Jackets pocket 2 in the 3rd

Zherdev downs Blues by himself

Nikolai Zherdev showered, dressed and left the Columbus locker room about as quickly as he scored his two third-period goals.

Zherdev's two goals in the last 6 minutes -- one on a highlight-reel move that provided the go-ahead goal -- helped the host Blue Jackets beat the St. Louis Blues 6-4 on Friday night and get some payback for a bad loss three days earlier.

The 23-year-old Russian was gone before anyone could speak with him. His teammates weren't nearly so reticent.

"That's what he does -- he changes games around," said Jason Chimera, who added his first goal in 26 games. "He's one of those superstars in this league right now. It's one of those things, when he gets the puck the other team kind of backs off."

With the score tied 3-all, Zherdev swooped into the offensive zone and passed the puck to himself backward between his legs before wristing a shot from the high slot that got by goaltender Hannu Toivonen with 5:57 left.

After Dan Fritsche made it 5-3 on a shot from the left dot just more than a minute later, Zherdev took a long pass from David Vyborny and scored on a backhander for his 17th of the season. He had just 10 goals in 71 games a year ago.

Zherdev didn't practice on Wednesday or Thursday after taking a hard hit from David Backes in St. Louis' 6-1 victory over the Blue Jackets on Tuesday night.

"I don't know if any of the players knew if he was going (to play) or not until this morning," Fritsche said. "He looked good. I totally forgot he was hurt until he told me about it. He was at his best tonight, that's for sure."

Ron Hainsey and Rick Nash also had goals for the Blue Jackets. Chimera and Fritsche each also had an assist, while Vyborny and Adam Foote had three assists apiece. Sergei Fedorov added two assists to extend his points streak to five games.

The Blue Jackets, who had lost their past two games, won their fourth in a row at home.

Backes, Brad Boyes, Andy McDonald and Jay McClement had goals for the Blues. The Blues had a three-game winning streak and six-game points streak come to an end a night after beating Dallas 4-2 at home.

"I give Columbus credit," Blues coach Andy Murray said. "They worked extremely hard and they were focused on this hockey game. All I know is it was 3-3 in the third period and we didn't get it done."

Backes and McDonald also added assists.

"It was a huge win. Everybody knows what happened out there (on Tuesday night)," said Pascal Leclaire, who had 26 saves for the Blue Jackets. "It was embarrassing. We were pretty sour about it. We definitely came out the way we wanted to play. We were in their face all night."

ALSO FRIDAY

WILD 5, BLACKHAWKS 2: Josh Harding made 41 saves, Marian Gaborik scored two goals and Minnesota handed host Chicago its eighth straight loss.

Matt Foy, Pierre-Marc Bouchard and Mark Parrish also scored for Minnesota, which won its second straight despite being outshot 43-16. The Wild's Eric Belanger had two assists.

Brent Sopel and Martin Havlat scored for injury-depleted Chicago, which is 0-6-2 during its skid. Sopel connected in his first game -- and second shift -- after missing seven contests with a broken finger.

Minnesota has won nine consecutive games against Chicago. The Blackhawks last defeated the Wild on Oct. 23, 2005, and are 0-6-3 against Minnesota during the streak.

The Blackhawks played without six regulars: defenseman James Wisniewski (knee); and forwards Jonathan Toews (knee), Jason Williams (groin), Kevyn Adams (knee), Dave Bolland (broken finger) and Ben Eager (concussion).

Chicago's Nikolai Khabibulin made only 11 saves. He stopped just three of six shots in the second period as Minnesota built a 4-1 lead.

Sopel opened the scoring 3:49 in after picking off a pass by Minnesota defenseman Brent Burns.

Sopel skated straight down the slot and beat Harding on the stick side for his first goal this season.

Chicago outshot Minnesota 16-6 in the second period, but the Wild led 4-1 after 40 minutes. Harding made point-blank saves early in the second on Patrick Sharp and Robert Lang.

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KINGS 5, MAPLE LEAFS 2: Dustin Brown scored twice on power plays, and Alexander Frolov and Rob Blake each had a goal and an assist for host Los Angeles.