ST. LOUIS -- Vladimir Tarasenko was never worried.The right wing simply took the St. Louis Blues early season offensive woes in stride.I heard the words that everyone was saying our offense was not so good, Tarasenko said. But, we believed in each other and we believed in our game.That patience has paid off of late.Tarasenko scored three goals and Kevin Shattenkirk added two to lead the Blues to a 5-4 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday night.The Blues have won three in a row and six straight at home.Tampa Bay lost its season-high fourth consecutive game.Jake Allen made 22 saves in improving to 12-3-3.St. Louis has scored three goals or more in each of its last nine games after an earlier string of six successive games with one goal or less.Weve been simplifying things and getting a lot of chances, Shattenkirk said. Everything is just kind of going our way.Tarasenko, who leads the team with 13 goals, recorded his fourth career hat trick. He scored twice in the games opening 9:37 to stake his team to a 2-0 lead.His early game outburst set the tone for the rest of the contest.We shot the puck at the right times, people were in position, St. Louis coach Ken Hitchcock said. It was great to see.Tarasenko, known for his speed and puck-handling skills, scored his second goal on a rare one-timer off a perfect pass from Alexander Steen, who added three assists in his return after missing six games with a shoulder injury.The soft-spoken, Russian-born Tarasenko has nine goals and eight assists in his last 13 games.Its good to see him playing like this, Steen said. Hes been lethal for us. His hat trick goal was big, a timely goal.Shattenkirk, who also had two assists, added two power-play goals, the second coming just 1:44 into second period for a 4-1 lead.Cedric Paquette scored twice for the Lightning, who have been outscored 19-9 during the four-game skid.Nikita Kucherov and Tyler Johnson also scored for Tampa Bay. Paquettes second goal trimmed the deficit to 5-4 with 8:02 remaining in the third period.I thought we deserved points, Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. Im not going to sit here and say we deserved to win the game. But we definitely deserved points.St. Louis has won its last five at home against the Lightning, who last won in St. Louis on Dec. 18, 2009.The Blues are 9-0-2 in their last 11 home games.Tampa Bay goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy gave up four goals on 16 shots and was replaced by St. Louis native Ben Bishop early in the second period.I thought we gave it an honest effort, Paquette said. It was a pretty good game. But (to lose), its disappointing.Game notes The Lightning recalled RW Joel Vermin and LW Michael Bournival from Syracuse of the AHL. ... St. Louis leads the overall series with Tampa Bay 21-11-3. ... Tampa Bay D Anton Stralman returned to the lineup after missing nine games due to an upper body injury. ... Blues LW David Perron had a career-best eight-game point streak snapped. ... Bishop did not start in back-to-back games for the first time this season. ... St. Louis C Paul Stastny played in his 700th NHL game.UP NEXT:Lightning: Return home after three-game trip to host Washington on Saturday.Blues: Host Winnipeg on Saturday in the fourth of five straight games at home. Detroit Red Wings Shirts . LOUIS -- Alexander Steen scored a power-play goal with 59. Red Wings Jerseys 2021 .ca NFL Power Rankings, overtaking the Denver Broncos and remaining ahead of NFC competition San Francisco, Carolina and New Orleans. https://www.cheapredwings.com/ . Barcelona also left injured defenders Carles Puyol, Javier Mascherano and Jordi Alba out of its squad for the trip to Glasgow. That means that Marc Bartra will probably start again in the centre of the defence alongside Gerard Pique. Detroit Red Wings Store . -- Patrick Reed got an early start in golf. Stitched Red Wings Jerseys . Andrew Luck lost his favourite target and the Indianapolis locker room lost one of its most revered leaders when Reggie Wayne was diagnosed Monday with a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee that will cost him the rest of the season. A Joe Allen double helped Stoke City to a comfortable 2-0 victory over Sunderland at the bet365 Stadium on Saturday.The Welshman -- who had scored three in his previous three matches for club and country -- nodded the Potters (1-3-4) into the lead after just eight minutes before doubling his tally with a volley on the stroke of halftime.The result gives Mark Hughes men their first Premier League win of the campaign, but Sunderland (0-2-6) remain rooted to the bottom of the table without a victory of their own.The Black Cats started the game promisingly but fell behind against the run of play when Marko Arnautovic chipped back from the byline for the unmarked Allen to head in from five yards out. Sunderlands heads seemed to drop immediately and it was onlly Jermain Defoe who seemed to offer any threat for the rest of the game, as they managed only one shot on target.ddddddddddddThe striker saw a goal-bound effort heroically blocked by Ryan Shawcross soon after the opener, and then fizzed an effort wide after the Potters defence had backed off inside the final third.But they were the only hints of a chance for David Moyes men, who found themselves further behind before the interval. Wilfried Bony and Arnautovic could have added a second for Stoke but it was Allen who did, volleying in from the edge of the box after Sunderland had failed to clear a Xherdan Shaqiri corner kick. ' ' '