Ty Conklin makes 29 saves, lifts Blues to 1-0 win over Devils

Conklin 29 saves, Blues 1-0 over Devils

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 past 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 had a five-game, home-winning streak snapped and 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 3 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.

NOTES: Travis Zajac played in his 308th consecutive game, moving past teammate Jay Pandolfo into fourth place in Devils history. Ken Daneyko holds the team mark with 388 straight games. … The Blues last played in New Jersey in the 2006-07 season. … LW Brian Rolston returned to the Devils lineup after sitting out one game with a lower body injury. D Paul Martin played his third straight game for New Jersey after missing 59 because of a broken left arm. … Former Devils forward Cam Janssen and Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond staged a heavyweight bout at 5:58 of the first, an old-fashioned fight that lasted over two minutes. The linesmen finally separated the exhausted players after both landed flurries of solid blows. … Blues D Roman Polak had to be helped off the ice when he was checked hard into the end boards in the closing seconds.