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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
PHOENIX (AP) -- Mike Eastwood had good reason not to think about
a hat trick after scoring two first-period goals.
|  | | St. Louis' Scott Young, right, tries to squeeze past Phoenix's Teppo Numminen. |
"It's been a few years," Eastwood said. "I've never had one
as a professional, that's for sure."
Eastwood scored midway through the second period for his first
NHL hat trick as the St. Louis Blues routed the slumping Phoenix
Coyotes 6-0 Tuesday night.
"They just took it to us," Phoenix captain Keith Tkachuk said.
"It was embarrassing."
Roman Turek, rarely threatened until the closing minutes, made
17 saves for his third shutout of the season and fifth of his
career. His 16 victories are second only to the 17 of New Jersey's Martin Brodeur and Toronto's Curtis Joseph.
Pavol Demitra, Tyson Nash and Lubos Bartecko also scored and Michal Handzus added three assists for the Blues (21-9-3), who are
unbeaten in their last five games (4-0-1) and are 8-2-1 in their last 11 contests.
The shutout was the second straight for the Blues, the first time St. Louis has accomplished the feat since 1988.
"He certainly earned it tonight," said St. Louis coach Joel
Quenneville. "He didn't have to make a ton of saves but he was sharp in the net."
The Coyotes (19-12-3) lost for the fifth time in six games and
have scored only six goals over that stretch.
"I'm not happy about it," Phoenix coach Bob Francis said.
"You can say there were bad bounces, which is a crock. Look at all
the missed assignments we had in the first period. What you see is
what you get. Figure it out. We've been beating a dead horse for
days."
St. Louis needed just over three minutes to take the lead
against Robert Esche, in his first start since Dec. 11. Nash took a
pass from Jamal Mayers and beat Esche with a short wrist shot for
his third goal and his first since Nov. 27.
Eastwood made it 2-0 at 7:28 of the period as the Blues killed
off a Phoenix power play. Eastwood blocked a shot high in the Blues
zone, took the puck and faked Esche to the ice before firing over
the goalie's right shoulder for an unassisted goal.
The Blues added three more goals in the final 6:28 of the first
period, two coming from the top of the crease. Eastwood scored his
second goal on a shot from a tight angle from below the bottom of
the right faceoff circle.
Eastwood completed the hat trick at 7:18 of the second period when he took a pass from Jochen Hecht at the side of the net and
slid the puck past Esche for his 12th goal of the year.
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ALSO SEE
NHL Scoreboard
St. Louis Clubhouse
Phoenix Clubhouse
RECAPS
Nashville 3
Boston 1
Pittsburgh 4
NY Islanders 0
Buffalo 3
NY Rangers 1
Toronto 4
Tampa Bay 2
Dallas 0
Calgary 0
Edmonton 6
Washington 2
St. Louis 6
Phoenix 0
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Mike Eastwood puts home the rebound for his first career hat trick.
avi: 602 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Mike Eastwood scores a short-handed breakaway goal.
avi: 609 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Lubos Bartecko lights the lamp on the centering feed.
avi: 376 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
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