(AP) - Jason Arnott triggered a four-goal, third-period rally with the tiebreaking tally to lead the St. Louis Blues to a 6-4 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Sunday night. St. Louis won for the fifth time in six games and improved to 13-3-1 at home, tying Detroit for the most home wins. The Blues are 13-2-4 under coach Ken Hitchcock, who took over for the fired Davis Payne on Nov. 6. The Blues moved into third place in the Western Conference with 42 points after being 14th in the 15-team group on Nov. 7. St. Louis has won its last five against Columbus and improved to 12-1-1 in the previous 14 home meetings with the Blue Jackets. Alex Steen, Alex Pietrangelo and Patrik Berglund also scored in the third period for St. Louis, which trailed 3-2 after two. T.J. Oshie and Kevin Shattenkirk added goals for the Blues, who have won nine of 11 in St. Louis. Jaroslav Halak (6-7-4) made 28 saves.
(AP) - Marian Hossa had a goal and an assist, and Chicago's Joel Quenneville became the 10th coach to earn 600 NHL victories as the Blackhawks beat the Calgary Flames 4-2 on Sunday night for their fifth straight win. Steve Montador, Niklas Hjalmarsson and Patrick Kane also scored for the Blackhawks, who got 22 saves from Ray Emery. Chicago vaulted past Minnesota into first place in the NHL standings with a league-leading 46 points. The Blackhawks are 7-0-1 in their last eight games. Calgary's Olli Jokinen and Curtis Glencross scored power-play goals in the third period, and both had an assist. Miikka Kiprusoff made 21 saves. Emery, who has taken over for struggling No. 1 goalie Corey Crawford, started and won for the fifth straight game while improving to 9-1-2 overall. He has played in seven straight, including six starts.
(From Peoria Rivermen) - Jake Allen made 26 saves and Brett Sterling scored his team-leading 14th goal of the season but it was not enough as the Peoria Rivermen fell Sunday night 3-1 to the Milwaukee Admirals at the Bradley Center. The loss snapped Peoria’s three-game winning streak in their final game before a week off. Their next game will be Monday, Dec. 26 against Chicago at Carver Arena. The Rivermen now have a record of 14-15-1-1 and sit in fourth in the Midwest Division.
