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
The St. Louis Blues clinched a playoff berth with a 4-1 victory over the Calgary Flames on Thursday.
Jaden Schwartz, Paul Stastny, Jori Lehtera and Patrik Berglund each had one goal and an assist for the Blues, who sit two points behind idle Nashville for first place in the Central Division.
St. Louis got the job done without the services of leading scorer Vladimir Tarasenko and Alexander Steen due to lower-body injuries.
Jake Allen made 17 saves for the Blues, who snapped a two-game skid.
“We were the much better team in the first two periods. Their goalie held them in, and then we needed our goalie in the third,” said Blues coach Ken Hitchcock.
Sean Monahan scored the lone goal for the Flames, who sit third in the Pacific Division. Jonas Hiller stopped 39-of-42 shots.
“Now we’re down to four games. We don’t have any time to feel sorry for us. We enjoy being in this situation,” said Flames coach Bob Hartley.
The Blues ended a 10-game first-period goal drought when Schwartz scored on a backhander at 1:16 of the first period.
Stastny scored on the power play just 23 seconds into the middle stanza.
Monahan’s 30th of the season cut the Blues lead to 2-1. He redirected Jiri Hudler’s pass into the high slot past Allen at 3:35.
Lehtera gave the Blues a two-goal lead again at 16:45 of the third. Berglund carried the puck around the net before finding Lehtera in front.
Berglund added an empty-net goal at 17:55.
