With Montoya subbing for Nabby, Isles fall

ST. LOUIS -- Playing on the road is not as easy as the Islanders had made it look after all. As any weary traveler can tell you, there are all kinds of germs out there. And this became a night that was an Islander headache from start to finish.

Goalie Evgeni Nabokov took the morning skate, but then he took ill with flu symptoms. He was a last-minute scratch. So when the Blues started pouring it on during the second period, Al Montoya had to stand there and take it for the team. He withstood a 5-1 defeat that ended the Islanders' road winning streak at four and sent them wheezing back home.

Defenseman Steve Staios also was a late scratch because of a stomach flu, so he was not around to see the Blues' three unanswered second-period goals. He missed Alex Pietrangelo's three assists, Andy McDonald's first goal of the season, David Perron's 11th and T.J. Oshie's 15th.

Of course, the other day, Islanders coach Jack Capuano said, "We're at a point now where there's no excuses."

Still . . . "It's hard, winning on the road. Heck, Detroit is .500," said Blues coach Ken Hitchcock, referring to the Red Wings, who have won an NHL- record 21 straight at home but are only 15-15-1 on the road. Hitchcock's team is 24-3-4 at home but has fewer road points than the Islanders.

As John Tavares said, "It's like anyone who travels, when you're not at home, you're not accustomed to certain things. It's funny how that can affect you." He added that playing away games can be helpful. "You know you have to keep it simple," he said.

The Islanders' steady-as-she-goes approach plays well on the road. Just not this time. The Islanders can attest to the proverb that says the three greatest states of misery are sickness, fasting and travel. They fell to two of the three. Nabokov was forced to dress as the backup because there was no other goalie on the trip, but there was no way short of calamity that he was going in.

Montoya, meanwhile, had very little time to mentally prepare for the Blues' buzz saw at Scottrade Center.

"We feed off the energy in the building. I think our support kind of catches people off guard. I don't think they realize how great a hockey town this really is," said Kevin Shattenkirk the Blues defenseman who grew up in New Rochelle as a Rangers fan.

The Blues fed off Shattenkirk's hard shot at 17:12 of the first. The score was tied 1-1, after Frans Nielsen put the Islanders ahead in the first minute and Jason Arnott tied it at 14:40, and St. Louis was on the power play. Shattenkirk let loose and Montoya was unable to stop the puck with David Backes standing in front of him. That put the home team up 2-1 and revved up the crowd. It also put the home team ahead to stay.

Still, the Islanders were in it and they had a good scoring chance that could have tied it early in the second. But a close-range shot was stopped by Blues goalie Brian Elliott, whose team turned the rebound into a 3-on-2 rush the other way. McDonald (not to be confused with Islanders defenseman Andrew MacDonald) converted, and it was off to the races.

Perron scored on a power play at 8:52 of the second, Oshie at 14:53, and the Islanders were left to head for a game Saturday at home, which never looked so good.