ST. LOUIS -- The St. Louis Blues got their offense going on Friday and gave themselves a chance to take over the top spot in the Central Division on Saturday night.

Vladimir Tarasenko scored twice late and Paul Stastny, Jori Lehtera and Patrik Berglund added goals to lead the Blues to a 5-2 victory over the Anaheim Ducks on Friday night at Scottrade Center.

"With everything we've gone through, we wake up tomorrow morning in a hockey game for first place," Blues coach Ken Hitchcock said of his injury-plagued squad. "Nobody would have thought of that because of everything these guys have been through. That's a real feather in their cap. This is 3-0 against top teams and a chance to go 4-0 tomorrow. Tough opponent, but it's pretty impressive that we've been able to maintain a competitive level despite missing key guys all year."

Jake Allen made 26 saves for St. Louis (40-20-9), which tied its season-long win streak of five games and has won 10 of 13 games. That has helped the Blues move into second place in the Central as well as the Western Conference -- with a game against the first-place Dallas Stars on the road on Saturday.

"Getting guys back from injury was kind of nice -- getting Petro (Alex Pietrangelo) back, getting Snake (Jake Allen) back," Stastny said of the recent stretch of success. "We've kind of found a niche and found line combinations that are all playing well together. ... Different nights we've had different people step up."

Ryan Getzlaf and Rickard Rakell scored for the Ducks (37-21-9), who lost their third straight game after winning 11 in a row. Frederik Andersen made 18 stops in the defeat.

The Ducks scored first, 5:17 into the second period, on a 5-on-3 power-play after the Blues were called for interference (Lehtera) and too many men on the ice.

St. Louis wasn't able to clear a bouncing puck from the low slot and Getzlaf was able to knock a rebound of a shot from Ryan Kesler out of the air and past Allen for his 11th goal of the season.

The Blues tied the score with 3:24 left in the second period when Stastny redirected a long pass from Carl Gunnarsson for his seventh of the season.

St. Louis then scored twice in the first 2:59 of the third period.

Lehtera scored his ninth of the season on a snap shot from the left circle after a pass from Jaden Schwartz 1:55 into the period.

Then Berglund scored his seventh of the season with a wrist shot from the slot, just 1:04 later, after a turnover by Ducks defenseman Josh Manson, to make it 3-1.

"When you give them two shots right from the slot, it's tough," Anaheim coach Bruce Boudreau said. "They're a good team. We can't make those defensive mistakes. We haven't in a long time. You'd like to say those things happen, but we haven't seen them happen. We don't want to see them happen anymore. They're going to score on plays like that. We had three bad giveaways in the third period. They put them all in."

Ducks defenseman Cam Fowler said, "Everything that they got was given to them and we're all included in that. So just one of those games -- no explanation for it -- but you know we'll just try to learn from it and do better next time."

Rakell was credited with his 18th goal with 4:33 remaining after Troy Brouwer's clearing attempt ricocheted off the skate of Stastny and past Allen.

"They got a lucky bounce on that second goal; other than that I think we controlled them pretty good," said Gunnarsson, who signed a three-year contract extension that was announced before the game. "They made a couple mistakes and we capitalized on it. I think overall it was a good game."

Tarasenko added an insurance goal with 2:38 remaining and then scored an empty-netter with 1:22 left, his 31st and 32nd goals of the season.

"It was 1-1 in another team's building," Kesler said. "It was a good situation for us. To go out and give up four goals in a period and make uncharacteristic mistakes like that isn't good. We have to nip this in the bud and learn from it. We have to collectively be better."

The Blues want to keep their momentum going as they go on the road for five games in 10 days.

"This is crucial," Allen said. "I think we had one of the hardest schedules to finish the season in the league. To be able to start the way that we did, the way that we have, is great but we've got a long way to go. Only a handful of games left, it feels like the season has flown by already. But we want to finish on the right foot and head into the playoffs on a winning way and just everybody have that confidence again."

NOTES: The Blues announced before Friday's game they had signed D Carl Gunnarsson to a three-year contract extension worth $8.7 million. ... The NHL rescinded the game misconduct penalty Blues RW Ryan Reaves received from a charging major against Chicago on Wednesday. ... Ducks C Shawn Horcoff was eligible to return from a 20-game suspension for performance-enhancing drug use but was a healthy scratch against the Blues. ... With his goal on Wednesday, Blues C David Backes tied Al MacInnis for sixth on the Blues' all-time scoring list with 452 points. ... Blues RW Troy Brouwer played in his 600th NHL game on Friday against Anaheim. ... Blues C Steve Ott (lower-body injury) skated with the team for the first time on Friday morning. He has not played since Dec. 5. ... The Ducks begin a three-game homestand on Monday against New Jersey. ... The Blues play at Dallas on Saturday.