Dmitrij Jaskin battles at the side of the net with Arizona goalie Mike Smith (photo/NHL)

Dmitrij Jaskin battles at the side of the net with Arizona goalie Mike Smith (photo/NHL)

Dmitrij Jaskin broke a tie in the second period after he chipped a puck past Coyotes defenseman Keith Yandle in the Blues zone, took off down the right side and beat Arizona goalie Mike Smith with a backhand shot from the circle that trickled through Smith’s pads 11:08 into the second period. It was Jaskin’s third goal in six games, his seventh of the season and fourth game winner as the Blues defeated the Coyotes 2-1 at Scottrade Center.

Alexander Steen scored and Jake Allen made 25 saves, including 13 in the third period for the Blues (35-15-4), who had lost the last two games. They defeated the Coyotes (20-28-7) all three times this season and outscored Arizona 14-2.

The win also gave coach Ken Hitchcock his 692nd.  Hitch pointed to the return of Jori Lethera and the “STL” line as a big factor in the win.

“I think everybody saw how much we missed Lehtera.It’s two-fold; first of all, Lehtera is a big help to Tarasenko and Schwartz and secondly, Stastny’s line’s got great chemistry. They cycle the puck, they bring it off the wall, they did a heck of a job controlling it. They’ve got weight, they’ve got size. Jaskin was outstanding today. We had a lot of people playing awful well today.”

The Blues are 8-0-1 in the past nine against the Coyotes.