Steen leads the way as Blues survive late Canucks surge 4-3
VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- Alexander Steen had a goal and an assist and the St. Louis Blues held off the Vancouver Canucks 4-3 on Friday night.
Jori Lehtera, Robert Bortuzzo and Kyle Brodziak also scored for St. Louis (4-1-0), which has won three straight and was playing its second game in as many nights after beating the Oilers 4-2 in Edmonton on Thursday.
Jake Allen stopped 31 shots to get the victory, while Vladimir Tarasenko and Carl Gunnarsson chipped in with two assists each.
Brandon Sutter, with a goal and two assists, Jared McCann and Daniel Sedin scored for Vancouver (3-1-1), which has dropped its only two home games of the young season.
Ryan Miller made 28 saves in taking the loss.
The Canucks came in with a 6-0-0 record against the Blues over the last two seasons, and were 9-0-2 in the clubs' last 11 meetings dating back to January 2012, but were down 3-0 midway through the game.
Steen scored his third of the season by finishing off a pretty passing play with Tarasenko and Paul Stastny at 4:52 of the second after Vancouver defenseman Alexander Edler turned the puck over in the neutral zone.
Bortuzzo then stretched the lead to three with his first of the season at 10:01 when he banged a rebound past Miller, who was acquired by the Blues prior to the 2014 trade deadline before signing with the Canucks as a free agent that summer.
Vancouver cut the deficit to 3-1 while killing a penalty at 12:38 when Sutter moved in on a 2-on-1 rush and beat Allen with a low shot for his second.
The Canucks got a four-minute power play when Tarasenko was whistled for high-sticking on Sutter late in the period, but couldn't do much with the advantage that stretched into the third.
Brodziak scored his first of the season with 3:46 left to make it 4-1 before McCann batted his second home 30 seconds later.
Sedin scored his second with 28.8 seconds left to get the Canucks to within one. He had another late chance in close, but couldn't beat Allen.
St. Louis opened the scoring at 7:36 of the first when Lehtera buried his second after Miller overplayed a cross-ice pass from Jaden Schwartz.
Coming off back-to-back road victories against the Anaheim Ducks and Los Angeles Kings, the Canucks had a chance to grab the lead earlier in the period, but failed to even get a shot off when they broke in on a 4-on-1 rush.
Notes: Stastny left in the second period and did not return. ... Coming into Friday, the Blues had not beaten the Canucks since April 16, 2013. ... Vancouver hosts the Oilers on Sunday in the second game of five-game homestand, while St. Louis visits the Winnipeg Jets. ... The Canucks dressed McCann and Jake Virtanen, both 19, marking the first time the team had played two teenagers since Rob Murphy (19) and Trevor Linden (18) suited up on Nov. 13, 1988.
