St. Louis Blues Kevin Shattenkirk leaves the ice, bloody and holding his arm after an altercation in the third period against the Colorado Avalanche at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis on April 5, 2014. Colorado won the game 4-0. UPI/Bill Greenblatt
Jaden Schwartz scored less than two minutes into the game and Vladimir Sobotka scored with 2:02 left in regulation for the Blues (52-19-7), but the offensive struggles continued in losses on both ends of a weekend back-to-back against the teams directly behind them in the Central. The Blues lost 4-2 Sunday at Chicago, after dropping a 4-0 loss at home to Colorado on Saturday.
St. Louis (111 points), has four games left to catch the Boston Bruins (113) in the chase for the Presidents’ Trophy. The Blues have scored two or fewer goals in eight of their previous 11 games.
Chicago’s Jeremy Morin scored a goal and an assist. Patrick Sharp scored his 33rd goal, Marcus Kruger made it 3-1 early in the third and Ben Smith capped it scoring into an empty net to seal it for the Blackhawks (45-19-15).
On Saturday, Colorado rallied with three goals in the first 10:25 of the second period, scored by Paul Stastny, Nathan MacKinnon and Nick Holden, gave the Avalanche the lead, and Semyon Varlamov made 31 saves in a 4-0 victory against the Blues.
Blues coach Ken Hitchcock does not like the trend.
“For me, it’s inactivity on the power play,” said Ken Hitchcock said after this 0-for-4 game. “When you’re not scoring goals, it puts a lot of pressure on a lot of areas. To me, it’s getting our best players, helping them along to get them to play better at this time of year.”
The Blues host Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals on Tuesday.