ST. LOUIS - Yankic Perreault knew better than to rush what turned out to be the winning shot. He ... Red-Hot Perreault Lifts Co

ST. LOUIS - Yankic Perreault knew better than to rush what turned out to be the winning shot. He settled a bouncing puck high in the slot before blasting it into a vacated St. Louis goal to break a tie late in the second period and lead Phoenix to a 2-1 victory Saturday night.

Curtis Sanford had moved to his right to stop a shot by Ed Jovanovski and the long rebound squirted directly to Perreault. He settled the puck with his skate before scoring.

"(Jovanovski) took a great shot, so the goalie had to move," Perreault said. "I took an extra second so I could stop the puck and take a good shot."

Perreault has been on a tear since signing with Phoenix on Oct. 29. His goal against the Blues marked his seventh in the past eight games and 11 overall with the Coyotes. He scored six times in five consecutive games before going without a goal in his past two contests.

The 35-year-old center signed as an unrestricted free agent after the season started. He finished with 22 goals and 35 assists for a career-high 57 points in 69 games last season for Nashville, and had 217 goals and 464 points in 740 games in 12 NHL seasons before joining the Coyotes.

"He's been a savior for us. He's been really good. He's been a nice addition for our team," Phoenix coach Wayne Gretzky said. "Every now and then, you get the right guy and we got lucky that he was available and he came to us. He's fit in nicely."

Blues coach Mike Kitchen said the game came down to whichever team got the better bounce. Unfortunately for St. Louis, the biggest bounce went directly to Perreault.

The loss kept St. Louis from achieving its first three-game winning streak since February. It had earned consecutive shootout victories at Columbus and Detroit before taking on Phoenix.

Curtis Joseph handled a 5-on-3 opportunity for St. Louis about midway through the third period and stopped 25 shots for his sixth victory of the year. He helped the Coyotes earn their second road victory of the season, both in St. Louis. Phoenix won the teams' first game 5-2 on October 17.

Both teams scored in the first period, but failed to mount serious threats in the third. The Blues tied the score 1-1 on Hinote's shot with 4:46 left in the first period and less than four minutes after Nolan scored to give Phoenix a 1-0 lead.

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