Blues creates history by scoring 5 goals in first 10 minutes against Flyers

Alexander Steen had two goals and an assist as the St. Louis Blues made franchise history while scoring five times within the first 10 minutes in a 7-3 win over the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday night. Alex Pietrangelo recorded three assists and Vladimir Tarasenko added two for the Blues (44-28-9, 97 points), who won their sixth straight at home and still have a chance to claim the Central Division title. Amid an 8-1-2 stretch, St. Louis concludes the regular season at home against Vancouver on Saturday.

Philadelphia (37-36-8, 82 points), meanwhile, enters its finale Saturday at home versus Carolina a loser in six of seven. However, the Flyers didn't make it easy on St. Louis, which, according to the team, set a club record for the quickest five goals (9:41) to open a regular-season game -- topping the previous mark of 13:45 from Jan. 3, 1970. Ivan Barbashev scored his 14th goal after batting home a backhander past ex-Blue Brian Elliott 2:49 into the contest. Shortly after, Ryan O'Reilly tied a career-high with his 28th goal on the power play off a pinpoint pass from David Perron.

St. Louis was far from finished, as Steen ended a five-game point drought by recording a shorthanded goal 5:33 into the first on what started as a 2-on-1 break with Oskar Sundqvist. Philadelphia cut it to 3-1 barely a minute later when Oskar Lindblom scored for the third time in four games.

But at 6:58, the Blues' Pat Maroon tipped one past Elliott, who was pulled after yielding four goals on five shots. Once again, Philadelphia answered, this time with James van Riemsdyk's 27th.

St. Louis made it 5-2 when Perron scored on the power-play 9:41 into the first. The Flyers capped the scoring on the crazy period with 42.4 seconds left as Claude Giroux went top-shelf by rookie Jordan Binnington (26 saves) for his 22nd of the campaign.

Brayden Schenn extended St. Louis' lead to 6-3 with a goal 13:06 into a rather quiet second period. Steen added the final tally at 10:34 into the third. Philadelphia's Carter Hart made 27 saves in a relief role. 

(With inputs from agencies.)