Blues top Red Wings, gain in Central race

ST. LOUIS -- The St. Louis Blues gained in the race in the Central Division with a 5-2 win against the Detroit Red Wings at Enterprise Center on Thursday.

Ivan Barbashev got his first NHL hat trick, and Alexander Steen had three assists for the Blues (39-27-8), who are 3-0-1 in their past four games. St. Louis leads the Dallas Stars by four points for third place and trails the Nashville Predators by four points for second with a game in hand.
Barbashev's hat trick came in front of his parents, Dmitry and Marina, and brother, Max, who are visiting from Russia.
WATCH: [All Red Wings vs. Blues highlights]
"It feels great," Barbashev said. "It's their second game here to watch me and it was unbelievable. It was a good feeling.
"I thought our first period wasn't really good, but the second and third, we just started playing better. We played physical. It was a lot of fun to be out there."
Jordan Binnington made 20 saves and is 11-0-1 against the Eastern Conference.

Thomas Vanek scored twice, and Jonathan Bernier made 19 saves for the Red Wings (26-38-10), who have lost 13 of their past 16 games (3-10-3) and have been eliminated from Stanley Cup Playoff contention.
"I thought our effort was excellent, to be honest with you," Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill said. "I thought we competed real hard. We stubbed our toe a few times when we didn't need to. ... Overall, from an effort and compete standpoint, I thought it was excellent."
Vanek gave Detroit a 1-0 lead at 2:05 of the first period on a rebound, but Oskar Sundqvist tied it 1-1 at 11:46.
David Perron had the secondary assist on the goal to extend his point streak to 17 games (nine goals, 13 assists). It's the fourth time in Blues history a player has had at least one point in 17 consecutive appearances, joining Brett Hull (25 games in 1991-92, 20 in 1989-90) and Blake Dunlop (19 games in 1981-82).
Barbashev gave the Blues a 2-1 lead at 3:22 of the second period after getting to a loose puck in front, and made it 3-1 at 8:16 on his own rebound.

Steen's assist on Barbashev's second goal was his 600th point in the NHL. He and his father Thomas Steen (817) became the fourth father-son duo to each have at least 600 points in the NHL, joining Gordie (1,850) and Mark Howe (742), Bobby (1,170) and Brett Hull (1,391), and Peter (1,239) and Paul Stastny (683).
"Something to look back on later," Steen said. "Cool names to be in there with, and especially to be in there with the Stastnys is a little extra special."
Vanek cut it to 3-2 at 8:48 of the third period on a slap shot from the right point, but Pat Maroon scored in an NHL career-high fourth straight game to make it 4-2 at 10:19.

"I think that's what we've been talking about all year," Maroon said. "Especially on that stretch we had where it's just when someone scores, you've got to find a way to bounce back, get the next one. Our line went out there, got back to our game, grinding them down low, getting high to low, screens in front and found a way to get the rebound. [Robert] Thomas made a heck of a play with his skate, making that pass. So we found way to get it done tonight."
Barbashev completed the hat trick with an empty-net goal to extend the lead to 5-2 at 19:11.
"I thought it was a grind the whole game pretty much," Blues coach Craig Berube said. "Not a very clean game. Fourth line, excellent game, did a real good job for us."

They said it

"Vanek's a true pro. An extremely smart player, one of the smartest players I've played with over the course of my career, good in the room, and it's good to see him get rewarded. We could have used him for the stretch he was gone, too. That's how offensively gifted he is." -- Red Wings defenseman Niklas Kronwall
"We found ways to go to the net and get some ugly goals tonight. The first period was a little slow start, but I thought the second and third we came on, we played our game." -- Blues forward Pat Maroon

Need to know

Blues forward Jaden Schwartz had a hat trick in a 7-2 win against the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday, giving St. Louis hat tricks in consecutive games for the first time since Jan. 3-6, 2015 (T.J. Oshie and David Backes).

What's next

Red Wings: At the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday (10 p.m. ET; ATTSN-RM, FS-D, NHL.TV)
Blues: Host the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday (8 p.m. ET; FS-MW, SUN, NHL.TV)