Blues end five-game skid with 5-3 win over Coyotes

ST. LOUIS -- Chris Pronger had a goal and two assists as the St. Louis Blues scored one more goal than they totaled during a five-game losing streak, beating the Phoenix Coyotes 5-3 Saturday night.

Pronger had just one assist in the previous four games and was one of four Blues who snapped personal slumps.

Keith Tkachuk and Scott Young each had a goal and an assist for their first points in five games and Doug Weight, scoreless the previous three, had two assists.

The Blues, who were outscored 12-4 during a dismal five-game trip in which they earned one point for an overtime loss, led 3-0 after the first period.

Pronger's second goal of the season made it 4-0 at 2:46 of the second, but then St. Louis had to weather a Phoenix comeback that cut the gap to 4-3 before Jamal Mayers finished off the Coyotes with 4:01 to play.

Krystofer Kolanos had a goal and an assist for the Coyotes, coming off a 3-0-0-1 homestand. Kolanos and Radoslav Suchy scored in a span of 29 seconds to give the Coyotes life midway through the second period, and Teppo Numminen's first goal of the season, a slap shot from the point at 16:48 of the second, cut the gap to one.

Blues goalie Brent Johnson, who missed the last game because of the flu, was strong the rest of the way.

Coyotes coach Bob Francis changed goalies after Robert Esche gave up three goals on 13 shots in the first period. Young got his fourth of the season at 4:52 and Pavol Demitra swatted in a rebound from mid-air for his team-leading 13th goal at 6:45, ending an 0-for-20 slump on the power play for St. Louis.

Tkachuk scored on an inadvertent deflection off his skate with 0.9 seconds to go in the period off a setup from Weight, also on the power play, to make it 3-0.

Pronger scored on a slap shot that banged off the crossbar and then deflected in off the skate of Esche's replacement, Patrick DesRochers, at 2:46 of the second.

NOTES: Blues defenseman Al MacInnis missed his third game with a bruised right ankle and is listed as day-to-day. ... Coyotes goalie Sean Burke missed his third game with a strained groin. ... Coyotes left wing Brad May left with a sprained wrist after a first-period fight with Bryce Salvador and did not return. ... The three-goal first period tied the Blues' best this season. ... The Coyotes have scored 28 goals in their last eight games after totaling 29 in their first 15.