It's 11th Heaven for Blues

O'Reilly OT winner nets 3-2 win over Maple Leafs, establishing 

franchise record with 11th win in a row despite blowing 2-0 lead

By LOU KORAC
ST. LOUIS -- When the Toronto Maple Leafs rallied from a two-goal deficit in the third period, there was a hush over a boisterous Blues crowd that felt history maybe slipping through their hands.

The Blues of October, November and December wouldn't have been able to recover.

But these Blues, not a chance they wouldn't recover. Not the hottest team in the NHL. They find ways to overcome all adversity. They find ways to persevere. And they find ways to keep on winning.

(St. Louis Blues photo)

Blues center Ryan O'Reilly (90), who scored the overtime game-winner, 

moves the puck away from Maple Leafs center John Tavares on Tuesday.

The Blues emphatically made history and in doing so, it was 11th Heaven, a franchise record 11-game winning streak in hand when Ryan O'Reilly scored 34 seconds into overtime for a 3-2 Blues win over the Maple Leafs on Tuesday that send 18,598 delirious fans home from Enterprise Center.

The Blues (32-22-5) led 2-0 on first-period goals by Jaden Schwartz and Colton Parayko and seemed well on their way to winning in convincing fashion and establishing that mark with the conviction that carried them through much of the previous 10 straight wins against a formidable opponent.

But the Maple Leafs (36-19-4), with their high-powered offense, were not about to go down swinging and become part of history in the wrong way. 

Toronto pushed and pushed and kept challenging the Blues. But these Blues somehow won't have their will broken.

"Oh gosh, it's exciting, it's what it is. It's fun hockey. We're really enjoying it," O'Reilly said. "You see just from the start of the year how frustrating it was and how we kept working and working and not getting the results. Now you see the way we've come together, how everyone's invested in each other, everyone's trying to make it easy for the next guy. That wasn't a perfect game, a good first, they took it to us the second, a couple bad bounces in the third, but we stuck with it again. It's just one of those things where as a team, we're coming together, we're finding ways to win hockey games."

O'Reilly scored in typical O'Reilly fashion, putting in the work at one end and getting rewarded at the other.

He broke up a dangerous Toronto rush by picking off a Mitch Marner pass that was intended for John Tavares in the slot and headed the other way with Tarasenko, who had his 12-game point streak snapped, on a 2-on-1. Instead of dishing, O'Reilly kept it and snapped a shot bar-down part Leafs goalie Frederik Andersen's blocker for the win.

"Marner was winding up there," O'Reilly said. "He kind of saw that he had me beat. He was just flying. It was just a desperate trying to get back and you see when [Blues goalie Jordan Binnington] went down, he was going to try and throw it in front and I just try and get a stick on it and lucky for us, put it in an area where we can go 2-on-1.

"I'm coming down and I'm forcing it to him. I think he kind of had that feeling I was going to go to him. I got in a pretty good spot where it's a dangerous shot and I can feel that top side was open a bit. Just lucky it went in and felt real good."

The Blues broke the record of 10 straight wins, also accomplished Jan. 3-23, 2002. They were tied with the Buffalo Sabres (Nov. 8-27) for the longest winning streak in the NHL this season. 

"It's always good. It's great," Blues captain Alex Pietrangelo said, "especially after the way we started this year, so it's a good push for us. 

"We've come a long way since (early in the season). For me and everybody else, we get the sense we're not really satisfied."

Binnington made 31 saves for the Blues, whose shutout streak ended at 233:50, the second-longest in their history. Binnington has won nine straight starts, a Blues rookie record. Binnington (13-1-1) joined Andrew Hammond (14-0-1), Patrick Lalime (13-1-1), Frederik Andersen (13-2-0), Bob Froese (13-1-1) and Wayne Thomas (13-1-1) as the sixth goaltender in NHL history to win at least 13 of his first 15 NHL starts and is now tied with five other goalies for the fifth-best winning streak by a rookie goalie in NHL history.

"He played excellent, to say the least," Blues coach Craig Berube said of Binnington. "I thought he looked really good all game, calm and cool. I didn't think our team panicked at all tonight. They had good legs and we didn't quite have our legs in the second and third period."

In all the hoopla, the Blues moved six points ahead of the Dallas Stars for third place in the Central Division and stayed six behind Nashville for second and are seven behind Winnipeg. The Blues haven't trailed in a game since Feb. 5, a stretch of 493:42.

The Blues took a 2-0 lead for a seventh straight game when Schwartz (10:13) scored his third in five games after going 22 straight without one and Parayko (17:42) scored in the first period. The Blues outshot the Maple Leafs 19-9.

"I think we've been starting a lot of games that way," Berube said. "Get pucks in and go to work. Shoot pucks and get them back. Their goalie played really well, which we knew he was going to. He's a good goalie. It was a good hockey game. A good team over there. Real good team."

Schwartz's goal was a prime example of how the Blues have been puck-hunting. Schwartz's dogged pursuit forced Jake Muzzin to try and play a quick backhand out of the zone before he slipped. New dad Alexander Steen retrieved it, fed Tyler Bozak, who fed Schwartz.

Parayko's goal, which came on a power play, needed a review after it was initially not called a goal on the ice.

"I thought it hit the post, because I didn't see anybody react and the goal horn go off or anything," Parayko said. "... I just kind of continued to play and I knew it wasn't the end of the period because the buzzer went off. When we started the power-play, there was three minutes to go."

Toronto started coming on in the second period when they outshot St. Louis 16-13, but Binnington preserved the lead for the Blues.

"That goalie there is playing unbelievable," Marner said of Binnington. "You saw how many chances he saved tonight that were pretty Grade A. He’s playing unbelievable for them."

The Maple Leafs rallied with two goals in 31 seconds in the third period. Hyman ended the Blues shutout streak at 6:34 when he banked a shot on off defenseman Joel Edmundson before Matthews tied it 2-2 at 7:05 by poking in a loose puck.

That's when the hush could be heard. It hasn't been like this in quite some time. 

But ... 

"We just keep going," Pietrangelo said. "We trust the process throughout the game. It might take overtime like it did tonight and Nashville. But again, good teams find a way to win. And that's what we're doing right now."

(St. Louis Blues photo)

Blues goalie Jordan Binnington (left) makes an outstretched save on Zach

Hyman of the Maple Leafs on Tuesday at Enterprise Center.

Maple Leafs center Nazem Kadri did not play after the first period because of a concussion after being rocked from a hit by Blues defenseman Vince Dunn.

Tarasenko's point streak -- he had 22 points (11 goals, 11 assists) over that stretch -- came to an end, but with the Blues' concept of team-first, he probably doesn't care.

"That's just kind of the way it's going right now," O'Reilly said. "We just keep going onto the next. That's an exciting win for us, especially at home and earlier in the year the way we were playing, get that win tonight for the fans too, it's an emotional win for us."

(2-19-19) Maple Leafs-Blues Gameday Lineup

By LOU KORAC
ST. LOUIS -- Whoever saw this coming in October, November, December, even in January, raise your hands.

Nobody? Well, that would probably be the majority, but the Blues (31-22-5) have a chance to establish history with a win against the Toronto Maple Leafs (36-19-3) at Enterprise Center today (7 p.m.; NBCSN, KMOX 1120-AM).

The Blues, four points ahead of the Dallas Stars for third place in the Central Division, six behind the Nashville Predators for second and nine behind the Winnipeg Jets for first, have set some mighty impressive numbers in winning 10 in a row, which ties a franchise record only done one other time (Jan. 3-23, 2002).

St. Louis has outscored its opponents 40-14, including three straight wins via shutout (187:16 shutout streak). The Blues haven't trailed in a game since Feb. 5 at the Florida Panthers (433:08), goalie Jordan Binnington, who will start tonight, set a rookie record with his eighth straight win Sunday against Minnesota, and the Blues can establish an NHL-high with their 11th straight win tonight (they're tied with the Buffalo Sabres, Nov. 8-27).

"It's special," Blues defenseman Colton Parayko said. "It's been a good little stretch here for us. It's definitely showing in our work ethic and our game that we're playing the right way and we're doing the right things that winning teams do. It's been fun. Obviously it's going to be a good match tonight, so we've got to make sure we continue to do our thing the right way and bring our best game and hopefully, we can make history.

"... Everything is kind of going our way. A lot of those things go from just us being in the right spots and just being there with our work ethic. I think when you put that together, it's a deadly combo. I think that we're smothering teams with the way we're tracking, the way we're forechecking, the way we're getting pucks deep and just making it hard on them."

Considering where the Blues were on Jan. 3, last in the NHL with 34 points at 15-18-4, to where they are now with 67 points, it's quite remarkable that they've been able to put this 16-4-1 stretch together.

"Obviously struggled at the beginning of the year, and I think we all expected something different," said Blues center Ryan O'Reilly, who has 18 points (six goals, 12 assists) the past 15 games. "But that's the way it was. It took us a while to find chemistry, but we kept fighting, we kept clawing away at it and now we're back in a much better position. 

"We're still not satisfied. We want to keep this thing going as long as we can. We are taking it one game at a time. We have a really good team coming in here tonight that we want to beat. We want to prove that we're the better team. That's really all that matters is this game tonight.

"... To be honest, we're just looking for two points (tonight). Toronto obviously is a great team with tons of firepower and we have to be on. From the outside looking in, it would be really cool to set something like that, but for myself, I'm just worried about the matchup that I have tonight and playing hard that I'm going to be facing."

For defenseman Vince Dunn, it's a unique situation and one he's never been a part of.

"It's not  too often you get a streak going like this," Dunn said. "Obviously we know we had a good road trip and now we've got to move on from that. We know we've got a tough team coming in our building tonight. We've just got to be ready for them.

"But it's just taking the positives from every game whenever we can. There's no easy teams you ever play. Once you win one, you've got to forget about that and get ready for the next one coming in. The confidence is definitely there with the team, there's a lot of positive energy in the room and on the ice."

The winning streak has been maintained because of a mindset that the players believe in.

"We want to continue on building, continually getting ourselves better," O'Reilly said. "You look at the goaltending, these guys have been standing on their heads for us making it easy. When we put the puck in the net, it's a good recipe, but we continually want to get our system better, continually grow our game and we are. We're not playing perfect, but we want to get up there and get to that next level."

- - -

There was a sigh of relief from not only the Blues locker room, but from anxious fans wondering how the left leg of right wing Vladimir Tarasenko held up after his awkward fall to the ice on Sunday.

Tarasenko was battling with Wild defenseman Jared Spuegeon for a puck along the offensive zone wall when he suddenly lost an edge and fell backwards in an awkward spot falling with his left leg pinned behind him.

He was on the ice on all fours being attended to by head athletic trainer Ray Barile and after skating off and staying on the bench, Tarasenko finished the game and played 16 minutes 41 seconds. He had a goal and two assists to extend his career-high point streak to 12 games (11 goals, 11 assists).

There were unconfirmed reports of Tarasenko wearing a protective boot on Monday, but he was on the ice at Tuesday's morning skate and will play tonight.

"That's tough going into the boards like that," Blues coach Craig Berube said. "A lot of bad things can happen, but fortunately for us and for him, it was all good."

Since Jan. 5, Tarasenko has 29 points (15 goals, 14 assists).

"He's obviously a special player. He's a leader for us," Parayko said of Tarasenko. "Seeing him get up was a big sigh of relief. Obviously it was tough to see him go down, but he's a battler, he's the one that wants to be on the ice, wants to produce for the team. Whenever you have that, that's huge and we're looking forward to watching him continue his success."

- - -

Blues defensemen have found a way to pitch in with offense from their defensemen.

They have accounted for 25 percent (10 goals) in this winning streak and it's by no coincidence that they're finding ways to filter into plays and making calculated risks that are paying off.

"When we can be active from the backend, that's really helping the forwards out, but they've done a really good job of scoring goals," Dunn said. "Lots of the goals haven't exactly been pretty, but a lot of credit to them getting in front of the goalies banging in the dirty ones."

- - -

Defenseman Carl Gunnarsson (upper body), who has not played since Feb. 5 at Florida, skated again and looks like he's close to returning, but forward David Perron (upper body), believed to have a concussion, did not skate with the team.

Berube said Perron obviously won't play Tuesday but there is some light there.

"He's making progress. He's still not ready," Berube said. "It is what it is, and when he's healthy, he'll play."

- - -

In going 8-0-0, Binnington has a 1.41 goals-against average, .949 save percentage and three shutouts in those eight starts.

Blues forward Brayden Schenn has six points (one goal, five assists) in a four-game point streak. Combined with O'Reilly and Tarasenko, that line has 44 points (16 goals, 28 assists) the past 10 games. Schenn has 13 points (two goals, 11 assists), O'Reilly has 11 points (four goals, seven assists) and Tarasenko has 20 points (10 goals, 10 assists).

Blues forward Alexander Steen, who missed the past two games for the birth of his daughter, will return tonight and go in for Robby Fabbri.

- - -

The Blues' projected lineup:

Brayden Schenn-Ryan O'Reilly-Vladimir Tarasenko

Jaden Schwartz-Tyler Bozak-Alexander Steen

Zach Sanford-Oskar Sundqvist-Pat Maroon

Mackenzie MacEachern-Ivan Barbashev-Robert Thomas 

Joel Edmundson-Alex Pietrangelo

Jay Bouwmeester-Colton Parayko

Vince Dunn-Robert Bortuzzo

Jordan Binnington will start in goal; Jake Allen will be the backup. 

Healthy scratches include Robby Fabbri and Chris Butler. David Perron (upper body) and Carl Gunnarsson (upper body) are out.

- - -

The Maple Leafs' projected lineup:

Zach Hyman-John Tavares-Mitchell Marner

Patrick Marleau-Auston Matthews-Kasperi Kapanen

Andreas Johnsson-Nazem Kadri-William Nylander

Par Lindholm-Frederik Gauthier-Connor Brown

Morgan Rielly-Ron Hainsey

Jake Gardiner-Travis Dermott 

Jake Muzzin-Nikita Zaitsev

Frederik Andersen will start in goal; Garret Sparks will be the backup. 

Healthy scratches include Tyler Ennis, Justin Holl and Igor Ozhiganov. The Maple Leafs report no injuries.

Fourth line forwards giving Blues strong play at both ends of ice

Barbashev, MacEachern, Thomas have formed a solid line since 

start of February, turning in solid offense after five-point game Tuesday

By LOU KORAC
HAZELWOOD, Mo. -- When Robert Thomas returned to the Blues lineup Feb. 2, the thought was he would pick up where he had left off.

Thomas had a good run of games centering the third line flanked by Robby Fabbri and Oskar Sundqvist or Pat Maroon, even getting some time on the wing with Brayden Schenn and Jaden Schwartz.

(St. Louis Blues photo)

Ivan Barbashev (49) tries to move the puck past Devils forward Kenny

Agostino on Tuesday in St. Louis' 8-3 win.

But Blues interim coach Craig Berube chose to bring him back in a different role, one that would use him in a fourth-line role, and open himself up to criticism to Blues fans.

How could they do this to the No. 1 pick in 2017 after Thomas was finally gaining steam in the NHL playing up in the lineup? How will Thomas ever grow if he's playing 10 minutes a game?

Those are the risks a coach has to take, but an even more calculated risk was putting the 19-year-old Thomas with a 23-year-old [Ivan Barbashev] and 24-year-old [Mackenzie MacEachern] who's still getting his feet wet in the NHL?

A fourth line is simply supposed to provide limited, quality minutes, those of the checking variety and being more or less defensively responsible, get off the ice and allow the top-heavy guys to do their thing.

Not this fourth line, not on this team. Especially when this line can be dangerous offensively, which it was in that 8-3 thrashing of the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday.

Barbashev had the first three-point game of his NHL career with two goals and an assist, MacEachern scored a beauty of a goal off a breakout attempt from the defensive zone, his third goal in just 12 games, and Thomas had an assist, giving him four in his first three-game point streak in the NHL.

They've been together now for six games, and judging by the results, not only offensively, but getting responsibilities when called upon in all areas, let the confidence continue to grow, as Berube is doing.

But one has to like the fact that after feeling like their games weren't the best Sunday in Nashville, they were determined to make an impact on the next game moving forward, a good sign of maturation, and that it allows that confidence to grow.

"A lot to be honest, but I think our last game in Nashville wasn't really good," Barbashev said. "I think it wasn't a really good game for us, but it was a good bounce back for my line. I think we did a really good job out there.

"... It's good to be honest. [Thomas] is a really smart player, he can make plays and he can score some goals. I think he's doing a real good job. [MacEachern] brings a lot. He's been working hard for a long time. I think he's playing really physical. He's playing smart. It's really simple for me and 'Thommy' to be honest. It just feels good."

The 10 minutes 11 seconds played Tuesday was a career-high for MacEachern, who has scored in two of the past three games.

"I think this is like our fifth game together … the first couple we got a lot of chances, but the puck wasn't going in," MacEachern said. "We kind of talked and kind of built off that and the last couple of games it seems like it's going in.

"(Confidence) is getting there definitely. It's nice to see the puck go in the net. Obviously that's not my game, but it's nice to see. I'm just going to continue being hard and being physical and hopefully contribute however I can."

What Berube sees is players who can create, players that can utilize their speed and players who can be confident in their respective roles, and he's allowed them to do what's necessary.

"They're just young guys who are playing and enjoying the game and having fun," Berube said. "Lot of good skill there with Robby Thomas, his skill level with the puck and what he can do with it and his smarts and Mackenzie MacEachern, speed, Barbashev's overall play in the middle of the ice. They gel together pretty well."

Thomas was coming off a shoulder injury that forced him to miss even games, so instead of throwing him back into the fire, Berube allowed him to settle in gently. The results have been better than one figured.

"When he came back from the injury, I didn't want to get him jumped right in there too high in the lineup, I wanted to see how he was looking with his shoulder," Berube said. "We started winning, we were winning and we kept the lineup the same. They've been a good line."

It was a fourth line kind of goal in the first period Tuesday and all played a part in it.

Barbashev scored after MacEachern forced Devils goalie Keith Kinkaid into turning the puck over with his forecheck one way and Kinkaid playing the puck the opposite way. Thomas picked it off and nearly scored himself, but the puck hit the post. However, Barbashev got two whacks at it before making it 2-0.

(St. Louis Blues photo)

Mackenzie MacEachern (62) battles for a puck with a Devils player on 

Tuesday. He scored his third NHL goal in the Blues' 8-3 win.

"Yeah. Our line had a lot of chances in Nashville and today was the day we scored some goals for it," Barbashev said. "It feels good to be honest."

And then how about MacEachern's goal against Nashville Saturday? Thomas races over to intercept an errant pass, throws it at the net, Barbashev there to take a couple whacks at it before MacEachern sneaks in on the rebound to hammer it home, and it turned out to be the game-winner in a 3-2 win.

"It's the fourth line," Barbashev said. "That's what we do. We're just mucking out there."

Barbashev seems to be enjoying this the greatest, finally being able to settle in with linemates on a consistent basis after a variety of players stopping in.

"I actually enjoy playing with everyone," Barbashev said. "You guys know I played with a lot of guys this year."

It looks like unless there's an injury/injuries, both Thomas and MacEachern will be temporary residents on Barbashev's line, and that's OK with the Blues, who are riding a seven-game winning streak because, it's best to not fix what's not broken, and this line certainly isn't broken.

(2-14-19) BLUES NOTEBOOK

If it's up to players, Blues should stand pat come trade deadline in light of 

recent surge; Blues on road looking to gain separation; Perron unlikely to play

By LOU KORAC
HAZELWOOD, Mo. -- It was last year in the month of February, the Blues were trending in the wrong direction, and there were uneasy feelings around the locker room.

The Blues were teetering on that edge of being a wild card team from the Western Conference, but went through a seven-game losing streak Feb. 11-27 that turned the Blues, despite making a late-season push and finishing one point out of the second wild card behind the Colorado Avalanche with 94 points (44-32-6 record), into sellers.

They traded away Paul Stastny to the Winnipeg Jets, much to the dissatisfaction of a number of veteran players, but at the time, Blues management just didn't feel like the roster constructed as it was, was a Stanley Cup contender.

Fast forward to this season, when things went awry from the season's start, it seemed like a foregone conclusion that the Blues would be sellers, since they were at the bottom of the NHL standings as late as Jan. 2. 

But since then, the Blues have gone 13-4-1, including their first seven-game winning streak since 2015, and the feeling with a 28-22-5 record, good for the first wild card in the West and gaining momentum by the day, they have the pieces as currently constructed to stay the course.

Translation for general manager Doug Armstrong: don't fix what's not broken.

"I don't expect really anything to happen," Blues center Ryan O'Reilly said. "It's nice. I think we've earned it. It was a tough start to the season, but we hung on and we stayed in the fight and we battled back. But we're not done. There's still plenty to fight for. There's so many good pieces in this room. If you look at Nashville, Tampa, two elite teams and we were right there with them. You never know what happens and you can never be too sure, but I think we have the pieces in here to win. It's nice to have that."

It has to be especially nice for O'Reilly, the Blues' leading scorer with 57 points (21 goals, 36 assists), who has been far too often on the other end where he's part of a locker room that's in seller's mode.

The past three seasons in Buffalo, where the Sabres have floundered near the bottom of the Eastern Conference and league standings, Buffalo wasn't adding this time of year but unloading, and before that when O'Reilly spent six seasons in Colorado, he tasted playoff competition only twice (2009-10 and 2013-14).

"It can be unsettling at times; you never know, but we're professionals," O'Reilly said. "You understand that. It comes with the territory. If you don't win, you can expect changes to happen. It is a part of the game, but as you get older and have families, it can be tough in that way and for them, it sucks. 

"It's interesting, but I don't expect really anything big to happen here, and that's good. I think we have the group that can get it done."

So, are the players, particularly the veterans OK with the lineup constructed as is?

"Absolutely," O'Reilly said. "I think everyone's kind of bought in here. We have this great mentality and great togetherness that's just making for effective hockey. We're still improving, we're still not playing perfect hockey, but we're finding ways and our staples in our game are really important that we've found. We've still got to keep growing together. You never know what's going to happen, but you've just got to stay with it. Whoever's in here, we've just got to keep working."

The NHL Trade Deadline is on Feb. 25, and the Blues will play seven more games before then. They'll have a better idea leading into it whether they feel like they can be buyers or not, but considering the fact they're pressed up near the salary cap ceiling, it will be hard for Armstrong to buy rentals without sending salary back the other way. The Blues are equipped to make hockey trades, but not rental ones.

"I'll be honest with you, I don't even know when the trade deadline is," Blues captain Alex Pietrangelo said. "I don't think many guys in this room do. We're just going about our business here playing the the way we need to play. That stuff's out of our hands. We've just got to keep going and playing. I know it's coming up soon because you keep asking me. I'm not exactly sure what day it is. We're worrying about what's in this locker room. It hasn't come up in this room. We've got a good thing going."

It's just remarkable how quickly this streak turned the Blues from sellers to potential buyers, or even a stand-pat club this quickly.

"You want to be trending up this time of year," Pietrangelo said. "Last year we were kind of trending the wrong way; we built it back up there and made a push in the end, but you want to make sure you're building the right way. That's what we're doing right now. We have a long ways to go, we have a big weekend ahead of us to hopefully try and create some separation. Tomorrow's a big game for us. Odd one to play last night. We've got to find a way to bounce back with some energy."

* Road warriors again -- The Blues packed their bags again for another trip. This time, they head to Arizona, Colorado and Minnesota, teams directly behind them in the standings and a chance to gain quality separation and continue that climb.

"Big three games for sure," Blues interim coach Craig Berube said. "Arizona, they won last night. They're playing pretty well. Pretty good team. They've got a lot of speed. They're right there. All three teams are, Colorado, Minny, but we've just got to worry about Arizona first."

The Blues are 14-9-3 away from Enterprise Center. They're the only Western Conference team with fewer than 10 regulation road losses, so the comfort level of playing on the road, where the Blues have won five in a row and 11 of 15 (11-3-1), is there.

"Phoenix is behind us there and we're trying to separate ourselves from Minnesota and Colorado," Pietrangelo said. "We're looking up, too. We have an opportunity to gain some points on some teams. We have three or four games in hand on some teams ahead of us, so this is a good opportunity for us to kind of make up some ground."

* Back to work -- Despite an impressive 8-3 win against New Jersey on Tuesday, the Blues were back on the ice at work.

They practiced at the Ice Zone before departing for Arizona to begin a three-game road trip in four days, including back-to-back day games Saturday and Sunday.

"We wanted to have a skate today," Berube said. "It was a good time to have a quick skate, get some pace up there, work on a couple of things. There won't be a lot of practice time on this trip, back to back games, afternoon games. It was a good time today.

"We've got everybody pulling on the same rope right now. It's important."

"These afternoon games, you don't practice," Pietrangelo said. "We travel Friday, so these are opportunities we have to take advantage of. It's not easy to always practice on the road. Sometimes the rink is not available, so you're driving to the practice rink and then you've got to pack up and go right back to the game and it's kind of a pain. So you're better off taking a day getting a workout in and stretch and go over meetings and video and whatnot. When you get an opportunity, especially when you're playing every other day, six weeks in a row we play back to backs. Rest is important. I'm not too worried about not being engaged. We're playing a lot of hockey right now."

There were 22 skaters on the ice, including defenseman Carl Gunnarsson, who is nursing an upper-body injury but will travel. Forwards Alexander Steen and David Perron (upper body) did not skate.

Steen had a maintenance day, but Berube was not optimistic that Perron, who has missed the past nine games, would play on this trip at all.

"Right now, I don't expect him to be on the trip," Berube said.

* Plus-6 magic -- Speaking of Pietrangelo, count him out on all the hoopla of the plus-minus stat.

Pietrangelo became the first Blues player since Rick Lapointe and Bill Stewart to accomplish the feat on Nov. 11, 1980 against the Vancouver Canucks. Red Berenson holds the record of plus-7 in his six-goal game Nov. 7, 1968 against the Philadelphia Flyers.

By being a plus-6, Pietrangelo wiped out his minus status and is now even for the season.

"I didn't even know until I saw the sheet," Pietrangelo said. "I guess it's good. ... Six is a lot. I don't know if I had a whole lot to do with them, but I guess I'll take it. ... I'm not going to complain about it."

Seventh heaven for Blues after crushing Devils 8-3

Seven-game winning streak is longest since 2015; Pietrangelo, Barbashev 

three-point games lead way offensively; Tarasenko point streak at nine games

By LOU KORAC
ST. LOUIS -- It was the classic trap game, one in which the Blues had to guard against. What could possibly go wrong?

The Blues had just come off three emotionally draining wins against the Tampa Bay Lightning, 1-0 in overtime, to complete a successful dads trip and then back-to-back home-and-home wins over the Nashville Predators (3-2 at home Saturday and 5-4 in OT in Music City in Sunday).

(St. Louis Blues photo)

Center Ryan O'Reilly (90) scores early in the second period to give the Blues

a 4-1 lead en route to an 8-3 win against the New Jersey Devils Tuesday. 

Those games came in a span of three and a half days, and to come home against a sub-.500 team near the bottom of the Eastern Conference.

But these Blues had the right mindset and mentality at the morning skate, and Colton Parayko said then that the Blues can't afford to take anyone lightly and points are too previous right now.

Not only did the Blues not take the Devils lightly, they thoroughly dismantled them in scoring the most goals this season and most since 2017 with an 8-3 thrashing Tuesday before 17,509 at Enterprise Center, the Blues' seventh win in a row.

The Blues (28-22-5) just took control of this game from the opening puck drop. They possessed the puck for what seemed like the entire first period in taking a 3-1 lead and outshooting New Jersey (21-27-8) 20-6, and the 3-1 score could have been a lot worse.

Ask Devils center Travis Zajac.

"They played a really good hockey game," Zajac said of the Blues. "I think they came out, they moved the puck really well and executed really well and we were chasing it early. ... It could have been worse than it was."

The Blues got two goals and one assist each from Alex Pietrangelo and Ivan Barbashev, Ryan O'Reilly and Tyler Bozak each had a goal and an assist, Brayden Schenn, Vladimir Tarasenko and Parayko each had two assists, and Jordan Binnington won his sixth straight start, the first Blues goalie since Brent Johnson to win at least six in a row (Johnson won seven in a row twice, Oct. 6-Nov. 18, 2000 and Nov. 29, 2000-Jan. 1, 2001). 

Binnington is 10-1-1 his first 12 starts in the NHL with a 1.82 goals-against average and .927 save percentage.

Yeah, it was that kind of night for the surging Blues, who are now two points clear of Minnesota for the first wild card in the West but remained two behind Dallas for third in the Central Division.

"We know that. The big thing was getting up early," Pietrangelo said of not having a letdown. "You feel like you build early on and get ahead of them. We just took off from there. We hit the start well, we tried to find some energy early and we did that and worked.

"It was one of those nights where things are going in. Mine goes off their guy, 'Bozie' goes off their guy. We got the bounces but all those opportunities that we created – eight goals – all those goals from opportunities, either on the defensive end making a play or winning a puck on the forecheck or a neutral zone forecheck. Those are the things we've been trying to build all year and that's where we're creating a lot of our offense."

The Blues coaching staff addressed it Tuesday morning, and needless to say, the players took it to heart.

"After you come off a trip with Tampa and you have back-to-back games with Nashville, it's three obviously really good teams in the standings," Blues interim coach Craig Berube said. "We played hard against all those teams and competed. They were really good games, all of them were close games, heavy games. 

"You have the New Jersey Devils coming in and you look at the standings and where they're at and you can maybe say, well, we don't have to really show up for this game. You can't do that. They're a good team. All teams are good in the league and we wanted to compete right away in this game and come out in the first period and dictate how we're going to play and guys did a great job. We harped on that and made sure guys were ready and they did a good job and they were ready."

The Blues had the Devils so flummoxed throughout, the usual mild-mannered Keith Kinkaid, left in the game as the sacrificial lamb in goal, slammed his stick over the goal on Mackenzie MacEachern's breakaway goal to make it 5-1.

"Our team game is really solid right now," said Blues left wing Jaden Schwartz, who finally scored a goal for the first time in 23 games and 417:37 seconds of ice time. "Obviously guys are feeling pretty good. I think you can tell in how aggressive we are. Everyone knows how the standings are and how tight it is. If you're losing a few, you're sitting on the outside looking in. I think we've done a good job of staying even-keeled and not getting too ahead of ourselves and approaching each game one at a time."

Vladimir Tarasenko had two assists to give him an NHL career-high nine-game point streak (seven goals, seven assists).

"It was fun. It's fun winning," Barbashev said. "We've just got to keep winning."

St. Louis, which has won seven in a row for the first time since Jan. 17-Feb. 5, 2015, has won 10 in a row against the Devils, outscoring them 37-13.

The eight goals are the first for the Blues since an 8-3 win against the Edmonton Oilers on Nov. 21, 2017.

"I just think everyone is bought in, everyone is playing a team game," MacEachern said. "You can see, for example, the Nashville game everyone was sticking up for each other in those scrums. It's good to see and we've just got to keep doing that going forward."

The Blues took a 1-0 lead on Pietrangelo's seventh goal at 5:08 of the first period, a shot that caromed off the stick of Jesper Bratt, then Barbashev scored 1:33 later to make it 2-0 after MacEachern forced Kinkaid into turning the puck over behind his net, Robert Thomas hit the post, but Barbashev pounced on two loose pucks before slipping it past Kinkaid and the wheels were coming off.

"It's the fourth line. That's what we do," Barbashev said. "We're just mucking out there."

Pavel Zacha cut the Blues lead to 2-1 at 10:30 of the first after the Blues got a little careless with the puck in their zone with two turnovers, but Schwartz scored his first goal since Dec. 18 to make it 3-1 at 15:47.

"Just happy. I didn't know if it went off 'Bozie' ... there were a lot of guys in front of the net," Schwartz said. "I seen the reaction of the guys on the ice. They were pretty excited for me. It was nice to see it go in.

"I wasn't sure how the next one was going to go in, but you missed a lot of good chances, you get bounces one way or another. It was nice to see that one be a fortunate bounce for me."

Schwartz's teammates were as equally excited for him to finally end the drought after 72 shots on goal without a goal.

"It was priceless," Barbashev said of the reaction. "Everybody was happy for him. He didn't score for a long time. I think everybody was happy."

"He's had a lot of good looks," Pietrangelo said of Schwartz. "It's not like he's not getting chances. It's hitting a shin pad or a post, whatever. 

"I've said it since he came, he does so many things that most people don't see that we appreciate in this locker room. He's such a dynamic player in so many different ways, even when he's not scoring, I'm sure it's a weight off his shoulders. He almost had another one but he's going to keep rolling offensively."

The Blues scored three times in the second. O'Reilly scored 30 seconds into the period to make it 4-1 on a beauty that went bar down past a helpless Kinkaid. MacEachern's breakaway made it 5-1 at 6:11 and Bozak's goal made it 6-1 at 15:20.

"I think they're a very confident group right now," Berube said. "We've done a really good job over the last little while of coming out in the first period and … maybe the Florida game we didn't do that well … but the other games I thought we dictated how we were going to play and the pace of the game … getting it in deep and working, shooting pucks and recovering them … hard work and competitiveness."

Pietrangelo's first two-goal game since March 17, 2018 against the New York Rangers made it 7-1 45 seconds into the third period, a 4-on-4 goal that seemed like the Blues were dangling the puck on a string.

"That was a nice," Pietrangelo said. "'O'Ry' made a heck of a play in the middle of the ice there. Not much else but to shoot, I thought I'd give it a try."

Kyle Palmieri scored a power-play goal with a two-man advantage at 8:01 of the third to make it 7-2, but Barbashev's shorthanded goal at 9:25 made it 8-2 on a rebound after Kinkaid made a terrific save seconds before on Alexander Steen, who now carries the longest goalless streak at 23 games.

(St. Louis Blues photo)

Blues right wing Vladimir Tarasenko (91) stick-handles the puck near the

New Jersey goal Tuesday. Tarasenko extended his point streak to a career 

high nine games with two assists in the 8-3 win.

Mirco Mueller's first goal of the season at 12:44 of the third made it an 8-3 final, but for all intents and purposes, this one was over very early.

The seven-game winning streak came at the most opportune time that thrust the Blues into the top eight in the conference, but quite frankly, this is who everyone thought they could be at the start of the season.

"It's an 82-game stretch," Schwartz said. "Every team goes through ups and downs. We had a tough time early in the year. It was a lot of adversity on us. There were some tough days, but obviously we learned from it. It's made us a lot better and right now, it's really playing off."

(2-12-19) Devils-Blues Gameday Lineup

By LOU KORAC
ST. LOUIS -- Riding a six-game winning streak has been quite the feat thus far for the Blues, and doing so the past three games against two of the toughest teams in the league (Tampa Bay and Nashville twice) were some of the more emotionally draining kind of games packed with playoff intensity.

Now, it's on to the New Jersey Devils for the Blues (27-22-5), who want to keep riding this wave of emotion but will have to do so against a team below .500 (21-26-8) but one that can be deceptively good.

The Blues host the Devils today at 7 p.m. (FS-MW, KMOX 1120-AM) in a quick one-game at home before leaving for another three-game trip in a game that can be classified as a letdown game.

But the Blues, who currently hold down the first wild card in the Western Conference and sit two points behind Dallas for third in the Central Division, have no time to take off.

And they know it.

"We know where each team is in the standings, but I think that's our job to make sure we come out with our best game," Blues defenseman Colton Parayko said. "However you want to prepare, just come out with the same attitude. Where we're at in the season, where we're at in the playoff standings, games just don't come easy right now, so points are tough. I think as a group we collectively understand that and I think we understand that points aren't coming easy and we're going to have to put our best foot forward no matter who it is."

The Blues, who are 10-2-1 the past 13 games and have held 10 of those opponents to two goals or fewer, are in no position to take time off. They've worked this hard to climb up the standings and want to keep that momentum moving in the right direction.

That's what they've been able to do during this winning streak. They have a chance to go for seven in a row, which would be the longest since winning seven Jan. 17-Feb. 5, 2015.

"We've been playing full 60-minute games," Parayko said. "There are times when you have lapses and stuff, but we've been doing a good job of sticking with it when we're in those situations. When you continue to pressure and continue to stick with it, it makes it tougher for teams to start generating momentum and start generating things."

Rest assured, the coaching staff addressed the situation.

"It's not about being careful," Blues interim coach Craig Berube said. "We've got to take them like any other team. We talked about it this morning. You have to approach the game like you approach playing Nashville. They're a good team, they've run into some tough luck this year, they're a competitive team, they skate well, they're going to get after us, if we're not ready, it's going to be a tough night for us. It's on each individual to make sure he prepares himself to play the right way from the get-go."

- - -

The end to the Blues' 5-4 win against the Predators was the outcome the Blues wanted, but Nashville center Ryan Johansen didn't think it came on level playing ground.

Blues center Ryan O'Reilly won the opening faceoff, and Vladimir Tarasenko capped his fourth regular-season hat trick by scoring 16 seconds into the OT and the Predators never saw the puck.

Johansen said after the game that he felt the wasn't ready for the faceoff and didn't get a fair attempt when referee Chris Schlenker dropped the puck for the start of OT.

"I thought it was a very unfair drop at the end of the game," Johansen said. "He drops the puck and my stick's not down and he's skating away like it doesn't matter. It totally impacts the game. We saw it with our game with Dallas where we win the faceoff and we can win the game. That possession to start is huge. That's all that matters. We played our butts off and they played their butts off. It came down to a mistake like that, and that should be addressed because that's not fair. O'Reilly's an unbelievable faceoff guy and I just want it to be fair. It's too bad it ended like that.

"My stick wasn't even on the ice."

O'Reilly, who took 39 draws in the game and won 22 of them (the most faceoffs he's had in a game since taking 42 on Feb. 13, 2018 against the Lightning as a member of the Buffalo Sabres) was asked about it Tuesday morning and defended Schlenker.

"Obviously I heard [Johansen] complain right after the draw, but the ref said, 'Put your stick down.' He was waiting for it," O'Reilly said. "I was there and I was set and I was waiting. He took too long I guess. I think for the refs, it's different and they're not as consistent as the linesmen are. Obviously they have a lot of other stuff to do, but it's a fortunate bounce for us. To win the draw, get possession and score, it played an impact in the game and we're lucky to be on the right side of it."

Johansen could be seen skating towards Schlenker after the game ended to get some sort of explanation.

"I don't know what the explanation for it exactly was," O'Reilly said. "I felt he was just waiting. He wasn't putting his stick down and I was ready. Lucky for me we got a good bounce and we won the game.

"He dropped it and then [Johansen] was complaining and he just said, 'You didn't put your stick down' kind of thing. I think the timing was just off there. The center ice draws are always different. The refs are not used to taking them a lot. The timing isn't right and it's different. It's a unique play for sure."

- - -

The Blues are going back to Jordan Binnington in goal tonight.

Binnington, who was named the NHL's First Star of the Week Monday after going 3-0-0 with a 1.31 goals-against average, .954 save percentage and one shutout, is 5-0-0 with a 1.38 GAA, .942 save percentage and one shutout his past five starts, and 9-1-1 with a 1.54 GAA, .939 save percentage and two shutouts his first 11 NHL starts.

Binnington can become the second goalie in Blues history with a winning streak of at least six games (Brent Johnson, seven straight, accomplished it twice, Oct. 6-Nov. 18, 2000 and Nov. 29, 2000-Jan. 1, 2001).

"I'm not really thinking about it," Binnington said. "I'm kind of going day by day and trying to be relentless. It's really tough. You've got to come in every day and work really nonstop. You don't have time to think. I'm excited to be here. I wouldn't say I'm surprised, but I'm definitely enjoying it.

"You just try to prepare for anything, right? It's just been a fortunate situation with the team winning games right now. We're all excited and it's been fun. It's a lot of games, a lot of action, but you get a lot of rest and that's what I'm learning along the way."

Binnington had started seven straight games before Jake Allen played Sunday in Nashville for the first time in 24 days (Jan. 17 at Boston). Binnington's calm demeanor has seemed to spur the Blues in the right direction with his no nonsense attitude.

"I've kind of been act like you've done it before kind of guy," Binnington said. "I've been here for six, seven years now. I'm comfortable and I'm kind of hoping I'm getting the team going and keeping us in the right direction."

- - -

It's been quite the whirlwind month for Blues rookie Mackenzie MacEachern.

MacEachern, who's played in 11 games (two goals, one assist), was worried after he got a call to come into the office of head athletic trainer Ray Barile to speak with director of hockey operations Ryan Miller.

But that worry turned to smiles Saturday after the Blues beat the Predators 3-2. MacEachern was being called into sign his one-year, one-way contract extension worth $750,000.

"I was notified after the game," MacEachern said. "Ryan Miller told me to come in and meet him in Ray's office, so I was kind of confused to what's going on. Obviously it was a nice surprise that they were giving me an extension and just to sign it on the spot right there.

"It's awesome. To get that extension's awesome. Good group of guys here. Obviously you can see what this team can do right now. We're on a bit of a hot streak and really excited about the group. It's awesome to play. Just take it day by day. You don't want to get complacent obviously now that I have security. I just want to go out each and every day now and play my game."

MacEachern was set to become a Group VI unrestricted free agent and the Blues saw enough in the small sample size not to get it get to that point. MacEachern will now be a restricted free agent after the 2019-20 season but thought he was still going back to San Antonio of the American Hockey League after the game Saturday.

"I knew [David] Perron was coming back, so I just kind of figured it's numbers and oh well, it was kind of a good run," MacEachern said. "But obviously it was a nice little surprise there."

- - -

Former Blues farmhand Kenny Agostino will make his Devils debut tonight after being claimed off waivers on Monday from Montreal.

Agostino, who played seven games with the Blues in the 2016-17 season and scored a goal with two assists after signing as a free agent, remembers his time here and some of the Blues players he played with while a member of the Chicago Wolves.

"I do remember my cup of coffee here," Agostino joked. "Obviously here was great too. A lot of familiar faces on the other side. Coach I had in Chicago and some players. 

"I think I've become more of a two-way, defensively responsible hockey player. I sort of learned and adapted to playing a bottom six role in this league better over the years." 

- - -

Tarasenko has 12 points (seven goals, five assists) in an eight-game point streak, which matches an NHL career-high. A point tonight would set a career-high.

O’Reilly has 13 points (four goals, nine assists) the past 11 games and 23 points (seven goals, 16 assists) the past 20 games.

Forward Brayden Schenn has seven points (one goal, six assists) the past six games.

That line of Schenn-O'Reilly-Tarasenko has 23 points (nine goals, 14 assists) the past six games.

Defenseman Carl Gunnarsson (upper body) skated Tuesday but will miss his fourth straight game. 

Perron, who has missed the past eight games with an upper-body injury, will be re-evaluated this afternoon but will not play. He did not skate Tuesday with the group.

"He's still day to day right now," Berube said. "We'll know more today on him. He's getting looked at and evaluated today."

- - -

The Blues' projected lineup:

Brayden Schenn-Ryan O'Reilly-Vladimir Tarasenko

Jaden Schwartz-Tyler Bozak-Alexander Steen

Zach Sanford-Oskar Sundqvist-Pat Maroon

Mackenzie MacEachern-Ivan Barbashev-Robert Thomas

Joel Edmundson-Alex Pietrangelo

Jay Bouwmeester-Colton Parayko

Vince Dunn-Robert Bortuzzo

Jordan Binnington will start in goal; Jake Allen will be the backup.

Healthy scratches include Robby Fabbri and Chris Butler. David Perron (upper body) and Carl Gunnarsson (upper body) are out.

- - -

The Devils' projected lineup:

Marcus Johansson-Nico Hischier-Jesper Bratt 

Blake Coleman-Travis Zajac-Kyle Palmieri

Kenny Agostino-Pavel Zacha-Joey Anderson

Brett Seney-Kevin Rooney-Kurtis Gabriel

Andy Greene-Damon Severson

Will Butcher-Ben Lovejoy  

Mirco Mueller-Eric Gryba

Keith Kinkaid will start in goal; Cory Schneider will be the backup. 

Healthy scratches include Steven Santini, Drew Stafford and Nick Lappin. Taylor Hall (lower body), Sami Vatanen (concussion), Stefan Noesen (lower body) and Miles Wood (upper body) are out.