Blues crush Flyers

NHL teams

The frustration on extending their winless slump to a team-record 12 games was too much for Flyers coach Roger Neilson who was ejected after tossing a stick onto the ice in the third period.

"I've been ejected a few times," Neilson said. "Yeah, I've thrown a stick a few times, too. I was just throwing it, and it kind of went crooked and the linesman had to duck."

Philadelphia had two goals disallowed, one before Neilson's exit and one after.

Pavol Demitra scored a power-play goal with 13:13 left in the third period to give the Blues a 3-1 lead. Neilson lost his cool when Terry Yake appeared to have interfered with Flyers Jody Hull just before Demitra scored and no penalty was called by referee Bill McCreary.

"That was in front of our bench. It was a clear-cut penalty," Neilson said. "Jody Hull couldn't get out to the point. His stick was held. He was trying desperately to get out there."

Yake didn't agree with Flyers' complaining.

"How can you lose it on something like that? It wasn't like I made them flip their top. They must have been pretty close to it already," Yake said. "He got his stick under my arm and I just kept turning and just didn't let him get his stick out for a second. It only happens 25,000 times a game."

St. Louis won their third straight and climbed within four points of first-place Detroit in the Central Division.