ST. LOUIS — For the last two months, the Blues have found themselves in games like Friday’s against Carolina.

Clinging onto playoff hopes. Scoreboard-watching the Golden Knights. Hoping to stave off elimination by poaching another victory.

By losing 5-2 to the Hurricanes, it’s going to be tougher for the final two games to hold the same stakes. St. Louis used what little margin for error it had on Friday night, and can be eliminated with just one more win by Vegas in its last four games, including a late one Friday against Minnesota.

Hurricanes defenseman Jaccob Slavin scored the game-winning goal with 12:07 remaining in the third period, driving to the backpost during 4-on-4 play to give Carolina its first lead of the game. On his previous shift, Slavin drew a high-sticking penalty on Brayden Schenn that negated a Blues power play.

Jake Guentzel’s emtpy-netter with 2:40 remaining sealed the game for Carolina, and he added another with 49.9 seconds left.

Zack Bolduc scored for the third straight game for the Blues. Jordan Kyrou continued his own hot streak with a power-play goal. Jordan Binnington made 36 saves.

St. Louis entered the day three points behind Vegas for the last wild card spot in the Western Conference, and the Golden Knights had one more game remaining than the Blues.

“It’s business as usual for us,” Blues interim coach Drew Bannister said before the game. “We’ve been playing in these games, meaningful games, for two months, six weeks, however (long) it’s been. I feel like we’ve played really good hockey against top teams. That hasn’t been an issue for us.”

The Blues have two games remaining in the regular season: Sunday afternoon vs. Seattle, and Wednesday night at Dallas.

Missed chances get reversed

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