ST. LOUIS — Vladimir Tarasenko scored twice to lead the Blues to a 4-3 win over the Islanders on Saturday night.
Alexander Steen and Patrik Berglund also scored, and the Blues won their fourth straight game. Carter Hutton stopped 21 of 24 shots.
The Islanders’ Thomas Greiss stopped 14 of 18 shots in the first two periods before being pulled in favor of Jean-Francois Berube to start the third with the Islanders trailing 4-1. With the loss, the Islanders fell one point behind the Maple Leafs in the race for the last wild-card playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
“I think all we can do is keep chucking forward,” Islanders captain John Tavares said. “We’re still in a good spot. We know we’re right there battling for that last wild card.”
Brock Nelson, Anthony Beauvillier and Nick Leddy scored for the Islanders, who finished their nine-game trip 5-3-1.
Berglund’s 19th goal gave St. Louis a 4-1 lead late in the second period.
Beauvillier pulled the Islanders within two when he scored his eighth of the season 2:11 into the third. Islanders interim coach Doug Weight pulled Berube for an extra attacker with 2:39 remaining as his team went on the power play, and Leddy scored his 11th of the season to get the Islanders within one.
Tarasenko’s second goal of the game and team-leading 32nd of the season gave him his sixth multigoal game of the season.
Tarasenko scored his first goal on the power play with Thomas Hickey in the penalty box for tripping.
“He’s one of the best shooters in the league,” Islanders left wing Anders Lee said. “He doesn’t need much space to get a shot off, and obviously it was apparent tonight he didn’t need it at all. He snapped a couple home. We play against great players like him all the time, but we obviously have got to play him a little tighter.”
The Islanders appeared to tie it on Andrew Ladd’s power-play goal 11:31 into the first period, but the goal was overturned after St. Louis coach Mike Yeo challenged for Jason Chimera being offside.
The Islanders are 14-7-3 since Weight took over as interim coach on Jan. 17. … The Islanders return home Monday night to face Carolina.