On a night when he had two goals and two assists , Vladimir Tarasenko got in a rare fight Tuesday during the St. Louis Blues' 8-3 victory over the Edmonton Oilers.
Brayden Schenn also had two goals and two assists, and Jake Allen stopped 26 shots for the NHL-leading Blues (16-5-1).
Tarasenko's fight came in the second period. In just the third scrap of his six-year career, the skilled forward tangled with Matt Benning and landed a solid right hand much to the crowd's delight.
Tarasenko was reacting to Benning's near-collision with Schenn that was almost a knee-on-knee hit.
It was Tarasenko's second career Gordie Howe hat trick - a goal, an assist and a fight in the same game. The other one came on Nov. 13, 2014, against Nashville.
St. Louis scored two goals in each of the first two periods before adding four in a wide-open third.
Tarasenko got his 11th goal 3:16 into the first period on two deflections. Shooting from the slot, he scored when his shot hit Connor McDavid's stick and then Adam Larsson's stick for a 1-0 lead.
Tarasenko has 14 points in his last 13 games (nine goals, five assists) against the Oilers.
The Blues made it 2-0 when Dmitrij Jaskin scored at 7:35. He outmuscled Ryan Strome for the puck in the right circle and hit a rising wrist shot threw sailed over Edmonton goalie Cam Talbot's left shoulder.
The Oilers pulled Talbot, who faced just three shots, in favor of Lauren Brossoit. It was the third time this season Talbot, who has started 105 of Edmonton's last 116 games, has been pulled.
Brossoit faced 37 shots and allowed six goals.
St. Louis went up 3-0 when Jaden Schwartz knocked in the rebound of a shot by Tarasenko. Brossoit kicked out Tarasenko's shot and it went right to Schwartz, who snapped in a wrist shot from the high slot at 3:52 of the second.
It was the 100th career goal for Schwartz, who had three points.
A goal by Schenn from the slot made it 4-0 with 19 seconds left in the period. Schwartz fed Schenn with a pass and he one-timed the puck by Brossoit.
Tarasenko added his second goal at 12:21 for a 6-1 lead. Schenn scored on a power play at 14:37.
The Blues host the Nashville Predators on Friday.
