Blues score eight to defeat Devils for seventh straight win

ST. LOUIS -- The St. Louis Blues extended their season-high winning streak to seven games with an 8-3 win against the New Jersey Devils at Enterprise Center on Tuesday.

Jordan Binnington made 20 saves for his sixth straight win to become the second goalie in Blues history with a winning streak of at least six games. Brent Johnson won seven in a row twice (Oct. 6-Nov. 18, 2000 and Nov. 29, 2000-Jan. 1, 2001).
Alex Pietrangelo and Ivan Barbashev each had two goals and an assist, and Ryan O'Reilly and Tyler Bozak each had a goal and an assist for St. Louis (28-22-5), 11-2-1 in its past 14 games.
WATCH: [All Devils vs. Blues highlights]
St. Louis, which has won seven in a row for the first time since Jan. 17-Feb. 5, 2015, has won 10 straight against the Devils, outscoring them 37-13.
The Blues hold the first wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference. 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."
The Blues last scored eight goals in an 8-3 win against the Edmonton Oilers on Nov. 21, 2017.
"Our team game is really solid right now," Schwartz said. "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."

Pavel Zacha, Kyle Palmieri and Mirco Mueller scored, and Keith Kinkaid made 31 saves, allowing eight goals for the first time in his NHL career for the Devils (21-27-8), who are 1-3-1 the past five games and 3-7-1 in the past 11.
"We were just disconnected," Devils coach John Hynes said. "We've got to find a way to get more connected for the Chicago game [Thursday].
"It wasn't very good in any facet. This is one game."
The Blues took a 1-0 lead on Pietrangelo's goal at 5:08 of the first period, and Barbashev scored 1:33 later to make it 2-0.
Zacha cut the Blues lead to 2-1 at 10:30 of the first, but Jaden Schwartz scored his first goal since Dec. 18 to make it 3-1 at 15:47. St. Louis outshot New Jersey 20-6 in the period.

"We just got outbattled in every facet of the game," Kinkaid said. "Technically if you want to count our own goals, we scored more goals."
The Blues scored three times in the second. O'Reilly scored 30 seconds into the period to make it 4-1, Mackenzie MacEachern made it 5-1 at 6:11 and Bozak made it 6-1 at 15:20.
Pietrangelo made it 7-1 45 seconds into the third period. It was his first two-goal game since March 17, 2018, against the New York Rangers.
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.

Mueller's first goal of the season at 12:44 of the third made it an 8-3 final.
They said it
"They played a really good hockey game. 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." -- Devils center Travis Zajac
"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." -- Blues coach Craig Berube

Need to know

Devils forward Blake Coleman (upper body) was a late scratch and replaced by Nick Lappin. ... Binnington is 10-1-1 in his first 12 NHL starts. ... O'Reilly has 15 points (five goals, 10 assists) in his past 12 games and 25 points (eight goals, 17 assists) in his past 21. ... Tarasenko has a five-game point streak against the Devils (12 points; three goals, nine assists) and 21 points (11 goals, 10 assists) in his past 17 games. ... Schenn had two assists to give him nine points (one goal, eight assists) in his past seven games. ... Pietrangelo was plus-6, the first Blues player to do it since Rick Lapointe and Bill Stewart against the Vancouver Canucks on Nov. 11, 1980.

What's next

Devils: At the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday (8:30 p.m. ET; WGN, MSG+ 2, NHL.TV)
Blues: At the Arizona Coyotes on Thursday (9 p.m. ET; FS-A, FS-MW, NHL.TV)