Early in the second, St. Louis struck for a pair of early goals to take a lead it would not relinquish. Schwartz set up Schenn at 1:24 after the Blues had the Caps chasing the puck around their own end for a spell. A mere 23 seconds later, Schwartz and Schenn combined to set up Vladimir Tarasenko. The go-ahead goal came off the rush, and Schwartz made a nifty play, passing out of the slot to the lethal Tarasenko who scored from just off the paint on the right side.
St. Louis notched a fourth unanswered goal just six seconds into its first power play opportunity of the evening. Schwartz put it on a tee for Tyler Bozak, whose one-timer beat Braden Holtby at 13:08, making it a 4-2 game.
Early in the third, the Caps managed to navigate their way safely through 90 seconds worth of a 5-on-3 St. Louis power play. Seconds after that achievement, they had a man advantage of their own, and closed to within a goal just as the penalty expired. From center point, Christian Djoos fed Michael Sgarbossa on the left half wall. Sgarbossa sent a perfect feed to Chandler Stephenson at the back door, and he chipped it under the bar at 5:04.
Washington forward Liam O'Brien left and did not return after some second-period fisticuffs with Blues forward Jordan Nolan, and Caps defenseman Martin Fehervary didn't play the last five minutes or so of Friday's game.
"He'll continue to get evaluated," says Reirden of O'Brien. "He does a really important team thing there to try to change the momentum of the game, and there was no sense in putting him back out there just to make sure everything is fine."
As for Fehervary, Reirden says, "He'll be fine."