ST. LOUIS_As shorthanded as they've been this season, the St. Louis Blues extended their winning streak to four games with a 4-3 victory over Doug Weight and the New York Islanders Saturday night at Scottrade Center.
The Blues figured to be without defenseman Colton Parayko and Jori Lehtera and then learned they'd be without Paul Stastny as well. But who needs Parayko and Stastny when you have Vladimir Tarsenko and the good-luck Winter Classic uniforms?
Tarasenko scored twice, giving him goals in three straight games and 32 goals on the season, helping the Blues improve to 4-0 in their popular unis.
The Blues swept their brief two-game homestand, giving them consecutive wins at Scottrade Center for the first time since December. They netted four goals in both games, marking the first time they've done that in back-to-back games _ home or away _ since December as well.
The Blues will now embark on a five-game road trip that begins Monday in Los Angeles. With Saturday's win, they went up five point on the Kings, who played later in the evening.
At the end of a nine-game road trip, New York certainly didn't give up. The Blues led 4-1 in the third period, but the Isles scored one early and then with Jay Bouwmeester in the penalty box and their goalie pulled for a 6-on-4 advantage, the visitors added another with 1 minute, 29 seconds remaining. But Blues goalie Carter Hutton, who finished with 21 saves, closed out his 10th win over the season.
The Blues played without two of their leaders in ice time Saturday, Parayko and Stastny. Rookie Jordan Schmaltz stepped in for Parayko and Alexander Steen moved to center to cover Stastny's absence. Steen scored one of the Blues' four goals, and Patrik Berglund helped filled the void on faceoffs, going 14-5 or the team, which won 65 percent of the draws against the Islanders.
Tarasenko picked up the first of his two goals Saturday in the first period.
It didn't come quite as quickly as Friday's goal, which happened 12 seconds after the puck dropped against Anaheim. But it took him just 7:23 to give the Blues another 1-0 lead.
The Blues went in front, but then Dmitrij Jaskin went to the penalty box for four minutes on a double-minor high-sticking penalty.
New York appeared to tie the game on the ensuing man-advantage, but a rare offside challenge by the Blues, just their fourth of the season, kept the score 1-0.
The Islanders' Andrew Ladd thought he had goal No. 20, but it turned out that teammate Jason Chimera was in the zone before the puck, negating the goal.
That didn't help the Isles, but it wasn't necessarily the turning point in the game.
Steen scored his 13th goal of the season five minutes into the second period for a two-goal lead, but New York's Brock Nelson made it 2-1 midway though the period.
Nelson's 16th goal of the season deflected off the stick of Schmaltz and past Hutton, a goal that was assisted by Islanders defenseman and St. Louis native Scott Mayfield.
But then came the turning point, in the form of Tarasenko's second goal of the game and 32nd of the season. From the circle, he put another quick wrist shot by Isles goalie Thomas Greiss for a 3-1 lead with 4:32 left in the second period.
When Tarasenko scored it, Blues captain Alex Pietrangelo in obvious pain took a knee near his team's bench. The defenseman had blocked a shot by Travis Hamonic earlier in the shift and had been on the ice for 2:08, including 1:35 after the blocked shot. He was finally able to rest.
The Blues, though, didn't rest. They tacked on another goal, Berglund's 19th of the season, for a 4-1 lead with just 1:54 remaining before intermission.
It was marked the end to a fairly impressive streak for Jaden Schwartz, who had been on the ice for eight straight Blues' goals before Berglund's tally.
The Isles were down by three and got one back in the third period from Anthony Beauvillier. The second goal against Hutton was one more than he had allowed in his last three starts combined, and vistors weren't done, adding another in the late going to make it close.
