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ST. LOUIS -- St. Louis goalie Jaroslav Halak is healthy once again. The Phoenix Coyotes found that out the hard way Tuesday night. Halak made 20 saves and T.J. Oshie scored twice as the Blues rode their hot goalie to a 2-1 win. The Blues have won eight of nine and improved to 7-1-1 against the Coyotes since the start of the 2011-2012 season. Phoenix lost its season-high fourth consecutive game. Halak improved to 19-6-3 with his second successive win since missing five games due to an illness. The mysterious ailment, diagnosed as a severe flu, sapped his strength and forced him to the sidelines from Dec. 29 to Jan. 7. "I had a fever that wouldnt go away and I kept getting tired real fast," Halak said. "Now that the virus is gone, Im feeling pretty good." Halak made several impressive stops in the third period to protect a 2-1 lead. He robbed David Moss from close range with a stick save two minutes into the period. He also thwarted Antoine Vermette and Tim Kennedy down the stretch. "This is a game where the goalie saved us," St. Louis coach Ken Hitchcock said. "He was terrific from start to finish." Phoenix outshot St. Louis 8-2 in the third period and dominated play. "I thought we pushed hard," Phoenix coach Dave Tippett said. "We gave ourselves a chance to get some points." But Halak would not budge. "Youve got to give them credit, they came out really hard in the third," Halak said. "Im glad we got the two points, but we all know we can play better." Halak made 33 saves in a 5-0 shutout in Calgary on Thursday. He says he was not 100 per cent in that game, but believes he is very close to returning to top form. He felt Tuesdays performance was one of his best this season. His teammates agreed. "He made some huge saves," Oshie said. "This game could have gone the other way, a 5-2 victory (for Phoenix). He came up big and. thats what we expect from him every night." "Hes a huge reason we won," captain David Backes added. "He got us the two points. We need to play better in front of him. Hopefully, the other 19 of us learned a lesson." Oshie recorded his second two-goal game in the last six contests since he was named to the U.S. Olympic team. Oliver Ekman-Larsson scored for Phoenix, which has been outscored 16-6 during the four-game skid. Oshie, who has 10 goals, ripped a shot behind Mike Smith midway through the first period off a back pass from Alex Pietrangelo. Oshie scored on the power play in the second period. Jaden Schwartz provided a screen on Oshies shot from just inside the blue line. Ekman-Larsson scored a power play goal on a high wrist shot with 48 seconds left in the second period. The Blues had killed their previous 21 penalties. Phoenix RW Radim Vrbata hit the crossbar with 4:16 remaining the game. The Coyotes fell to 3-8-4 in their last 15 games. Ekman-Larsson said his team should be able to gain some momentum from a strong third-period effort that simply fell short against a hot goalie. "I think this is a step in the right direction," he said. "This was our best period in a long time." Smith fell to 15-13-8. He has not won since Dec. 21 covering nine appearances. St. Louis, which has won its last five home games, has a plus-61 goal differential, the best in the NHL. Notes: St. Louis D Roman Polak returned after missing 10 games with a fractured ankle. ... Phoenix C Mike Ribeiro left Mondays contest against Winnipeg with a lower body injury but returned on Tuesday. ...The Coyotes remain the only team in the NHL without a short-handed goal this season. ... St. Louis public address announcer Tom Calhoun worked his 1,200 consecutive home game. ... Blues LW Vladimir Sobotka, who has seven goals and 24 points, missed the game with a fever. ...St. Louis C Patrik Berglund played in his 400th NHL game. ....Phoenix RW Shane Doan is two assists shy of 500. Montrezl Harrell Clippers Jersey . 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The Missouri Tigers Defensive End and SEC Defensive player of the year is eligible for the upcoming NFL draft in May.PRETORIA, South Africa - Police photographs of a bare-chested Oscar Pistorius standing in his garage on blood-stained prosthetic legs and wearing shorts covered in blood, taken shortly after the athlete fatally shot his girlfriend, were shown to the court at his murder trial Friday. Prosecutors displayed two photos on TV monitors in the courtroom, with the first of the muscled double-amputee Olympic athlete standing facing a camera. There are blood stains up to the knees of his limbs and his shorts are also bloodied, but his naked chest appears to be clean of blood. A second photograph of Pistorius from the waist up and from the left side also shows blood on his shorts and parts of his body, with a tattoo visible on his back. The photographs were taken in Pistorius Pretoria home soon after the athlete killed Reeva Steenkamp in the early hours of Valentines Day last year, a former policeman testified. Pistorius says he carried Steenkamp downstairs to try to save her after mistakenly shooting her in his bathroom. Former police Col. G.S. van Rensburg described the early part of the investigation after he arrived at the scene around 30 to 40 minutes after prosecutors say Pistorius killed Steenkamp in the pre-dawn hours of Feb. 14, 2013. The prosecution says Pistorius intentionally killed Steenkamp in the upstairs bathroom after a loud argument and then tried to cover it up by saying he thought the 29-year-old model was a dangerous intruder. Pistorius, 27, maintains the killing was an accident and has pleaded not guilty to all charges against him. Van Rensburg, the former commander at a police station close to Pistorius home, said he didnt arrest Pistorius immediately, but did warn him to remain at the house. "I told him I observed him as a suspect at that stage," van Rensburg said. "I warned him of his rights ... I requested him to remain present at all times at the scene." Van Rensburg said Pistorius was earlier "very emotional," and that the runners brother and sister, Carl and Aimee, and a lawyer later arrived at the house. A close-up photograph of the toilet inside the cubicle where Steenkamp was shot three times, once in the head, was also displayed. It showed an extensive blood smear on the rim, as well as thick blood streaks in the bowl, where the water was also dark with blood. Van Rensburg said he recognized the toilet door through which Pistorius shot as the "most valuable" piece of evidence, and that it was important to secure it, particularly since he had heard media were willing to pay up to $5,500 for a photo of it.dddddddddddd The toilet door was placed in a plastic "body bag" and transported to a police station, where van Rensburg said he stored it in his office because it was too big to fit in an area normally reserved for evidence from crime scenes. The police investigation has been heavily criticized by Pistorius defence lawyer, Barry Roux. Roux particularly questioned the conduct of former investigating officer Hilton Botha, who was thrown off the case last year and resigned from the police force. Roux repeatedly asked van Rensburg what Botha was doing at the scene during different parts of the investigation. Botha admitted last year that he didnt wear proper forensic clothing and shoe covers when he examined parts of the scene, and Pistorius team believes the police disturbed evidence and may have tampered with it. "You did not disturb anything in the bathroom? You did not see Mr. Hilton Botha disturb anything in the bathroom?" Roux asked van Rensburg. "Were you acutely aware that you should not disturb the scene? Did you have that awareness? And what was Mr. Botha doing?" Roux asked a little later. And again, Roux said: "Where was Mr. Botha now?" Van Rensburg said at points he did not know where Botha was. During the investigation in the bathroom, van Rensburg also said that he turned around at one point to see that the firearms expert was handling the gun Pistorius used to kill Steenkamp and had taken the magazine out of the weapon without using gloves. "I asked him, What are you doing?" van Rensburg testified. The officer realized his error, apologized, put the magazine back in the gun and laid it on the mat where it was on the floor. "I was very angry," van Rensburg said. Van Rensburg also testified that one of Pistorius expensive watches was apparently stolen from the crime scene that night. About eight expensive watches were found in a blood-spattered box in Pistorius bedroom and van Rensburg said he warned fellow officers that the watches should be observed closely because they could be tempting to anyone moving through the crime scene. Pistorius sister asked if she could take one of the watches, leaving seven in place, he said. But van Rensburg said another went missing while he was out of the room, prompting him to order the frisking of all the police forensic experts on the scene, as well as a search of their bags and vehicles, and the entire house. ' ' '