ST. LOUIS _ By recent standards, the Blues surrendered two week's worth of goals to the Vancouver Canucks Thursday at Scottrade Center. But a crowd of 19,291 watching them play at home for the first time in 12 days didn't leave disappointed.
The Blues extended their season-high winning streak to six games with a 4-3 victory over the Canucks. After the franchise's first-ever 5-0 road trip, they brought the show home.
Jake Allen, who was back in the net after Carter Hutton's shutout in Detroit on Wednesday, made just 18 saves for the win. He allowed three goals, which is how many the Blues allowed on their entire five-game road trip, but it wasn't enough on a night when they picked up goals from Vladimir Tarasenko, Alexander Steen, Jori Lehtera and Magus Paajarvi. Defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk had three assists.
The Blues were not productive on their first two power plays of the game, failing to register a shot, but they went 2 for 2 in the third period on Tarasenko's 27th and Steen's 12th.
Those two goals allowed the Blues to break open a game that was tied 2-2 at the second intermission.
The Blues took advantage of a couple of high-sticking penalties against Vancouver.
The Canucks' Alex Burrows was whistled for one late in the second period, and with the power play carrying over to the third period, Tarasenko scored the go-ahead goal, 3-2, on his seventh man-advantage goal of the season. It came on a wrist, using Lehtera as a screen, to beat goalie Jacob Markstrom.
A few minutes later, Henrik Sedin was whistled for a double-minor high-sticking penalty, and in the second half of that penalty, Steen scored from a wide-angle for a 4-2 lead. The Canucks cut into the lead a goal by Brandon Sutter, but the Blues held on to improve to 7-1 under Mike Yeo.
After one quick game at home, the Blues head back on the road, playing in Buffalo on Saturday, one of two games remaining games before their five-day bye week.
The club has not trailed once during its six-game winning streak.
The Blues _ well, at least their fans _ felt they should have had a 3-1 lead eight minutes into the second period.
A point shot from Shattenkirk found its way to the net and Markstrom closed up on it, drawing a whistle. But when the puck squeezed out the backside of Markstrom and crawled over the goal line, the crowd came out of its seats and booed referee Dan O'Halloran.
That sentiment only grew louder 19 seconds later when Vancouver's twins _ Daniel and Henrik Sedin _ combined to make it 2-2.
Daniel took the puck and put a no-look, behind-the-back pass through his legs and onto the stick of Henrik, who beat Jake Allen for a 2-2 tie with 11:33 left in the second period.
The Blues had grabbed the lead twice on goals by Magnus Pajaarvi and Lehtera.
Paajarvi, who was playing in just his eighth game of the season with the Blues, cracked open the scoring with his third goal of the year.
At the right side of the net, Paajarvi appeared to be backhanding a pass in front, but instead it banked in off Markstrom's eight leg for a 1-0 lead just 4:30 into the game.
In marked the second straight night in which the Blues had scored on their first shot on goal and in a trend that shouldn't be overlooked in the recent success, it was the sixth straight game in which they scored the first goal.
Vancouver tied the score the first time, 1-1, on a goal by Bo Horvat, who capitalized on a turnover by Blues defenseman Jay Bouwmeester.
Bouwmeester was standing just above the goal line in the defensive zone and seemed to be eyeing Tarasenko up ice with his pass. But it was picked off by Nikita Tryamkin, who quickly moved it ahead to Horvat for his 18th goal of the season with 9:45 left in the first period.
Markstrom kept it a tie game, robbing Blues forward Jaden Schwartz of a goal, one night after he snapped a 10-game scoring drought with an empty-netter.
But late in the period, the Blues did regain the lead on Lehtera's sixth goal of the season, a goal that stood after a challenge from Vancouver for offside.
Blues defenseman Colton Parayko dumped the puck into the zone and it hit O'Halloran, allowing Tarasenko to quickly grab possession. He drove the net and put on a shot on goal that was knocked down by defenseman Troy Stecher. Lethera, however, cleaned up the loose puck and gave the Blues a 2-1 lead with 2:43 left in the period.
They held that one-goal lead in the second period, and it was a case of wishful thinking when the club thought it had built a two-goal cushion.
Henrik's goal tied it, but the Blues' power-play finally did give the club its two-goal cushion in the third period. The Canucks cut into it again on a goal by Sutter with 13:11 left in regulation, but the Blues held on to win their sixth straight game.
