BLUES 4, COYOTES 0: David Backes and Alex Pietrangelo each registered a power-play goal and an assist while Brian Elliott made 20 saves for his second straight shutout as St. Louis regained the top spot in the league by blanking Phoenix.

Patrik Berglund and Ryan Reaves also scored while defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk notched three assists for the Blues, who moved two points ahead of the New York Rangers in the race for the Presidents' Trophy.

Pietrangelo opened the scoring 33 seconds into the middle period with a wrist shot from the left faceoff circle. Backes doubled the lead just over four minutes into the third as the Blues captain deflected Shattenkirk's blast from the blue line past Jason LaBarbera for his 23rd goal.

Berglund poked in a rebound with 6:44 remaining and Reaves scored on a deflection less than two minutes later to cap the scoring.

Elliott turned aside seven shots in the both the first and third periods and six in the second for his eighth shutout, tying Henrik Lundqvist of the Rangers and Los Angeles' Jonathan Quick for the league lead.

LaBarbera stopped 25 shots in his first start since March 8 for the Coyotes, who remained one point ahead of Los Angeles for seventh place in the Western Conference.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Elliott and Jaroslav Halak have combined for a franchise-record 14 shutouts. The previous mark had been set in 1968-69 by the tandem of Jacques Plante and Glenn Hall. ... Alex Steen returned to the St. Louis lineup after a 39-game absence and defenseman Kris Russell was back after missing 14 contests. Both were sidelined with concussions. ... The Blues went 3-2-2 on their season-high seven-game road trip. ... Phoenix's Ray Whitney had his seven-game points streak snapped.