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 St. Louis continued its domination over Arizona with a 4-1,
come-from-behind win over the struggling Coyotes on Tuesday at
Scottrade Center.
The Blues, winless in four of their previous five games, won their
sixth successive contest against Arizona. They outscored the Coyotes
24-6 during the run.
In addition, the Blues have garnered at least one point in their
last 10 contests with Arizona (9-0-1).
The Coyotes completed a five-game road trip with a fifth successive
loss. They were outscored 24-10 during road swing.
The Blues managed just one goal per game in their previous three
home contests, but they were able to snap back against their
favorite opponent.
"I wasn't really too worried," St. Louis left winger Alexander Steen
said. "We have a solid hockey team, mentally strong. We regrouped,
and we grabbed it."
Steen and defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk led the way with a goal and
assist each.
"Quite frankly, our best players were our best players," St. Louis
coach Ken Hitchcock said. "It's all guys who have been through this
before."
Steen helped turn the game around with the Blues' first short-handed
goal of the season. The tally, which came with 8.8 seconds left in
the second period, put the Blues ahead to stay 2-1.
"It did feel good," Steen said. "It was a good time in the game to
get one. We'd been battling hard, and to get one like that was
nice."
Shattenkirk set up the play by blocking a shot. He then jumped to
his feet and started a two-on-one break.
"Luckily, the pass landed perfectly," Shattenkirk said. "The crazy
thing was how well he waited on it and then was able to be patient
and let it fall onto his stick."
St. Louis goaltender Jake Allen made 22 stops.
The Blues scored four unanswered goals after falling behind 1-0 in
the first period.
Right winger Vladimir Tarasenko tied the game by converting off a
perfect pass from left winger Magnus Paajarvi early in the second
period. It was Tarasenko's team-high 16th goal and his eighth in his
past eight home games.
Shattenkirk pumped the lead to 3-1 with his fourth goal of the
season 6:53 into the final period. Center Jori Lehtera found
Shattenkirk wide open on the play.
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Center David Backes added an empty-net goal with 1:02 remaining.
Arizona bolted to a 1-0 lead on a goal by right winger Steve Downie
12:12 into the contest. Downie, stationed in front of the net,
pounced on the rebound of a shot by right winger Brad Richardson.
The Coyotes gave up numerous odd-man rushes over the last two
periods.
"If I knew (how to fix the issue), I'd do something about it,"
Arizona defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson said. "They had a lot of
two-on-ones. I had to do a better job."
Arizona coach Dave Tippett also lamented the miscues.
"It's turnovers you see and turnovers that you don't see," Tippett
said. "It's about capitalizing on them, and they did."
Arizona had the first eight shots on goal in the game and held the
Blues without a shot until Shattenkirk's wrister was turned aside by
Coyotes goalie Mike Smith with 6:26 left in the opening period.
Smith finished with 18 saves.
NOTES: St. Louis D Petteri Lindbohm, recalled from the Chicago
Wolves on Sunday, made his season debut against the Coyotes. He
finished plus-1. ... Arizona RW Shane Doan missed his eighth
successive game with a lower-body injury. Doan has been skating and
is listed as day-to-day. ...Arizona RW Viktor Tikhonov, claimed off
waivers from the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday, played on Tuesday.
Tikhonov was drafted by Arizona in the first round of the 2008 draft
and had eight goals and eight assists in 2008-09 with the Coyotes.
... St. Louis LW Steve Ott is out at least three months with a
hamstring injury suffered in the first period of Saturday's 4-1 loss
to Toronto. Ott missed six games Nov. 7-17 with an upper-body
injury.
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