St. Louis Blues center David Backes (No 42) celebrates after scoring a goal against Winnipeg Jets goalie Michael Hutchinson (No 34) during the second period at Scottrade Center. PICTURE: USA TODAY Sports

By Tom Timmermann/St Louis Post-Dispatch


Blues coach Ken Hitchcock scrambled the team’s lines on Monday, in an effort to boost secondary scoring, which is to say, everyone other than Vladimir Tarasenko.
It turned out that proximity to Tarasenko continues to be a dominant factor in the team’s offense. David Backes, who was moved to centre on a line with Tarasenko and Alexander Steen, had two goals and an assist as the Blues beat the Jets, 3-2, at Scottrade Center, while Tarasenko had a goal and an assist.
The moves may not have perked up the offense, but it did snap a two-game losing streak. The Blues got on a plane after the game to head to Columbus for a game on Tuesday, the second of a run of three in four days for the Blues.
The rearrangement was the biggest shake Hitchcock had given his lines this season that wasn’t caused by an injury. While Backes moved up to the top line, Jori Lehtera centered a line with Dmitrij Jaskin and Troy Brouwer, Scott Gomez centered Maguns Paajarvi and Robby Fabbri and the fourth line was made up of newcomer Jeremy Welsh, Kyle Brodziak and Scottie Upshall. Through two periods, the forwards had 14 shots, seven of which came from the top line, the other seven from the other three lines.
Backes came into the game with just six points in 17 games, When his points have come, they have come in bunches.
He had a goal and an assist in the comeback win at Chicago and two goals in a win at home over Minnesota. Tarasenko, meanwhile, doesn’t mind playing Winnipeg. He has four goals and two assists in his past four games against the Jets.
Jake Allen, who went long stretches with little to do and then was on his game when he had to be, made 15 saves in getting the win.
The Blues special teams were good and bad. The penalty killing unit killed off five man advantages for the Jets. The power play, on the other hand, scored just once in five tries.
Tarasenko started the scoring just over five minutes into the game. Colton Parayko got the puck off the boards in the Winnipeg end to Tarasenko, and then ran interference for the wing. With Parayko holding Winnipeg defenseman Toby Enstrom off and providing a screen at the same time, Tarasenko shot from the slot past Michael Hutchinson to make it 1-0 with 14:27 to go in the period.
It was the 11th goal of the season for Tarasenko, putting him alone in third place in the league.
Tarasenko didn’t score the second goal but he made it possible. The Blues were on a power play after a Jets delay of game penalty. Tarasenko won a race for the puck in the Jets zone with Winnipeg’s Mark Stuart, tapping the puck on to Kevin Shattenkirk.
He fed the puck in front of the net to Backes, who did a little stick work, switching over to his right while Hutchinson went the other way and putting the puck in. Backes got his skate stuck in Hutchinson’s pads after the shot, causing him to leap into the crossbar after the goal to add a little flair to it.
Allen didn’t have much to do in the period, facing just three shots, and after 15 minutes, the Jets still had just one shot on goal. But the second was dangerous. With the Blues on a power play, Winnipeg had a two-on-one break but Allen made a strong save on Drew Stafford to preserve the lead.
Winnipeg, coming off a 7-0 loss to Nashville and a four-game run where they had been outscored 21-6 could have been done, but wasn’t.
The Blues’ lead disappeared quickly in the second when Winnipeg scored twice in 36 seconds to tie the game, first on a shot from the blue line by Dustin Byfuglien that caromed off Jay Bouwmeester and in, and then a shot by Bryan Little in the slot.
The Blues retook the lead about two minutes later. Tarasenko skated his way around in the Jets’ defense, but Alexander Steen couldn’t keep in. The Blues went back to the neutral zone, got the puck, and did it all over again.
This time it ended with Steen feeding Backes, who skated down the slot and backhanded a shot past Hutchinson to make it 3-2 with 15:36 to play in the period.