In the end, however, the Saints had two forwards - Fraser Gehrig and Nick Riewoldt - who managed to more than match Lloyd's effort, and that was the difference.
Gehrig booted eight goals and with Riewoldt booting seven, the pair outscored the Bombers on their own as they took full advantage of an Essendon side missing not only Sean Wellman and Scott Lucas but also late withdrawals Dustin Fletcher and skipper James Hird.
Jason Johnson was busy for the Bombers in the midfield, gathering 26 disposals, eight marks and five tackles while Joe Misiti got amongst the action with 23 possessions and five grabs.
The Bombers did their best to become the first team to beat the Saints at Telstra Dome this season. The ladder leaders have won 11 from 11 outings there with their average winning margin nine goals per match.
The Bombers have missed the finals just five times since Kevin Sheedy took over as coach in 1981 but they are now in danger of finding themselves out of the eight by the end of round 17.
There are five matches remaining with Port Adelaide next week and Sydney in Sydney in round 21 still to come - as well as clashes against arch-rivals Carlton and Collingwood.
The sheer brilliance of Lloyd kept the Bombers in touch throughout the night.
At one stage in the final quarter they did get to within 23 points after two quick goals from Ben Haynes and a right foot snap from Lloyd for his sixth, but it was Gehrig, who marked and goaled to steady the Saints at the 16 minute mark.
Earlier Riewoldt and Gehrig combined to give Essendon's Mark Bolton the kind of opening quarter defenders have nightmares about.
Riewoldt booted the opening three goals of the match on Bolton, who was then shifted onto Gehrig, who promptly booted three more goals on Bolton - all in the opening term.
Dean Solomon was then able to quieten Riewoldt in the middle two terms but Gehrig remained unstoppable as eventually Adam McPhee was given the task of trying to stop the big forward.
Essendon coach Kevin Sheedy was upbeat despite the loss, and praised the spirit of his team that was missing a number of key players.
"At least they showed something in that last half and never gave up after a trip to Perth."
Sheedy said the injured Hird, Fletcher, Scott Lucas, Dean Rioli, Sean Wellman and Damian Cupido would soon be back in the side.
"Hopefully next week we'll be putting up probably one of the best sides Essendon has had for probably a month."
"If we get back to our best team or anywhere near it with these four or five kids we've got we'll be a pretty exciting team running into round 22."
St Kilda: 6.4 9.5 15.6 20.7 (127)
Essendon: 2.1 4.3 9.7 14.8 (92)
Goals: St Kilda: Gehrig 8, Riewoldt 7, Montagna 3, Guerra, Dal Santo
Essendon: Lloyd 6, Hille 2, Haynes 2, J Johnson, Lovett-Murray, Winderlich, Ramanauskas
Best: St Kilda: Gehrig, Riewoldt, Black, Harvey, Dal Santo, Hayes, Jones, Montagna
Essendon: Lloyd, J Johnson, McVeigh, Solomon, Misiti
Injuries: St Kilda: Nil
Essendon: Hird (ribs) replaced in selected side by Mercuri, Fletcher (teeth) replaced in selected side by Winderlich
Umpires: Vozzo, Allen, Woodcock
Crowd: 50,392 at Telstra Dome
