OTTAWA, Ontario _ The Blues went 2 for 2 on their trip to Ontario, getting goal No. 20 from Vladimir Tarasenko and a goal from Alex Pietrangelo on his 28th birthday in a 4-1 win over the Senators on Thursday at Canadian Tire Centre.
The Blues also got a goal from Brayden Schenn, his 18th, an empty-net goal from Alexander Steen with 1:18 to play and another solid performance from Carter Hutton in goal. Hutton has won five of his past six starts.
After losing three in a row before their bye week, the Blues came back with consecutive wins and now have four straight at home, starting on Saturday against Arizona.
The Blues got three of their four goals in the second period, the first time they had scored three goals in one period since Dec. 9 in Detroit, the game in which Jaden Schwartz got hurt.
Tarasenko broke open a scoreless game by tipping in a shot by Robert Bortuzzo with 13:47 to go in the second period. It's the fifth straight season _ out of five full seasons he's played _ in which Tarasenko has scored 20 goals in a season. It was his third goal in four games and he has six points in four games.
Pietrangelo extended the lead, putting in an imperfect clearance by Ottawa goalie Craig Anderson of a shot by Tage Thompson for an unassisted goal. It was Pietrangelo's first goal since Nov. 9 against Arizona, a span of 27 games. That goal also meant Blues' defensemen have scored in five straight games; Pietrangelo follows in the footsteps of Vince Dunn, Colton Parayko, Carl Gunnarsson and Parayko.
Then Schenn, who had gone 11 games without a goal, scored his 18th of the season, holding off an Ottawa defenseman to backhand a pass from Steen in to make it 3-0. Schenn and Steen each finished with a goal and an assist.
Ottawa quickly answered, with Bobby Ryan scoring from outside past a screened Hutton 28 seconds later to make it 3-1.
Hutton faced only 21 shots in the win, while the Blues had 37 shots on goal.
The Blues had a chance to extend their lead with 77 seconds of five-on-three time at the start of the third period, but the Blues didn't even get a shot on goal during that span. The Blues are now 0-7 with a two-man advantage this season, and six of those power plays have been 57 seconds or more. Four have been more than a minute. The Blues are one of nine teams in the league not to have a five-on-three goal this season.
