Blues 6, Coyotes 0
Captain David Backes put on a show by scoring four consecutive goals and Brian Elliott posted his 27th career shutout as visiting St. Louis cruised past Arizona.
It was the second career four-goal performance by Backes, who matched his total from the previous 22 contests. Paul Stastny netted a tally and set up another, Jaden Schwartz also scored and T.J. Oshie collected three assists to extend his point streak to six games for the Blues, who completed a 2-2-0 road trip.
Patrik Berglund and Alex Steen notched two assists apiece while Elliott made 23 saves en route to his second blanking of the season. Mike Smith turned aside 33 shots for the Coyotes, who fell to 1-1-0 on their six-game homestand while having their five-game point streak at Gila River Arena snapped.
After Stastny buried a rebound on the doorstep 7:57 into the contest, Backes began his spotlight performance at 6:15 of the second period by converting Oshie's feed at the left side of the crease during a power play. The 30-year-old made it 3-0 just 66 seconds later with another man-advantage goal, beating Smith from the right faceoff circle during a partial breakaway.
Backes completed his third career hat trick with 5:07 remaining in the session with a shot from the left circle following a cross-ice pass from Berglund and capped his impressive effort at 3:15 of the third by redirecting a backhand pass from along the right-wing boards by Steen. Schwartz put the finishing touch on the victory by deflecting defenseman Alex Pietrangelo's one-timer from the left point during a power play at 5:53.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Backes also scored four goals on April 2, 2009 at Detroit. ... Coyotes C Antoine Vermette started but left 26 seconds into the contest after taking a puck to the face. The veteran got stitched up in the locker room and returned six minutes later. ... Oshie has recorded seven points (three goals) over his last two contests. ... Arizona C Martin Hanzal was scratched with an upper-body injury.