ST. LOUIS _ The winless streak is gone. The 12-game run through the Western Conference was a rousing success _ 9-2-1. And the homecooking, Enterprise Center style, continues to suit the Blues.
A 3-2 victory over San Jose on Tuesday night gave the Blues a 27-10-7 record and their first win of the New Year. That gave the Blues 61 points for the season, and with Colorado losing 5-3 to the Rangers, the Blues now have a seven-point lead in the Central Division.
David Perron scored what proved to be the winner, with his 18th goal of the season, giving St. Louis a 3-1 lead with 15 minutes 53 seconds left in the game. San Jose made things interesting with a late goal by Erik Karlsson (that was actually poked in by Ryan O'Reilly) but the Blues were able to ride out the final 3:10 with minimal danger.
Tyler Bozak scored his fourth goal in six games to break a scoreless tie, and then Ivan Barbshev scored his first goal in a month giving the Blues a 2-0 lead after two periods Tuesday against visiting San Jose.
Bozak scored on a smooth give-and-go with Alexander Steen. Bozak skated into the zone and passed to Steen, who made a between the legs drop pass to Bozak. Bozak then blistered a shot past Sharks goalie Aaron Dell at the 5:39 mark of the second. It was Bozak's ninth goal of the season.
Steen has picked up his play in the offensive zone lately; the assist was his third in his last four games.
Just 80 seconds later, Oskar Sundqvist fleeced the puck from Logan Couture in the corner, then zipped a pass through three defenders to Barbashev for a one-timer. Barbashev's sixth goal of the season ended a 10-game goal drought.
Couture, an All-Star selection for San Jose this year, left the game shortly thereafter with a left leg injury after a collision with Vince Dunn among the end boards.
In defenseman Niko Mikkola's NHL debut, and the one-year anniversary of Jordan Binnington's first NHL start, the Blues and the San Jose Sharks were scoreless after a largely uneventful first period at Enterprise Center.
The Blues had one power play, when San Jose's Marc-Edouard Vlasic was sent off for holding Mackenzie MacEachern at the 12:21 mark, but got no shots on goal operating against the league's top penalty-kill unit (88.4 percent).
