Schwartz scores twice to lead Blues past Coyotes
ST. LOUIS -- Jaden Schwartz, breaking out of a long scoring drought, scored a pair of goals and assisted on another to lead the St. Louis Blues to a 4-1 win over the Arizona Coyotes on Monday night.
Alexander Steen assisted on all four St. Louis goals, and Vladimir Tarasenko capped the Blues' victory with his 35th goal of the season with 1:49 left in the third period. Tarasenko added two assists.
The Blues (41-28-6) improved to 10-1-1 in their past 12 games as they remained one point behind Nashville in the race for third place in the Central Division. The Predators defeated the New York Islanders 3-1 on the road on Monday night.
Beating the Coyotes is nothing new for the Blues, who are now 13-0-1 in their past 14 games against Arizona and have not lost to the Coyotes in regulation since 2012.
Goalie Jake Allen raised his career record to 7-0 against Arizona. He stopped 21 of 22 shots, allowing only a goal by Anthony DeAngelo 1:01 into the third period. Allen shut out the Coyotes 3-0 on March 18 in Arizona.
After a scoreless first period in which the two teams combined for only 10 shots on goal, Schwartz put the Blues ahead 7:53 into the second period when he converted a pass from Steen from behind the net.
The Blues increased the lead to 2-0 just 4:35 later, at 12:28, when Alex Pietrangelo picked up a loose puck and fired a wrist shot past goalie Mike Smith (24 saves).
After the Coyotes cut the lead to 2-1, Schwartz responded with his second goal of the game at 10:06 of the third period, deking Smith out of position for his 18th goal of the season.
Schwartz now has four goals in his last four games after he scored only once in his previous 25 games
The loss dropped the last-place Coyotes (27-40-9) to 1-5-1 in their last seven games.
NOTES: LW Clayton Keller, a St. Louis native, made his NHL debut for the Coyotes. He was the seventh overall pick in last summer's draft and played for Boston University this season until it was eliminated in the NCAA tournament on Saturday. ... The Blues said RW Dmitrij Jaskin is "close" to returning to the lineup after suffering an upper-body injury. He has missed the last seven games. ... C Alexander Burmistrov was back in the Arizona lineup after missing 13 games with an upper-body injury. ... The Blues and Coyotes will play the second half of back-to-back games on Wednesday night in Arizona.