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Columbus ends St. Louis' winning streak in emphatic fashion

Nov 11, 2010 - 5:36 AM Columbus, OH (Sports Network) - Chris Clark and Jakub Voracek each scored twice as Columbus snapped St. Louis' seven-game winning streak with a dominating 8-1 win at Nationwide Arena.

R.J. Umberger, Antoine Vermette and Rick Nash each had a goal and an assist for the Blue Jackets, who have won three of their last four.

"We have to win our divisional games," said Clark. "We knew coming in that they had won seven games. We play them six times and that was one out of six. We need those two points cause it's two points for us and two that they won't get."

Steve Mason, making his first start since October 30, stopped 29 shots in the win.

B.J. Crombeen scored the lone goal for the Blues, who suffered just their second regulation loss of the season and came into the game with their longest winning streak in eight years.

"A lot of our mentality has to be over the course of 82 games is that we're not going to get too high over a victory and not get too low over a defeat," said St. Louis head coach Davis Payne. "We're a group that will make the corrections to get better and we'll be back at it tomorrow."

Jaroslav Halak started in net, but was pulled early in the second period after allowing four goals on 15 shots. Ty Conklin fared no better as he was tagged for four goals on 20 shots.

Columbus last scored eight times in a game on March 25, 2010 against Chicago. The team came into the game having never scored more than three times in a contest this season.

St. Louis had not allowed more than four goals all season and was tagged for eight goals for the first time since an 8-4 loss to Atlanta on January 21, 2003.

It was all Columbus in the first period as the team scored three times to take command of the game.

The first goal came 6:49 in when Voracek skated in on a breakaway and snapped a wrister over the glove of Halak.

The Jackets scored less than four minutes later when Jared Boll caught up to a dump-in and from the left boards near the goalline he threw a backhander on net that hit off the left skate of Halak and snuck into the net.

Just over six minutes later, Halak made a beautiful pad save on a shot down low, but the puck wound up behind the net and Derick Brassard centered it for an open Nash, who one-timed the puck home.

Voracek's second breakaway goal of the game came 3:46 into the second when he lifted a backhander over Halak's glove to chase the goaltender from the net.

St. Louis got one back at the 10:58 mark of the second when Crombeen scored his second goal of the year, but Clark answered 11 seconds later as his wrister from the right circle beat Conklin to the glove side.

Umberger made it a 6-1 game at the 13:37 mark of the second when his one-timer from the inside left circle sailed past Conklin.

Clark and Vermette scored just 18 seconds apart early in the third period to cap the scoring in the game.

Game Notes

Brassard, who finished the game with three assists, has five goals and six assists over a six-game point streak...St. Louis left wing David Perron missed his third straight game with concussion-like symptoms...Columbus hosts Colorado on Friday...St. Louis returns home to face Nashville on Thursday.