Stroman is 4-2 with a 3.44 earned run average in 12 games

ST. LOUIS -- David Backes appears to have found his long-lost scoring touch. The St. Louis centre netted two goals, and the unbeaten Blues beat the slumping New York Rangers 5-3 on Saturday night. The Blues, who havent trailed at all this season, are 4-0 for the first time in franchise history. Derek Roy, Alexander Steen and Vladimir Tarasenko added goals for St. Louis, which has outscored opponents 19-7. Jaroslav Halak made 26 saves to improve to 4-0. Backes, who scored just six goals last season in the lockout-shortened campaign, already has four this season. He didnt notch his fourth last season until the Blues 35th game. "Its clicking right now, but its only four games," he said. "Four good games, but its only getting tougher from here now." Backes, with two multipoint games, has helped kick-start an offence that has recorded 34 shots in each of its last three games. "Were 4-0 and all that means is weve got 78 games to go," Backes said. Ryan Callahan scored twice for the Rangers (1-4), and Brad Richards added his team-leading fourth goal. New York, which has four games left on a season-opening, nine-game trip, has lost three in a row by a combined score of 20-5. St. Louis scored four times on its first 17 shots against backup goalie Martin Biron, who was making his first start of the season. Biron was pulled after the second period in favour of regular netminder Henrik Lundqvist. Biron stopped 13 of 17 shots. Lundqvist allowed one goal on 17 shots. The Blues won their first three games in 1969 and 1993, but had never won four in a row to start a season in their 47-year history. The quick start has impressed St. Louis coach Ken Hitchcock, although he wasnt entirely pleased with his clubs effort on Saturday. "Being 4-0 is great, but this was not our game," he said. "Im not complaining. The way we gathered it in was great. But we need to involve more players." Backes put St. Louis ahead 2-1 by beating Biron with a wrist shot at 5:11 of the second period. He pushed the lead to 4-2 later in the frame off a pass from T.J. Oshie. Steen added three assists, giving him a team-leading eight points -- including four goals. "Right now, were working hard and getting some lucky bounces," Steen said. "Weve been trying to do the simple things and feed off one another." The line of Backes, Steen and Oshie has accounted for 18 points in four games. "Its three guys that are willing to do whatever is needed every single night," Backes said. New York tied it 1-1 on Callahans first of the season, but trailed the rest of the way after Backes scored his first of the night. The Rangers goal came during a 5-on-3 power play with 5.8 seconds left in the first period. Callahan closed the gap to 4-3 with a power-play goal at 2:54 of the third. The Rangers, who had lost their previous two games by a 15-2 margin, saw some improvement in their latest defeat. "It was a night-and-day difference from the last two games," Richards said. "But we wanted a better result. Its a very simple game. Its just about getting back to the basics." New York coach Alain Vigneault believes his team is heading in the right direction. The Rangers played their fourth game in six nights. "I thought for two periods we played well," he said. "Our execution was better. You could tell the effort was there, the willingness was there. But the legs were having a tough time." NOTES: St. Louis is 27-6-5 against the Eastern Conference since the start of the 2010-11 season. ... Rangers LW Rick Nash missed his second consecutive game because of a head injury sustained Tuesday on a hit by San Joses Brad Stuart. Stuart was suspended three games by the NHL. ... Lundqvist has beaten every NHL team except St. Louis. ... The Blues allowed their first third-period goal of the season. ... St. Louis is starting the season with five straight home games for the second time in team history. Cheap Adidas NHL Jerseys . Rinne had surgery on his left hip May 9 and recovered in time to start the season. He then had arthroscopic surgery on Oct. 24 because of a bacterial infection in his hip. Cheap Jerseys From China . Although taking two of three from the Baltimore Orioles wasnt nearly as uplifting as winning the World Series, it still felt pretty darn good. Felix Doubront and four relievers combined kept Baltimores potent lineup in check, and David Ortiz had three of Bostons 12 hits off Wei-Yin Chen in a 4-3 victory Thursday night. http://www.cheapnfljerseyshome.com/ . But when it was all over they had wasted another lead, seen another pitcher flame out on the mound and lost their fourth straight at home. Authentic Cyber Monday Jerseys . A 23-year-old rookie, Stroman is 4-2 with a 3.44 earned run average in 12 games this season, the past seven of those being starts. He logged the first scoreless outing of his career on Friday versus Oakland in a no-decision. Cheap Jerseys Cyber Monday . Mike Babcock has turned to the Montreal Canadiens goalie over Roberto Luongo, who backed Canada to a gold medal in Vancouver in 2010, for Canadas final preliminary round game against the ailing Finns.The Florida Panthers have acquired forward Mark Mancari from the St. Louis Blues in exchange for left winger Eric Selleck. The teams announced the trade on Sunday. Mancari has nine goals and 22 assists in 44 games with the Chicago Wolves of the AHL this season. Mancari has previously played for the Buffalo SSabres and Vancouver Canucks.ddddddddddddnbsp; He has three goals and ten assists in 42 career NHL games. Selleck has three goals and a total of seven points in 42 AHL games with the San Antonio Rampage this season. He had one assist in two regular season appearances with the Panthers last season. ' ' '