ST. LOUIS _ Edmonton proved little more than a speed bump Tuesday for the Blues, who returned home with a flair from a weeklong trek to western Canada, steam-rolling the Oilers, 8-3, before a sellout crowd of 18,818 at Scottrade Center.
Vladimir Tarasenko had the Gordie Howe hat trick _ and then some _ with two goals, two assists, and a fight. Jaden Schwartz scored his 100th career goal, and Brayden Schenn extended his points streak to eight games with two goals and two assists.
The Blues also received goals from Dmitrij Jaskin, Scottie Upshall and Paul Stastny, plus good goaltending from Jake Allen. In what was their best wire-to-wire effort of the season, they improved to 16-5-1 overall, and with Tampa Bay idle, claimed the overall points lead in the NHL with 33 points.
Edmonton fell to 7-12-2.
After his first-period goal it took Tarasenko only seven minutes into the second period to achieve the Gordie Howe hat track _ a goal, an assist, and a fight.
At the 3:52 mark of the second, Tarasenko was credited with an assist when Schwartz banged home a rebound of a Tarasenko shot to give St. Louis a 3-0 lead. The goal was Schwartz's 11th of the season, tying him for the team lead with Tarasenko, and it also was Schwartz's 100th career goal in the NHL.
Then came the fight. Tarasenko tangled with Oilers defenseman Matt Benning, with Tarasenko registering a strong right and then ending up on top of Benning. It was only the third fight of Tarasenko's NHL career and his first since the 2015-16 season. He received a standing ovation from many in the crowd at Scottrade Center amid shots of "Vladi! Vladi!"
With just 30 seconds left in the second period Brayden Schenn made it 4-0 Blues with his eighth goal of the season.
