Winchester's goal for Blues dispatches Devils

ST. LOUIS -- Brad Winchester doesn't score much, so it's understandable that he relishes offensive opportunities when he gets them.

Winchester, one of St. Louis' big-bodied forwards who is called upon to play in front of the net, redirected a point shot into the net 5:15 into the third period to break a tie and give the Blues a 3-2 victory over the New Jersey Devils on Saturday night.

Winchester, who has 23 goals in 261 career games, scored his second in three games by deflecting Tyson Strachan's shot from the point past Mike McKenna 5:15 into the third period. That extended St. Louis' unbeaten streak in regulation at home to nine games (8-0-1).

"It was a great shot by [Strachan]," Winchester said. "Certainly that's something I work on a lot in practice. It doesn't even have to be on net, just in an area where you can get a stick on it. I was able to get the tip there, so it's good."

Jaroslav Halak stopped 35 shots after allowing a goal on the first shot he faced, and Alex Pietrangelo and Eric Brewer also scored for the Blues, who won their 12th in a row over an Eastern Conference opponent -- including 7-0 this season.

"It was just a matter of finding a way," Blues coach Davis Payne said. "We really didn't have the jump that was necessary. We made some mental errors, we made some positional errors. There was lots of try, there was lots of intent ... but Jersey came in and had a lot of possession, had a lot of skills players that we had to expend energy defending."