RALEIGH, N.C. — It was short, but it was a rough road trip for the Blues.

After a 4-1 loss to the Hurricanes on Tuesday night, the Blues return home to St. Louis winless on the brief two-game road trip through Ottawa and Carolina. Overall, the Blues have lost three in a row — all by at least three goals — since trading captain Ryan O’Reilly and Noel Acciari on Friday night.

But that’s not all the Blues come home with.

They return without the services of Jake Neighbours for five weeks, after he suffered an upper-body injury during his first and only shift Sunday against the Senators. With the exodus of forwards due to trades and injuries, Neighbours was in line for big minutes at even-strength, on the power play and even potentially on the penalty kill. That valuable development time is now lost.

They return home with a losing streak reminiscent of their eight-game slide in the season’s first month. That was the last time they lost three-plus consecutive games by three-plus goals, as they have now. In losses to Colorado, Ottawa and Carolina, the Blues have been outscored 15-4.

Marco Scandella provided the sliver of good news simply by returning to game action on Tuesday night for the first time since hip surgery. But even that was dulled by the loss of Torey Krug, who left Tuesday’s game with a lower-body injury. Krug missed Saturday’s game against Colorado with a lower-body injury.

On Tuesday, Justin Faulk scored the only goal for the Blues as Jordan Binnington made 32 saves, including 17 alone in the second period. Andrei Svechnikov (two goal, one assist) and Seth Jarvis (one goal, two assists) each had three-point nights for the Hurricanes.

The Blues had a chance to trim the Carolina lead to one goal with a third-period power play, but Frederik Andersen made four saves, including highlight-reel ones on both Nikita Alexandrov and Ivan Barbashev. Sixteen seconds after the Blues power play ended, Jarvis extended the Carolina lead to 4-1 by taking advantage of a Colton Parayko turnover right in front of his own net.

The Blues host Vancouver at Enterprise Center on Thursday night.

Svechnikov entered Tuesday with a 19-game goal drought, and he had not scored since the calendar flipped to 2023. By the time eight minutes passed in the first period, he might as well have been riding a hot streak.

Svechnikov scored twice in the opening 7:57 of the first period, snapping his lengthy goalless streak by giving the Hurricanes a 2-0 lead over the Blues.

His first came in transition after Calle Rosen’s shot was blocked in the offensive zone. Svechnikov led a 3-on-2 rush, evaded a backchecking Barbashev and beat Jordan Binnington with a shot over his blocker.

Svechnikov scored again after Sebastian Aho won an offensive-zone faceoff, and Svechnikov was unmolested to bury a Jarvis rebound. On the play, Faulk was lined up below the circle in case the right-handed Robert Thomas won the draw, leaving Jarvis open in front of the crease after Aho’s win. Svechnikov easily spun off and away from Rosen’s coverage, leaving him to deposit the rebound.

Jarvis picked up primary assists on both of Svechnikov’s first-period goals.

Rosen only played one more shift in the first period after the second goal. His first shift in the second period came 9:26 into the frame.

The Blues had more possession time, and more offensive zone possession time in the first period than Carolina, but allowed more prime chances than they created. According to Natural Stat Trick, Carolina had a 12-3 edge in high-danger chances in the first, along with a 1.64-0.82 advantage in expected goals.

Also in the first period, Josh Leivo was denied on a breakaway, Binnington made a glove save on Stefan Noesen in tight, and Faulk broke up a 2 on 1 chance by the Hurricanes.

Faulk, meanwhile, snapped a goal drought of his own in the second period.

For the first time since Dec. 27, Faulk scored a goal that counted when he beat Andersen from the left circle. His goal came after Leivo made a strong play to steal the puck from Jesper Fast just inside the blue line. Leivo drew a pair of Hurricanes defenders before dishing to Faulk.

It was Faulk’s seventh goal of the season, and his first goal against the Hurricanes since the Blues acquired him in Sept. 2019 from Carolina.

Faulk had two goals in the previous eight games disallowed after a video review. In Arizona on Jan. 26, Faulk’s goal was taken off the board due to Robert Thomas’ goaltender interference. Against Florida on Jan. 14, the Panthers successfully challenged for a missed game stoppage before Faulk’s goal. That time, the culprit was also Thomas, who played the puck with a high stick before Faulk scored.

The Hurricanes restored their two-goal lead with 3:24 left in the second period when Aho put home a rebound at the back post. After an initial Torey Krug turnover behind the net, Aho recovered a loose puck behind the net, then positioned himself to Binnington’s left. Svechnikov slipped a pass through Faulk, Thomas and Krug and Aho jumped on the deflected puck to score.