Blues Vs. Senators: Perron Scores Twice, Elliott Shuts Door As St. Louis Drops Struggling Sens, 3-1

The Blues climbed closer to the Western Conference lead with their 10th victory in their last 14 contests, while the Senators dropped their seventh straight decision.

David Perron scored two goals and netminder Brian Elliott stopped 28 of 29 shots against his former club to lead the St. Louis Blues over the slumping Ottawa Senators, 3-1, Tuesday night at Scotiabank Place.

With the victory, St. Louis moved to within three points of the Central Division and Western Conference-leading Detroit Red Wings, while the Blues also hold two very important games in hand. The Blue notes are one of the NHL's hottest clubs as they've gone 10-2-2 in their last 14. The key factor for St. Louis' success is their relentless defense. During the 14-game streak, the Blues have allowed just 20 goals.

Since Ken Hitchcock took over the St. Louis helm, the Blues have a stellar 25-7-7 mark in 39 contests.

For Ottawa, their frustrations continued as their recent slide reached seven games -- 0-6-1 -- a stretch in which the Senators have been outscored by a 23-9 margin.

While Elliott beat his ex-teammates, Craig Anderson continued to struggle. He yielded two goals on just four shots, and was yanked in favor of Alex Auld after just 3:49.

The first goal was off the stick of Chris Porter from the right wing wall that eluded Anderson for his fourth tally of the season after a failed Blues' clearing attempt to make it a 1-0 lead after only 1:37.

Perron doubled the St. Louis margin with a nifty move to reach around Anderson from in tight to make it a 2-0 lead and chase the goaltender from the crease.

With B.J. Crombeen in the penalty box, the Sens tied it early in the middle stanza. Sergei Gonchar's power play point drive deflected off of Daniel Alfredsson at the side of the Blues' net and past Elliott for the Swede's 18th of the year at the 56-second mark to cut the deficit to 2-1.

But less than six minutes later, Perron made Ottawa pay for another failed clearing attempt by chipping the puck over Auld and under the crossbar to restore the two-goal lead at 3-1. Perron now has six goals and 19 points in 27 contests since returning from a long bout with post-concussion syndrome.

Elliott came up big in the third period, making a nice stop on Kyle Turris on a partial breakaway to preserve the two-goal lead. Elliott improved his record to 16-5-2, while Anderson fell to 25-19-5.