St. Louis stays hot with 1-0 win over New Jersey

NEWARK, N.J. — Ty Conklin made 29 saves in his fourth shutout of the season and the St. Louis Blues kept up their late-season playoff push with a 1-0 win over the New Jersey Devils on Saturday night.

Alexander Steen scored for the Blues, who won for the ninth time in 12 games and improved to 9-4 in their last 13 on the road.

Conklin made a second straight start, both road victories for the Blues. He has four shutouts and 10 wins in only 23 games this season. Conklin beat the New York Rangers on Thursday.

The Devils’ five-game, home-winning streak ended and they missed a chance to take over first place in the Atlantic Division.

Steen scored with 13 seconds left in the first period. After taking a long lead pass from Barret Jackman, Steen sped down the left wing and unleashed a shot from the top of the circle that blew past Martin Brodeur’s glove into the upper corner.

It was Steen’s sixth goal in nine games.

The Devils came close to pulling even three minutes into the second period as Ilya Kovalchuk attacked the Blues’ net. Conklin sprawled to his left, trying to knock the puck away. He missed. Kovalchuk circled behind the cage, heading for the wide-open side, but was denied by backchecking center Brad Boyes who alertly blocked the stuff attempt.

New Jersey outshot St. Louis, 13-6, in the middle period but couldn’t put one past Conklin.

Conklin preserved the shutout in the third period with an arm save on Zach Parise’s shot from the slot with 12 minutes left. It was his best stop of the final frame.