerud scored two goals and Dylan Holloway finished with three assists to lead the Blues, who started Jordan Binnington (20 saves) in net. Valeri Nichushkin, Kent Johnson and Cole
Sillinger scored goals for the Blue Jackets, who started their first back-to-back with a 3-2 shootout win over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Oct. 9 at Nationwide Arena.
Jake Neighbors and Jonatan Berggren also scored goals for the Blues, who got balanced scoring with points from 10 players.
Sillinger's goal pulled the Blue Jackets even at 3-3 with a goal 6:51 into the third period, but Berggren cleaned up a scramble in front of Greaves just 2:42 later to put the Blues back in front 4-3 with what turned out to be the deciding goal.
After falling behind 2-0 on Blue Jackets goals by Nichushkin and Johnson late in the first period, the Blues stormed back in the second with three unanswered goals by Neighbors and Snuggerud to lead 3-2 starting the third. Snuggerud scored back-to-back goals just 3:30 apart to tie it 2-2 and put St. Louis in front.
The first period couldn't have gone much better for the Blue Jackets, who carried over their strong possession game from a 3-2 shootout win over the Pittsburgh Penguins 24 hours earlier at Nationwide Arena to build a 2-0 lead against the Blues.
Nichushkin opened the scoring with 3:50 left in the first, scoring from the Blues' crease when a puck shot by Sean Monahan deflected off him and into the net. Monahan was initially credited with the goal in his 900th NHL game, but replays gave the goal to Nichushkin and assists to Monahan and Erik Gudbranson, whose backhanded feed into the low slot sparked the play.
That looked like it might be the only goal in the first, but Johnson gave the Blue Jackets a 2-0 lead with just 12 seconds left on the clock. Taking a pass from Adam Fantilli on a late rush, Johnson skated the puck into the left circle for a wrist shot that beat Binnington cleanly over the shoulder on the far side.
Johnson's second goal of the season gave the Jackets an added boost heading into the locker room at the first intermission, but their ugly second period squandered all of it.
Dispatch Blue Jackets/Crew reporter Brian Hedger can be reached at bhedger@dispatch.com
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus Blue Jackets squander lead in 5-3 loss to St. Louis Blues
