Blues 5, Coyotes 2
ST. LOUIS -- Kyle Brodziak scored twice and Vladimir Tarasenko scored one third-period goal and assisted on another to give the St. Louis Blues a 5-2 win over the Arizona Coyotes Monday night that pulled the Blues into a first-place tie with the Dallas Stars in the Central Division.
Both teams have 105 points with two games remaining in the regular season. If the two teams end the season tied, Dallas would win the tiebreaker. The win also moved the Blues six points ahead of the third-place Blackhawks.
Tarasenko's unassisted goal, his 37th of the season, at 10:42 came just seconds after Arizona goalie Mike Smith had denied Magnus Paajarvi on a two-on-none break and put the Blues ahead 3-2.
Patrik Berglund increased the lead to 4-2 with the Blues' second power-play goal of the night at 13:00, with Tarasenko getting his 34th assist of the season, before Brodziak added his second goal of the period with 51 seconds left in the game.
The win was the seventh in their last eight games for the Blues, who extended their winning streak to eight consecutive games over the Coyotes. The Blues are 11-0-1 against Arizona over the last four seasons.
After spotting the Coyotes an early 2-0 lead, the Blues rallied and tied the game on a shorthanded goal from Brodziak 1:28 into the third period. Three of Brodziak's seven goals this season have come when the Blues were shorthanded.
Antoine Vermette put the Coyotes in front just 3:28 into the game with his 16th goal of the season. He backhanded a rebound of a shot by Connor Murphy past goalie Brian Elliott.
Anthony Duclair increased the lead to 2-0 at 13:08 of the first period on his 20th goal of the year, converting a pass from Alex Tanguay after a turnover by the Blues in the neutral zone.
The Blues cut the lead to 2-1 at 7:36 of the second period with a power-play goal by Troy Brouwer, who deflected a shot by Alex Pietrangelo with just 16 seconds left in a crosschecking penalty against Alex Grant.
The goal was the sixth in his last 13 games for Brouwer, who has 18 goals for the season.
NOTES: G Jake Allen and RW David Backes were both injured in the Blues' game Sunday night at Colorado and will miss the final games in the regular season this week. The team said both are dealing with lower-body injuries and will be re-evaluated before the playoffs. ... Backes' injury leaves RW Troy Brouwer as the only St. Louis player who has appeared in every game this season. ... The Blues hope that three other injured players, LW Robby Fabbri (left leg), RW Steve Ott (hamstring) and D Jay Bouwmeester (possible concussion), will be ready to play Thursday night in Chicago. ... The Coyotes played without C Martin Hanzal (upper body) and D Nicklas Grossmann, whose wife is having a baby. ... The Coyotes, ending the year on a four-game trip, play Tuesday night in Chicago.