Blues 4, Blue Jackets 1
Rookie Vladimir Tarasenko scored his fifth goal and Brian Elliott made 24 saves as visiting St. Louis continued its best start in 15 years.
Defenseman Barret Jackman, Patrik Berglund and captain David Backes also scored for the Blues (6-1-0), who led 3-0 after one period. Jackman has scored in two straight games after recording one goal in his previous 181 contests.
Derick Brassard recorded a power-play goal for the Blue Jackets, who have been outscored 10-2 in the first period this season. Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 8 of 11 shots before being replaced with 6:38 left in the first period by Steve Mason, who made 13 saves.
Jackman's shot from the point along the wall found the upper-left corner of the net at 2:19. Berglund's fourth of the season was a blast through a screen provided by Backes at 10:23 and Tarasenko avoided a hit by Columbus defenseman James Wisniewski before scoring his fifth on a wrist shot and chasing Bobrovsky just under three minutes later.
Brassard's goal came with 3:09 left in the second period, when he took a feed from Brandon Dubinsky and beat a sprawling Elliott under the crossbar. Elliott kept it a two-goal game when he denied R.J. Umberger's short-handed bid with 1:37 left before Backes' first of the season was fired into an empty net on the power play with 20.1 seconds to go.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Rookie D Tim Erixon, part of the blockbuster trade that sent Rick Nash to the New York Rangers, was a minus-1 and was whistled for two minor penalties in 18:10 while making his Columbus debut. He was called up from Springfield of the American Hockey League on Wednesday. ... St. Louis started 7-1-0 in 1997. ... Elliott is 5-0-0 against Columbus.