Tuesday, January 19, 2016
Associated Press
ST. LOUIS
Paul Stastny had a goal and three assists, and the St. Louis Blues beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-2 on Monday night.
Alexander Steen, Vladimir Tarasenko, Troy Brouwer and Kevin Shattenkirk also scored for the Blues, who have won four of five following a five-game losing streak. Brian Elliott made 36 saves.
Evgeni Malkin and Chris Kunitz scored, and Kris Letang had two assists for the Penguins. Pittsburgh has lost three of four and five of seven. Jeff Zatkoff, making his first start since Dec. 31, stopped 20 shots.
Steen scored first, with 8 minutes left in the opening period, after Zatkoff left the crease to challenge Brouwer for a puck. Stastny then fed a pass in front and Steen, who hit the post earlier, buried it for his 14th of the season.
The Penguins tied it with Kunitz’s eighth of the season, on a breakaway after a spring pass from Letang with 1:57 remaining in the first. Sidney Crosby picked up the secondary assist, giving him six points (two goals, four assists) in four games.
Malkin and Tarasenko traded highlight-worthy goals late in the second.
Malkin netted his 20th of the season with 4:04 left in the period after taking a pass from Carl Hagelin, skating past Jay Bouwmeester and beating Elliott with a wrist shot. Letang earned another assist.
With that goal, Malkin reached the 20 for the third consecutive year and eighth time in 10 seasons.
Tarasenko answered with his 25th, assisted by rookies Joel Edmundson and Robby Fabbri, with 2:46 remaining in the period after skating around Ben Lovejoy and slipping a shot past Zatkoff to tie the score.
Brouwer made it 3-2 just 2:10 into the third period on a one-timer from the slot after taking a pass from Stastny.
Stastny scored his fifth of the season, with an assist from Brouwer, with 8:22 remaining.
Shattenkirk added an empty-net goal, assisted by Steen and Stastny, with 15.1 seconds to go.
The Blues improved to 18-2-4 when scoring three or more goals this season. The Penguins fell to 2-7-1 in the second game of a back-to-back.
NOTES
Bouwmeester returned after missing four games with concussion-like symptoms. ... Letang returned after missing Sunday’s game with a hand injury. ... St. Louis recalled D Andre Benoit from the American Hockey League on Sunday. He replaces D Robert Bortuzzo, who is out with a lower-body injury sustained in Saturday’s game. ... The Penguins recalled D Derrick Pouliot from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the AHL. ... The attendance of 19,312 was the Blues’ 12th sellout.