Blues top Blue Jackets for 3rd straight win

[April 06, 2013]  ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Jake Allen made 26 saves, and David Backes scored for the second straight game to lead the suddenly surging St. Louis Blues to a 3-1 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Friday night.

The Blues have won three in a row after a three-game skid. St. Louis entered the night in eighth place in the Western Conference.

St. Louis has won all three meetings with Columbus this season and 10 of 11 overall. The Blue Jackets failed to earn a point for only the third time in 19 games.

Backes, who broke a 15-game goal-scoring drought in Chicago on Thursday, has nearly doubled his goal total in two days. He has five goals this season.

Chris Stewart scored his team-leading 16th goal for St. Louis, and Patrik Berglund added an empty-netter with less than a second remaining. The Blues are 15-2-1 when Stewart has at least a point.

Allen (9-3-1) gave up just a late second-period goal to Artem Anisimov. Marian Gaborik had an assist, giving him three points in his first two games with Columbus after being acquired from the New York Rangers on Wednesday.

Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 16 shots for the Blue Jackets

Stewart broke a scoreless tie at 15:58 of the second period with a power-play goal. He took a centering pass from Alex Pietrangelo and backhanded a shot past Bobrovsky from the slot.

Anisimov appeared to give the Blue Jackets momentum when he skated in front from behind the net and beat Allen with 1:24 left in the second, but just 11 seconds later, Backes finished a rush and scored from the slot while lying on his back to give the Blues the lead again.

NOTES: Columbus D Adrian Aucoin played in his 1,100th NHL game. ... Jay Bouwmeester has three assists in his first two games with St. Louis. ... Stewart has nine goals and 16 points in his last 15 games.

[Associated Press]

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