“It alarms you, but you’ve just got to get back to work,” Blues coach Ken Hitchcock said. “What we really needed (Saturday) was for other people to step up and didn’t get it. That’s what we needed. We’ve counted on one line for a good portion of the time; now we needed other people to step up — didn’t get it.

“That’s what worries me. We need other people to grab the rope here a little bit. The Backes line isn’t going to be perfect every night, but this was a real opportunity for other guys to really step forward, really help us. That’s what we need.”

Alexander Steen scored both of the Blues’ goals Saturday. Although each came on the power play, it extended a run in which 11 of the team’s last 13 goals have been scored by Backes, Steen or T.J. Oshie.

The veteran cast of Steve Ott, Derek Roy and Brenden Morrow combined Saturday for no shots on goal and a plus-minus rating of minus-5.

The line of Chris Porter, Maxim Lapierre and Ryan Reaves had two shots and was a minus-3. That group was on the ice for Cody Eakin’s back-breaking goal, which gave the Stars a 3-1 lead just 25 seconds after the Blues had trimmed their deficit to 2-1.