Jake Allen made 23 saves for the Blues (26-9-6), who had the opportunity to take over the top record in the NHL heading into the new year after the Washington Capitals lost 4-3 to the New York Islanders earlier Tuesday.
"In the last little stretch we've had a good run, we've won eight in a row and you're not going to win them all," Allen said. "We're ready to jump on to Colorado on Thursday, just take a breather tonight and get back to it."
Following a failed clearing attempt by Blues defenseman Justin Faulk, Lawson Crouse tapped the loose puck to Kessel, who skated in alone and scored off the glove of Allen and the right post to give Arizona a 2-1 lead at 7:20 of the third.
"We needed a bounce-back game and we came out to play, and I thought we played really well," said Kessel, who had scored one goal in his previous eight games.
Nick Schmaltz scored from his knees into an empty net on the power play at 19:08 for the 3-1 final.
"We competed hard. It was a tough hockey game," Blues coach Craig Berube said. "We just didn't execute well enough and that's the bottom line."
Garland received a cross-ice pass from Alex Goligoski above the right circle on a power play before scoring with a slap shot at 8:05 of the first period to give the Coyotes a 1-0 lead.
"I just tried to place [the shot]. The last game, I tried to hammer a shot and I missed the net, so I just took a little bit off and it worked this time," Garland said.
Bozak tied it 1-1 at 14:53. Alexander Steen carried the puck below goal line before dropping a pass to him near the edge of the crease for a one-timer.
Both teams killed off extended power plays shortly after to keep the game tied.
Arizona couldn't convert after Blues forward Ivan Barbashev was called for holding and unsportsmanlike conduct at 16:02 of the first, and St. Louis failed to score after Raanta (tripping) and Oliver Ekman-Larsson (hooking) were called for penalties 12 seconds apart early in the second period.
"That's a team that hasn't lost for a long time. They've been 10 (points) ahead of everybody (in the Western Conference), so the 5-on-3 was huge," Coyotes coach Rick Tocchet said. "We made the key play. The last three, four or five games, we haven't gotten that play. We got the key play at the right moment and that's what good teams do."
