With the return of center Jori Lehtera back to the St. Louis Blues' lineup, it was a trickle-down effect on many fronts. It gave the Blues their second-line center back playing as the "STL Line" with Jaden Schwartz and Vladimir Tarasenko, but even more importantly against the Coyotes on Tuesday, it assembled the line of Dmitrij Jaskin, Paul Stastny and Patrik Berglund that's been so effective. And it turned out to be Jaskin that was the biggest benefactor with another game-winning goal. Jaskin's seventh goal of the season turned into his fourth game-winner, and the Blues defeated the Coyotes 2-1 at Scottrade Center. Jaskin broke a tie in the second period after he chipped a puck past Coyotes defenseman Keith Yandle in the Blues zone, took off for the races and beat Smith with a backhand shot from the right dot that squirted through Smith's pads 11:08 into the period. It was Jaskin's third goal in six games. What wasn't a surprise for the Blues was how effective their lines flowed with Lehtera, who missed six games with concussion symptoms, back in the lineup. Alexander Steen scored and goalie Jake Allen made 25 saves, including 13 in the third period for the Blues (35-15-4), who had lost their previous two games. They defeated the Coyotes (20-28-7) all three times this season and outscored Phoenix 14-2. Allen preserved the Blues' one-goal lead with a point-blank save on Tobias Rieder with under two minutes left on the Coyotes' only power play. The Blues are 8-0-1 in the past nine against the Coyotes. Phoenix, which had its three-game road winning streak end, got a goal from Sam Gagner. Goalie Mike Smith, after a 36-save performance in a 3-2 shootout victory against the Blackhawks on Monday, made 34 saves. St. Louis outshot Phoenix 14-4 in the period, and it was a period where the Blues felt they took control of the game. Gagner's first goal in six games came after the Coyotes took advantage of a 2-on-1. Blues defenseman Chris Butler got caught in a neutral zone pinch and Gagner skated in with Martin Erat. He beat Allen with a shot on the short side after the Blues goalie vacated his position on the post 4:42 into the first period to give Phoenix a 1-0 lead. Steen's first goal in five games came after defenseman Alex Pietrangelo hit Steen with an outlet pass, and Steen quickly tipped it to David Backes, who sprung T.J. Oshie in on Smith. Oshie's power move to the net and shot on created a rebound, and Steen was on the doorstep to tie the game 1-1 with 4:50 remaining in the first. It was Steen's 10th point (third goal) in the past six games against Phoenix. The Coyotes pressed in the third. They pulled Smith with 2:03 remaining but Allen was up to the challenge.
Blues Quotes
Dmitrij Jaskin: "The guy was coming behind me so I was just trying to protect the puck and didn't really have a chance to put it on the forehand so I tried to put it on the net and maybe make some rebound for [Berglund], but it went through. ... I was just trying to put my body in front of the guy who was coming behind me. Don't force it, just put it on the net and see what happened after. I didn't see it [go in] until I went behind the net. It was a good surprise to me."Ken Hitchcock: "I think everybody saw how much we missed Lehtera. [who tied Dick Irvin for fourth on the all-time NHL coaching victories list with No. 692]. It's two-fold; first of all, Lehtera is a big help to Tarasenko and Schwartz and secondly, Stastny's line's got great chemistry. They cycle the puck, they bring it off the wall, they did a heck of a job controlling it. They've got weight, they've got size. Jaskin was outstanding today. We had a lot of people playing awful well today. We did it on our toes. "I think that's what I was happiest about. Sometimes you're nervous in the third when you're defending a one-goal lead on a game you should win, but I really liked the way we played in the second period. We played on our toes the whole period and that's the way ... we've got to expect these types of games every night for the rest of the year, and I think our players had fun playing that way. It was good to see. We were on our toes the whole period."
T.J. Oshie: "We knew coming in they were playing good. They obviously beat a good team [Monday] night (3-2 shootout win at the Chicago Blackhawks). We just wanted to get back to our hockey. I don't think we played a full 60 minutes in a while here. It was a little bit better. They made a couple big pushes, especially in the third period. [Allen] was great back in the net for us. A great play all the way all the way up the ice. I think all five guys on the ice touched it. That's when you know you're going good. It worked out really well. Whoever was on me I think might have lost an edge or fell down or dove, which opened me up a little more. Those other four guys, that was pretty crisp passing up the ice towards their end."
Alexander Steen: "Jake obviously huge, a couple that squirted out in the slot, especially the one left pad save he made. He's made a few of those this year."
Jake Allen: "They were throwing pucks at the net and got a few through. Guys boxed them out hard, didn't give them too many rebounds. It was nice. Picked up a big win."
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