The St. Louis Blues couldn’t score another goal.

They trailed by two or more goals for the third straight season and were able to overcome those deficits in their first two games, but not on Friday.

Despite scoring first for the first time, the Vegas Golden Knights dominated top-flight play, including former Blue Ivan Barbashev, who thrilled his former teammates with a goal and an assist, while linemates Jack Eichel (goal, assist) and Mark Stone (two assists) had two points each and Vegas secured a 4-3 victory at T-Mobile Arena on Friday.

The Blues (2-1-0) rallied from a 4-1 deficit in the third period for a 5-4 overtime win against the San Jose Sharks on Thursday and were in the thick of things that night but I couldn’t quite find the magic for find a third game in a row.

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Pavel Buchnevich stayed hot with two goals and one assist, Robert Thomas scored a goal and Jordan Kyrou had two assists, giving him six points (two goals, four assists) to start the season. Jordan Binnington made 24 saves, including 12 in the second period when the Blues were not at their best.

Buchnevich, who also scored on Thursday, gave the Blues a 1-0 lead at 6:47 of the first period with a backhand in the slot.

The lead only lasted 1:15 when Eichel made it 1-1 at 8:02 by going to the net and pulling a backhand past Binnington.

Barbashev made it 2-1 at 18:13 late in the first period when the top line was once again able to do their thing, moving the puck down deep on the right side and Stone chipping in at one -Touch to Barbashev could play in the slot.

Zack Bolduc had a great chance to equalize early in the second period when he was sent alone on a gravy pass from Kyrou but was unable to slip a backhand through the pads of Adin Hill.

Shea Theodore made it 3-1 at 2:55 after a failed zone-clearing attempt by Nick Leddy resulted in a shot from the right spot, a save and a big rebound in which Theodore fired a fierce slap shot off the crossbar.

But the Blues started their first power play and Buchnevich made it 3-2 at 7:29 when he cut into the right circle after Kyrou’s cross-seat pass and beat Hill’s short side.

Binnington ensured that the deficit did not increase and, thanks to the goalkeeper’s crucial saves towards the end of the quarter, the score was only 3-2 at the start of the third period.

The Blues couldn’t get the tying goal soon enough, and Nicolas Roy scored the game-winning goal at 12:53 of the third period when the Vegas forward was parked alone in front of Binnington along with a teammate, defenders Ryan Suter and PO Joseph were with him Blues debut on the wrong side of the goal area and slot area and Roy was able to deflect Theodore’s left shot to make it 4-2.

The Blues remained in the hunt again, after a Las Vegas turnover in the neutral zone, Buchnevich sent Thomas on a breakaway, who scored his first goal of the season at 15:04, cutting the deficit to 4-3.

But the Blues couldn’t do it even this time. They had trouble getting Binnington off the ice for the extra skater, and when they finally did, a big chance came in the final seconds after a faceoff win by Thomas, but Kyrou shot wide of the goal from a high position.

Blues defenseman Colton Parayko had an assist on Thomas’ goal, giving him 200 assists in the NHL and with the Blues, becoming the sixth defenseman in franchise history to record 200 assists for the club.

Additionally, PO Joseph made his Blues debut and played in an NHL game with his brother Mathieu Joseph. This made him the seventh brother duo in Blues history to skate together, and the first since Rich and Ron Sutter in 1991–92.

The Blues return home to begin a four-game homestand with Tuesday’s home opener against the Minnesota Wild.