VANCOUVER -- The St. Louis Blues hadn't lost back-to-back games since Jan. 11 and 13.
And the Vancouver Canucks haven't won a Stanley Cup playoff series in fewer than seven games since they last made it to the final back in 1994.
The Blues lost 3-0 to go down 2-0 in the series last night. And the Canucks, by sweeping the first two games of the series, set up an opportunity to get it over early.
With Roberto Luongo registering his third shutout in the last five games and stopping 142 of the last 144 shots fired at him, he's becoming as big a mental block for the Blues as he is a physical blocker.
But David Backes, the Blue who came closest to scoring this night, doesn't think so. Nor does the goalie at the other end of the ice.
"I don't think he's getting in our heads," said Backes who had the best chance of the game to that point and was robbed by a leg save by Luongo only to take a tripping penalty in frustration after sensational save.
"We just didn't make the shots we needed to make. We needed up with a goose egg as a result."
Red Deer native Chris Mason, who took over the team after the pair of losses in January and led the Blues from 15th to sixth as they went 24-8-6 to end the season, says it felt weird to finally lose two in a row.
"It's different. We're just not scoring right now," said Mason.
"Getting to the net is the key to our game and the key to beating all the goalies in this league."
"There's a lot more we can do. If he sees it he's going to stop it.
"He's playing well, but we're not getting to the net.
"If we're going to beat him we've got to get to the net. We just didn't pay the price to get there. We have to go to the net."
The much-maligned Mats Sundin managed to tip a shot from the point to give the Canucks a soft goal between the legs of Mason late in the second period to break a scoreless tie.
Halfway through the third period Alex Burrows grabbed a puck previously handled by Daniel and Henrik Sedin and jammed it in the side to give Luongo two goals to work with. Henrik Sedin scored the empty net goal to seal the deal.
Unlike the first game of the series on Wednesday, there was a real playoff pace last night with several great chances until Sundin gave Luongo the lead.
If Game 1 - highlighted by a wimpy controversy about the Blues giving Luongo snow showers - didn't really feel like playoff hockey, that was cured early last night.
Okay, nobody gooned a goalie, but it definitely felt like a playoff game.
TERRY.JONES@SUNMEDIA.CA
