Blues fall behind early, lose 4-1 to Lightning in final game before Christmas

Matthew DeFranks, St. Louis Post-Dispatch on Dec 22, 2025

Published in Hockey

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

The St. Louis Blues couldn't give themselves a nice Christmas present in the final game before the break, losing 4-1 to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Monday night in Tampa, Fla.

Justin Faulk scored the only goal for the Blues, and Jordan Binnington made 13 saves. Pontus Holmberg, Darren Raddysh, Anthony Cirelli and Oliver Bjorkstrand each scored for the Lightning.

The loss dropped the Blues to 14-16-8 on the season and ended their three-game point streak.

The Blues will return from the Christmas break Saturday, when they host the Nashville Predators.

Faulk blasts 10th

Faulk scored his 10th goal of the season Monday night, a second-period tally that brought the Blues within 2-1 after the Lightning scored the game's first two goals.

Tyler Tucker carried the puck into the offensive zone, recovered it in the corner and set up a chance for Otto Stenberg in the slot before collecting it again and cycling it up to Faulk at the point for a one-timer. Faulk ripped it over Andrei Vasilevskiy's blocker for his fourth goal in the past six games.

Faulk scored in both of the Blues' games in Florida this week; he also scored a critical second-period goal Saturday against the Florida Panthers.

Faulk joined Zach Werenski (14), Jakob Chychrun (14) and Cale Makar (11) as the only other defensemen in the NHL with at least 10 goals this season. He's on pace to surpass his career high of 17 goals, set in 2016-17 as a member of the Carolina Hurricanes.

With his 10th goal, Faulk tied Jake Neighbours for the team lead. Only Columbus (with Werenski) has a defenseman leading or tied for the team lead in goals this season.

Of the 17 goals scored by Blues defensemen this season, Faulk has more than half of them.

Striking early

The Lightning built a 2-0 lead in the first period thanks to goals from Holmberg and Raddysh. Holmberg scored just 21 seconds into the game on a deflection of a Raddysh shot from the point that barely evaded Binnington's attempted glove save.

It was the fourth goal this season the Blues have allowed in the first minute of the game and second in the past week after Filip Forsberg's goal for Nashville just 27 seconds into the game on Dec. 15.

Raddysh scored himself on the power play after an extended offensive-zone possession by the Lightning, as his shot banked off Faulk and into the net. Tampa Bay was on the power play due to slashing penalty on Logan Mailloux, and the Lightning would add another goal later in the game on another Mailloux penalty.

When Mailloux was called for holding in the third period, it set the table for Oliver Bjorkstrand's power-play goal that gave the Lighting a 4-1 lead about 5 1/2 minutes into the third.

The 2-0 hole after one period was uncharacteristic for the Blues, who have largely struggled in the second period this season. It was the sixth time this season St. Louis entered first intermission down multiple goals and just the sixth time in the past 24 games that the Blues even allowed the first goal of the game.

Losing momentum

After Faulk's goal brought the Blues within one goal at 6:43 of the second period, it took the Lightning just 1:18 to respond with a goal of their own to restore the two-goal lead.

Cirelli scored at 8:01 of the second period thanks to defensive-zone miscues by the Blues. Cam Fowler disrupted an intended centering pass from the corner, allowing Mailloux to take possession of the puck, and his pass to Pavel Buchnevich in the slot drifted off Buchnevich's stick and to Raddysh. Raddysh shot the puck immediately, and Cirelli tipped it in the high slot.

It was Raddysh's fifth career three-point game and the fourth this season. Raddysh has taken on added responsibility for the Lightning as Tampa Bay battles injuries on the back end.

____