Alex Steen (L) is congratulated by T.J. Oshie (74) and other teammates after his goal (photo/NHL.com)
Alexander Steen scored a goal and had two assists and David Backes and T.J. Oshie had a goal and an assist as the St. Louis Blues jumped on the Lightning early for a 6-3 victory in Tampa Bay Thursday night.
St. Louis jumped out to a 2-0 in the first 4:47 of the first period, then put the game away with scored three goals in a three-minute span in the second period. The Blues outshot the Lightning 44-29.
Oshie scored the first and then Dmirtij Jaskin added a first-period power play goal. Steen assisted on both opening goals.
After Tampa’s Tyler Johnson scored a power play goal to cut the Blues’ lead to 2-1, the offense sparked.
Steen made it 3-1 at 12;15 when he capitalized on a turnover by Lightning center Steven Stamkos and beat St. Louis native Ben Bishop for his 19th of the season. Backes made 4-1 at 14:11 with his 19th goal of the season and Paul Stastny scored 72 seconds later to make it 5-1.
The Lightning cut it to 5-3, but Vladimir Tarasenko scored on an empty net with 1:05 remaining. It was his 29th goal of the season.