Blues eye back-to-back wins for the first time in a month
The St. Louis Blues snapped a season-high three-game losing streak their last time out. They're now looking to win a second straight for the first time in a month by sending the Philadelphia Flyers to a third straight loss.
The Blues hit the midway point of a five-game homestand trying to break a stunning streak of recent offensive futility against the Flyers on Thursday night.
Alexander Steen and Vladimir Tarasenko scored in the second period to help the Blues (16-8-4) rally for a 4-1 win over Arizona on Tuesday. Kevin Shattenkirk and David Backes also scored and Jake Allen made 22 saves for St. Louis, which scored one goal in each game of the three-game skid.
"We have a solid hockey club, a very mentally strong (group). We take care of stuff in here," Steen said.
"There's going to be lulls and times where for whatever reason things aren't in sync like they usually are. We had a couple games, but we just regrouped. We've been better in practice and kind of grabbed it. Today was good."
The Blues had been 2-2-3 over the past seven and 4-5-3 in 12. They're looking for their first back-to-back victories since a three-game run Nov. 4-10.
"We needed to get back on the right track, and we needed our best players to be our best players and if you look at who scored the goals, you look at who played well, it's all the guys that have been through this before," said coach Ken Hitchcock, whose team improved to 8-0-1 when leading after two periods.
Hitchcock's club continued to struggle on the power play, though. St. Louis went 0 for 3 to leave it at 0 for 10 in the past four games and 2 for 17 in eight. It's converted 16.5 percent of its chances this season, near the bottom of the NHL.
The penalty killing has helped make up for it. The Blues have killed off 12 straight short-handed situations and are among the league leaders at 86.9 percent.
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Philadelphia (11-11-6) had been rolling along until its last two games, carrying a four-game winning streak into matchups with struggling Columbus on Saturday and the New York Islanders on Tuesday. The Flyers are now left trying to avoid an extended skid, having lost 4-1 to the Blue Jackets and 4-3 in a shootout to the Islanders.
Philadelphia fell Tuesday despite a 46-26 shot advantage, including 17-5 in the second period when it scored only once.
"We deserved better tonight," coach Dave Hakstol said. "Everybody was moving, jumping, playing with tenacity. It's a good formula."
Hakstol pulled Steve Mason early in the second period after he gave up three goals on 10 shots, and Michal Neuvirth provided a spark by stopping all 16 he faced. Despite that effort, Mason is expected to return to the net Thursday.
He'll try to extend the Blues' recent offensive struggles in the series. St. Louis has gone 2-2-0 in the past four meetings despite totaling two non-shootout goals. The last two matchups at Scottrade Center have been decided by 1-0 scores in a shootout.
Brian Elliott, who gets the nod in goal Thursday, earned the win in the most recent of those March 12 with 28 saves. He bested Mason, who stopped 35 shots and has gone 3-0-1 with a 0.62 goals-against average in his last five games against the Blues.
St. Louis has won four in a row at home over the Flyers.
