St. Louis Blues blow past Ottawa Senators

OTTAWA -- Jake Allen thought it was as complete a game as his team has played in a long time.

Even better than the night before, given the circumstances.

"We played great from the get-go even though it was a back-to-back," the St. Louis Blues goalie said after a 6-0 shutout of the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday night at Canadian Tire Centre, 24 hours after a 2-0 win in Philadelphia. "I was really impressed with the energy the guys brought, the discipline and commitment. It really paid off.

"We had a tendency of taking our foot off the gas a little bit with the lead and we didn't. They were positive steps."

Just as it was another stumble by the Senators, who have now been outscored 10-0 in their last two games.

"That's not our identity," said winger Bobby Ryan, whose team dropped to 27-18-6. "We look at ourselves as a defensive team that's capable of scoring. Four of the last five games, we haven't played to the structure, played to the x's and o's that are set for us, because they're all there and they're given to us."

Vladimir Tarasenko scored twice. Alexander Steen, Patrik Berglund, Ivan Barbashev and Magnus Paajarvi had the other for the Blues (27-22-5).

While Allen made 30 saves for his second shutout of the season, Andrew Hammond received little help from his mates as he made 24 stops in his first start since Dec. 18 and just his third of the season.

Hammond recently returned to the lineup after missing a month and a half with a high ankle sprain.

"He deserved a better effort from us," Ryan said. "He's been a professional throughout all the ups and downs the last couple of months from him. Coming back into that, from us, it's disrespectful."

The teams played a scoreless first period in which St. Louis outshot Ottawa 13-5. The Blues scored twice in the second period and blew the game open with four in the third.

St. Louis is now 3-1 since Mike Yeo replaced the fired Ken Hitchcock behind the bench.

"When one coach gets fired, you recognize how important it is to play for the coach," Taresenko said. "We have to try to stay as a team, whatever happens stay unflappable and play from the first minute to the final whistle."

Senators coach Guy Boucher wants his team to remain united as well, which is why he instructed all players to stay in the room to answer questions from the media.

"The players are going to stick together," he said. "As you saw, everybody was there to face the media. So am I. It's no time to panic. Tomorrow, it's back with solutions and get back to what we can be."

Allen, who struggled mightily before Christmas, won for the second time in three starts, a span that has seen him give up just four goals.

"I had a little bit of a funk there and had to find my way back," he said after improving his record to 19-14-3. "I went back to my basics, went back to the drawing board and just doing what I'm good at. If I can do that the majority of the time, I'm going to have success. I feel like the last week it's been a really good step for me."

Yeo surprised some by starting Allen after backup Carter Hutton blanked the Flyers on Monday for his second shutout in three starts.

"Typically what I've done in the past and what the organization has done in the past is after a shutout you come back with that same goaltender, but given the way Jake has played lately, we had confidence in him coming into this game tonight," Yeo said. "We knew it would be a good test and he would be tested. He was outstanding."

While the Blues now play the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday in the third of a five-game road trip, the Senators will try to regroup for Thursday's visit by the Dallas Stars, their second of a four-game homestand.

"I don't think as of lately, we've really done as we're supposed to, or act the way we're supposed to be," Senators captain Erik Karlsson said. "We haven't really played the way we need to play. I think the scores the last few games here have really reflected that. I think that everybody wants to be accountable, everybody is accountable. At the end of the day, we have to do a lot more to give our goalies a chance to be able to keep us in the game.

"We haven't really gone through a stretch where we've had the problems we're having right now. At the end of the day, I don't think it's a bigger problem than anything else, other than we're playing good teams, we're playing teams that are desperate, and we haven't really matched that intensity. We're not going to make it a bigger deal than it is. It's a tough league."

NOTES:

-- Senators RW Curtis Lazar was scratched for the second time in four games as RW Chris Neil came out of the press box to replace him.

-- Senators D Fredrik Claesson was scratched for the third consecutive game at 18th time this season.

-- Blues RW Nail Yakupov was scratched for the second consecutive game and 23rd time this season.

-- Blues D Carl Gunnarsson was scratched for the 14th time this season.

-- Blues RW Dmitrij Jaskin was scratched for the 14th time this season.