St. Louis Blues goaltender Jake Allen blocks the puck on a shot by New York Islanders Kyle Okposo in the third period at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis on December 11, 2014. UPI/Rob Cornforth
Alexander Steen had two goals and one assist in his return, helping the St. Louis Blues post a 6-3 win over the New York Islanders at Scottrade Center on Thursday.
Steen, who missed the previous two games with a lower-body injury, provided an immediate spark and his second tally ignited four-goal third period that carried the Blues to their third straight win.
“I thought (Steen) was real good. I thought that line was real good. Set the tempo early in the game. Set the tempo in the third period,” said St. Louis head coach Ken Hitchcock.
T.J. Oshie had a goal with two assists and Jake Allen made 25 saves.
John Tavares and Mikhail Grabovski scored in the second period for the Islanders, who have lost three games in a row. Former Blue Jaroslav Halak allowed five goals on 32 shots.
“We didn’t really grasp it.” said Tavares. “Sometimes we just have to make the plays a little quicker.”
Steen gave the Blues a 3-2 lead at 4:32 of the third when he came in as a trailer on a rush fired a rebound past Halak.
Oshie scored from the bottom of the left circle off Patrik Berglund’s pass from behind the net with 4:13 remaining.
Kyle Okposo lit the lamp for the Islanders 28 seconds after Paul Stastny’s power-play goal made it 5-2 with 2:12 remaining, but an empty-net goal by Jaden Schwartz with 1:04 left sealed St. Louis’ fifth straight win in the series.
Steen scored a power-play goal 5:58 into the game. He beat Halak on a blast from the point after nice puck movement gave him plenty of room to wind up.
Barret Jackman gave St. Louis 2-0 with 5:42 remaining in the first period when he fired a slap shot off a pass from Steen past Halak’s glove.
The Islanders battled back with two late goals in the middle stanza.
Tavares moved to the middle following a faceoff win and fired a wrist shot through Allen’s five-hole with 3:57 remaining. Grabovski then beat the Blues to a loose puck after another faceoff and scored on a wrist shot from the slot with 5.3 seconds left.
