Two goals by Conor Garland in the first period put the St Louis Blues in a recently familiar position: an early deficit they wouldn’t covercome, as the Blues fell to the Vancouver Canucks 5-2 on Monday, Jan. 27 at Enterprise Center.

Garland tipped in his 12th goal of the season within the first three minutes of the contest, then sent a wrist shot past Jordan Binnington during a power play to make the score 2-0. The power play came after the Blues unsuccessfully challenged the officials’ decision to disallow a goal by Tyler Tucker. JT Miller landed the ultimate game winner on another power play during the second period, set up by Quinn Hughes’ 42nd assist of the season. That third goal sent Binnington to the bench in place of Joel Hofer. Dylan Holloway got the Blues on the board with a power-play goal of his own halfway through the game, but on another Blues power play, the Canucks would score short-handed when Tyler Myers stole the puck from Holloway, then set up Pius Suter on the breakaway, ultimately leading the Suter’s wrist shot past Hofer. Colton Parayko claimed his 11th goal of the year early in the third period, but it wouldn’t be enough as Myers added an empty net goal to seal the win for the visitors.

The Blues were out-shot 30-26 while only scoring on one of their five power plays. The loss now has the Blues five points behind Calgary in the wild card standings and three fewer games than the Flames to make up the widening gap. They’re also 12 points behind Minnesota for third in the Central Division. The Blues visit Colorado on Friday night; puck drop is at 8 p.m.