ST. LOUIS — You can take Vladimir Tarasenko away from the Russians, but you can’t take the Russians away from the scoresheet.
Tarasenko, the Blues’ leading scorer so far this season, missed Friday’s showdown with the Washington Capitals on the COVID-19 list.
In his absence the Blues got goals from Pavel Buchnevich and Ivan Barbashev among others to defeat the Beasts of the East, 5-1, Friday before another sellout crowd of 18,096 at Enterprise Center. On Wednesday, against another marquee team from the Eastern Conference, the Blues let a 3-1 lead slip away in a frustrating 5-3 loss.
