Blues post 6-1 win over Maple Leafs

TORONTO -- Six St. Louis Blues players scored goals in a 6-1 rout of the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday night.

Jori Lehtera and Alexander Steen each had three assists for the Blues (41-19-5), who snapped a two-game skid and moved to within two points of the Central Division-leading Nashville Predators.

The loss was the Leafs' 28th in their past 35 games.

Toronto goaltender Jonathan Bernier gave up three goals on 17 shots before being pulled. James Reimer gave up the other three goals on 27 shots.

Jaden Schwartz, T.J. Oshie, Vladimir Tarasenko, Chris Butler, Paul Stastny and David Backes scored for the Blues.

Blues goalie Brian Elliott was barely tested in making 23 saves and allowed just a third-period goal to David Booth to break the shutout.

The Blues toyed with the Leafs from the drop of the puck and never seemed to let them have it. St. Louis swarmed, scored and out-classed Toronto at every turn.

Many of the 19,108 fans in attendance for one of Toronto's worst routs of the season gave a sarcastic cheer when Richard Panik registered the Leafs' first shot more than halfway through the first period. St. Louis had nine at that point, and it didn't get much better.

Interim coach Peter Horachek yanked Bernier after the first period.

There was little Bernier could do on Schwartz's shot that deflected off Eric Brewer's stick, Oshie's back-hander and Tarasenko's wrister through traffic.

By the time he was pulled, the Leafs were outshot 17-5. The switch to Reimer did nothing to change the course of the game.

The Blues, not happy with blowing a late lead in a loss to the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday, didn't let up. Butler scored from the point with a second left on a Leafs power play, Stastny was untouched skating through the slot before beating Reimer, and Backes scored off former teammate Roman Polak's skate.

Notes: Canadian Olympic gold-medal-winning defenseman Jay Bouwmeester missed the game for the Blues with an illness, and former Leafs center Olli Jokinen made his debut after a deadline-day trade. ... The Leafs scratched defenseman Stephane Robidas as Brewer played in career game No. 993.