Three keys in Blues' 4-1 loss against Coyotes

The Blues just can't sustain any momentum off a win lately, and Saturday was another example in a 4-1 loss against the Arizona Coyotes at Mullett Arena.

This marks the sixth straight game in which the Blues (12-10-1) have alternated wins and losses, and trying to keep up with the pack of the Stanley Cup Playoffs won't get them there without any sort of consistency of winning more regularly.

The Blues had their opportunities, but it all came after falling behind by three goals.

 So how did this one break down? Let's take a look at three keys:

1. Another slow start, this time to open the game -- For the fifth time this season, the Blues allowed a goal within the first minute of a period. This time, it was Michael Carcone 40 seconds into the game that started an a downhill period for the visitors, falling behind 3-0 before trying to climb their way out.

 The Blues are 2-3 in such games this season, but starting off periods have been problematic.

The others included:

* Oct. 12 at Dallas, Jamie Benn, 18 seconds into the second period of 2-1 a shootout loss.

* Oct. 14 vs. Seattle, Jaden Schwartz, 40 seconds into second of 2-1 a shootout win.

* Nov. 16 at San Jose, William Eklund, 17 seconds into second of 5-1 loss.

* Nov. 22 at Arizona, Lawson Crouse, 22 seconds into second of 6-5 win.

It's not conducive to winning hockey, and a veteran team shouldn't have as many frequent games in such a short period of time with such lapses.

The Blues were not good from the opening puck drop, getting outshot 9-3 in the first period that started the slide.

2. Not enough finish off terrific chances -- Moving forward, the Blues created offense. 

They had 29 shots over the final 40 minutes but were not able to solve Connor Ingram, and the second period produced some high-quality scoring opportunities but the lack of finish combined with strong goaltending were not the right tonic.

The Blues won the corsi-for rating by a wide margin (77-45) but they had 19 shots blocked and missed the net 22 times, which is far too many.

3. Loosing too many face-offs means you're chasing the puck -- Part of the issue in that first period falling behind 3-0 was chasing the puck too much, and losing draws led to that part of the game.

The Blues were only 40 percent from the face-off dot, with only Robert Thomas (10-9) and Kevin Hayes (6-5) winning more than they lost.

Brayden Schenn (5-10), Oskar Sundqvist (4-8) and Nikita Alexandrov (1-4) were a combined 10-for-32, which amounts to a porous 31.2 percent and that's not going to get it done on winning nights.

Arizona maintained too much possession in the first resulting in the Blues chasing not only the puck but also the game.