Blues continue mastery of Coyotes
GLENDALE, Ariz. -- The St. Louis Blues were already on a roll when they arrived in Arizona, but the Coyotes never seem to slow the Blues' roll.
Alex Pietrangelo, Scottie Upshall and David Perron scored and Jake Allen made 31 saves for his fourth shutout this season as St. Louis beat Arizona 3-0 on Saturday at Gila River Arena.
It was the Blues' seventh victory in their last eight games, their ninth straight victory over the Coyotes and St. Louis earned at least one point in 13 consecutive meetings with Arizona (11-0-1).
The Blues improved to 14-7-0 under coach Mike Yeo, who replaced Ken Hitchcock on Feb. 2. St. Louis recorded five shutouts under Yeo.
St. Louis climbed past Nashville into third place in the Central Division after the Predators lost to Carolina on Saturday.
Mike Smith made 37 saves for Arizona, but fell to 4-13 in his career against the Blues. The Coyotes' five-game point streak ended.
Coyotes defenseman Anthony DeAngelo earned a five-minute major penalty for boarding and a game misconduct 1:56 into the game when he lost his stick and then ran Blues left winger Zach Sanford from behind. Sanford left the game.
St. Louis cashed in with three seconds remaining on that power play when defenseman Alex Pietrangelo's high shot from the point eluded goalie Mike Smith even though Smith had a clean look at it and there was no deflection.
Ex-Coyote Scottie Upshall made it 2-0 at 2:52 of the second period on St. Louis' first shot of the period. Upshall gathered a loose puck in the high slot, wheeled toward the net and fired a shot through a screen and between Smith's pads for his ninth goal of the season.
Smith stopped Blues leading scorer Vladimir Tarasenko on a penalty shot late in the second period to keep the tam close. Smith's positioning was so good that Tarasenko skated all the way to the side of the net before attempting a weak shot form the goal line.
Perron scored into an empty net during a Coyotes power play with 1:03 left.
NOTES: Saturday's game was the first of three meetings in 12 days. The teams had not faced each other this season before this stretch. ... Blues LW Dmitrij Jaskin (upper body) and C Jori Lehtera (upper body) missed their third and fifth straight games, respectively. Both are considered day-to-day. ... Blues LW Robby Fabbri (ACL) is out for the season. ... Coyotes RW Shane Doan missed the game with a lower-body injury suffered Thursday against Detroit. ... Coyotes D Kevin Connauton (upper body) and C Alexander Burmistrov (concussion) missed their eighth and ninth straight games. ... Of the Blues 12 remaining games, only two -- home games against Nashville and Calgary -- are against teams in playoff position. ... The Coyotes honored RW Radim Vrbata with a pregame ceremony after he played in his 1,000th NHL game March 9 versus Ottawa.