ST. LOUIS — A slow start again doomed the Blues during a 7-4 loss to the Mammoth on Thursday night at Enterprise Center.

The Blues fell behind 4-0 in the first period, a hole big enough to withstand a Blues rally in the final 40 minutes against visiting Utah. The loss was the Blues' third on a four-game homestand, and dropped them to 3-3-1 on the season.

Pius Suter, Pavel Buchnevich, Nathan Walker and Philip Broberg scored for the Blues. Joel Hofer was pulled after giving up three goals, and Jordan Binnington allowed three in his 51 minutes of action.

Logan Cooley had a natural hat trick in the first period for Utah, and Clayton Keller (twice, including an empty-netter) and Ian Cole also scored for the Mammoth.

The Blues next go on the road for games in Detroit (Saturday) and Pittsburgh (Monday).

Hofer’s struggles continue

Hofer was pulled for the second straight game after allowing three goals on six shots in less than eight minutes. He allowed seven goals on 22 shots last week in a loss to the Blackhawks. In the two starts, Hofer’s save percentage is .643 and his goals against average is 10.77.

Unlike the loss against Chicago, Hofer was not re-inserted in the game as Binnington played the remainder of the game after Hofer was yanked at 7:57 after Cooley’s second goal of the night.

Hofer didn’t even make a save before he found himself behind again.

At 3:18 of the first period, Cole beat Hofer between his legs while falling down as he was cross-checking by Brayden Schenn. It was Cole’s first goal of the season, and Utah was just onside entering the offensive zone as Dylan Guenther barely kept his skate on the blue line as J.J. Peterka carried the puck over the blue line.

The Mammoth struck again at 6:07 with Cooley’s first goal of the night, a clapper from the slot that whizzed by Hofer. Dylan Holloway lost a battle on the boards with John Marino, who slid the puck to Peterka. Logan Mailloux deflected Peterka’s intended pass to Guenther, but Guenther teed it up for Cooley to rip.

Cooley made it 3-0 Mammoth at 7:57 to chase Hofer. Cooley was on the business end of a 3-on-1 for Utah after a litany of mistakes by the Blues. Mailloux jumped into the neutral zone after the Blues won a puck off a faceoff in the defensive zone. But Suter’s pass missed him, and Mailloux was stuck up ice as the puck went the other way. Suter then missed his check at the blue line as Nick Bjugstad (only on the ice for the faceoff) skated to the bench. Jimmy Snuggerud replaced him, but the change was too late to catch Cooley.

Making it interesting

The Blues made a push at the start of the second period despite trailing 4-0. They had the first five shots on goal of the period, and that included goals from Suter and Buchnevich.

Suter scored about six minutes into the period, pounding a rebound of Colton Parayko’s shot at the side of the net. It was Suter’s third goal of the year, and was kickstarted by Parayko’s pinch to keep possession alive in the offensive zone.

But it was what happened after the play that could have gotten the Blues back in the game.

As Nathan Walker skated to his teammates to celebrate the goal, he brushed Mikhail Sergachev. Sergachev retaliated by cross-checking Walker, setting off a brouhaha below the goal line. In the end, Walker and Tyler Tucker were given roughing calls, while Sergachev (cross-checking), Lawson Crouse (roughing) and Michael Carcone (roughing) were penalized for Utah.

The Blues scored on the ensuing power play, with Buchnevich’s first goal of the season.

Robert Thomas’ initial shot on Karel Vejmelka from the bottom of the circle rattled Vejmelka’s mask. Vejmelka shook it loose and looked to the officials for a whistle. Buchnevich’s shot sailed past him moments later.

According to Rule 9.6 of the NHL rulebook, once a goalie’s mask comes off: “When the opposing team has control of the puck, play shall only be stopped if there is no immediate and impending scoring opportunity.”

The back-breaker for the Blues came with 35.6 seconds remaining in the second period, when Keller torched his hometown team once again. He joined the rush and lasered a shot past Binnington to give Utah a 5-2 lead. Suter lost Keller in transition, and the play came after both Cam Fowler and Parayko were caught outside the dots in the neutral zone.

Sundqvist both up and down

Blues forward Oskar Sundqvist returned to the lineup on Thursday night after missing the first six games with a lower-body injury, but had an inauspicious first period of his season. Sundqvist was whistled for two penalties on the same shift, the second one leading to Cooley’s third goal of the evening.

At 8:16 of the period, Sundqvist was called for holding Brandon Tanev in the neutral zone. The Blues killed that penalty, and 18 seconds after he was released from the penalty box, Sundqvist was assessed a tripping penalty for upending Peterka.

It took Utah 16 seconds into that power play to cash in to make it 4-0, as Guenther tipped Mikhail Sergachev’s point shot at the net-front, and Cooley stuffed home the rebound past Binnington.

Sundqvist did, though, assist on two third-period goals. He factored in on Walker's goal at 2:19 on a goal that cut the Utah lead to 5-3. Then he picked up a primary assist on Broberg's wraparound goal at 5:43 of the third period that made it 5-4, Utah.

©2025 STLtoday.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.