The Blues had little regard for that regulation Thursday night.
Jim Montgomery’s cubs climbed all over the visiting Bruins — particularly over the first 40 minutes — on their way to a 4-1 lopsided victory.
It was the Bruins’ second straight road loss and dropped them to 9-4-1 overall and 4-3-1 away from TD Garden.
Boston’s puck management again was a bugaboo, with passes going from sticks to skates instead of tape-to-tape.
The effort, however, was what irked Marco Sturm the most.
“It was creeping in. Even the games we won lately on the end, we were just very sloppy, I would say, and finally caught up to us a little bit this road trip,” said Sturm. “But beside that, it’s just the effort today, especially the first 40 minutes was pretty bad. And that for me was the most disappointing thing.”
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The Bruins scored first with James Hagens tipping in a Casey Mittelstadt centering feed after Mittelstadt had intercepted a clearing attempt by St. Louis goalie Joel Hofer behind his net.
It was the fifth straight game the Bruins scored first and the fifth of the season for the rookie Hagens.
Similar to the 2-1 loss in Carolina Tuesday, Sturm’s club could not sustain the momentum from the early lead and watched a Blues team that had been shut out in back-to-back games, score the next four goals.
The Bruins showed a spark in the third, outshooting the Blues, 14-2, but that was of little consequence to Sturm.
“No, not really. I mean, again, I always look at the overall picture,” he said. “Yes, you want to get something positive out of it, but again, you just can’t play that way. Maybe we needed it. Hopefully it’s going to be a little bit of wake-up call for us. And yeah, just got to move on.”
Other observations from under the Gateway Arch:
Marco Sturm tried mixing up David Pastrnak’s linemates, but the Bruins captain was kept off the scoresheet in his team’s loss.Jeff Roberson/AP Photo/Jeff Roberson
⋅ Double duty: Sturm juggled his lines in the third and most notable was David Pastrnak getting double shifted at times to try to light a fire.
“He’s the guy who … he needed to crank it up the most, I would say,” said Sturm. “And again, I was trying to give him different lines, but it was not about him. It was just overall. I needed a spark. Something. And that’s why we moved around.”
⋅ Special forces: The Blues were nearly perfect on special teams. They converted on 2 of 3 power plays — and quickly. Jimmy Snuggerud’s equalizer came just four seconds after a Charlie McAvoy penalty and Jake Neighbours’s nightcap came just six seconds into a Morgan Geekie infraction.
In addition, St. Louis killed both of Boston’s power-play chances.
⋅ Defensive breakdowns: St. Louis’s second and third goals (Philip Broberg and Rob Thomas) were the result of no coverage in the slot. Both Blues floated through the middle and ripped home shots past Jeremy Swayman.
Thomas was open partly because of a slow change between Pastrnak and Matt Poitras.
“Absolutely. That’s on us. I don’t think they did anything special. We talked about it,” said Sturm. “So that was just a mental break on certain individuals. But overall, we just felt like it happened all night and that’s why we deserve to come out short like we did today.”
⋅ Home cooking: About the only bit of good news is the Bruins play 12 of their next 14 games on home ice.
“Yeah, tough road trip. Didn’t play to our standard,” said Pastrnak. “But the biggest takeaway is when we are winning, we flip the page, we come to work the next day and get better. So, it’s hard, but we’re going to do the same. We have a big game Saturday, so we’re going to get home, get better tomorrow, and get back [to winning].”
Former Bruin John Wensink was interviewed on the JumboTron at the Enterprise Center.Jim McBride
⋅ Odds and ends: Hagens, who turns 20 next week, has five goals and six assists in 16 career games. That’s the fewest number of games for a Bruins teenager to reach five goals and five assists since Patrice Bergeron did it in 15 games in 2003 … Bergeron will be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame a week after Hagens’s birthday … The guest on the Jumbotron between the first and second periods was Bruins legend John Wensink, who was drafted by the Blues in 1973 but is best remembered for his four seasons in Boston (57 goals, 429 PIMs) … One of the linesmen for the game was Dan Kelly, which coincidentally is the name of the legendary Blues broadcaster for whom the Enterprise Center press box is named. Some may remember one of Kelly’s most famous calls from back in 1970. “Bobby Orr, behind the net to Sanderson to Orr. Bobby Orr scores! And the Boston Bruins have won the Stanley Cup!” Google it, kids.
Jim McBride can be reached at james.mcbride@globe.com. Follow him @globejimmcbride.