ST. LOUIS _ The Blues and Jake Allen continued their domination of Arizona Monday night at Scottrade Center.
A 4-1 victory was the Blues' 10th consecutive win over the Coyotes and with 21 saves from Allen he improved to 7-0 against the club in his career.
Jaden Schwartz had two goals and assist, Vladimir Tarasenko had a goal and two assists and Alexander Steen had four assists, as the top line contributed 10 points in the win. They tried to get Schwartz a hat trick late in regulation, but when the attempt went awry, Tarasenko netted No. 35 on the season.
The Blues went 2-0-1 on their three game homestand and kept pace with Nashville. The Predators won 3-1 over, staying in third place in the Central Division, but the Blues are just one point back in the second wild-card.
They can thank Allen, who was spectacular again Monday, earning his 30th win of the season. He nearly did it with another shutout, yielding only one goal to Arizona in the third period, otherwise it would have been his third-career blanking of the Coyotes.
The Blues will now head to Arizona and play the Coyotes on Tuesday night, facing them for the third time in their last six games.
On the opening faceoff Monday, Tarasenko tapping Arizona's Clayton Keller on the backside with his stick, a nod to the rookie making his NHL debut in his hometown.
It was one of the few times a stick was put to good use in the first period.
The Blues took awhile to get going Monday, playing a scoreless frame with the Coyotes. The teams combined for just 10 shots on goal and three minor penalties, but neither power play built any momentum.
The Blues, though, broke the game open in the second period on goals by Schwartz and Pietrangelo.
The club was hoping that after a 26-game stretch for Schwartz with just one empty-net goal, the floodgates would open for him once he got another one, and that has certainly been the case.
Since scoring in Colorado March 21, Schwartz picked up two more Monday to give him four in his last four games.
On Schwartz's first against Arizona, Steen fought hard behind the Arizona net, outmuscling the Coyotes' Luke Schenn to sneak the puck in front to Schwartz, who buried his 17th goal of the season past Coyotes goalie Mike Smith for a 1-0 lead with 12:07 left in the second period.
Pietrangelo has also been streaking offensively, with 11 points (three goals, eight assists) in his last 14 games before Monday.
The defenseman added to it with his third goal in five games, gathering a loose puck and putting a wrist shot by Smith.
Pietrangelo's 12th goal of the season, matching his career-high, gave the Blues their 2-0 lead with 7:32 left in the period.
Allen was largely responsible for the Blues holding onto that two-goal advantage. He made the save of the game on Arizona's Max Domi with less than five minutes to play in the second period, lunging to his left to glove a guaranteed goal that would have cut the Coyotes' deficit in half with 4:46 left in the period.
The Blues finished with 16 shots in period, and had two goals on 21 shots in the game, but Allen had kept out all 15 of Arizona's attempts at that point.
In the third period, the Blues had a chance to go ahead 3-0, but a shot by Schwartz hit the post. He would later give the club its third goal of the game, but not until after the Coyotes scored to pull within 2-1.
Anthony DeAngelo finally solved Allen with a slap shot that made it a one-goal game. It came just 1:01 into the third period and ended the goalie's shutout streak against Arizona.
But Schwartz went back for that goal he missed and picked it up with 9:54 remaining in regulation. On a set up from Steen and Tarasenko, he received the puck all alone in front of the net and waited out Smith, touching it four times before putting it past him for a 3-1 lead.
Tarasenko padded the Blues' lead before it was over, finishing off a 3-on-1 rush in which they group tried to cap off Schwartz's hat trick. But when Tarasenko's pass to him got broken up, Tarasenko swept up the loose puck to the seal the game for the Blues, who will now go for the season sweep against the Coyotes on Tuesday.
