NEW YORK -- The focus before Thursday's game between the New York Rangers and St. Louis Blues was on the goaltending matchup, with two of the hottest netminders in the NHL battling on the Madison Square Garden ice.

But afterward, the talk was about right winger Mats Zuccarello, who tied a single-game career-high with three points to lead the red-hot Rangers to a 6-3 win over the Blues.

Zuccarello helped the Rangers charge out to a 3-0 lead and had an assist on defenseman Ryan McDonagh's power play goal at 2:44 of the third period to stave off the surging Blues.

Zuccarello increased his total to nine points (four goals, five assists) in the last six games.

"(I've had) some good bounces," Zuccarello said. "You can play really well and don't get the good bounces and sometimes you get the bounces. It's nice so hopefully we'll keep it going."

Consider Rangers center Derek Stepan a fan.

"I think he's my favorite player in the NHL right now," Stepan said of Zuccarello. "He's playing at such a high level. It starts with his compete level -- he just competes so hard. You put the skillset that he has with it, you saw the goal he had tonight. That's a high skill level play."

From behind the net, Zuccarello set up center Derick Brassard for a one-timer in front of the goal to give the Rangers (12-2-2) a 1-0 lead just 4:54 into the first period.

Brassard's fifth goal of the season snapped a 170:53 shutout streak for Blues goaltender Jake Allen, who was coming off back-to-back shutouts.

The Rangers made it 2-0 on Zuccarello's team-leading eighth goal of the season. Off a Blues turnover in the neutral zone, Zuccarello took a pass from Brassard, cut inside Blues defenseman Jay Bouwmeester and beat Allen with a high wrist shot blocker side.

The Rangers chased Allen at 14:38 of the first period on right winger Kevin Hayes' fifth goal of the season. Quick passes from center Oscar Lindberg and left winger Viktor Stalberg set up Hayes on a breakaway from the blue line and Hayes put a forehand through the five-hole to extend the Rangers lead to 3-0.

Allen, who made 96 consecutive saves entering the game, gave up three goals on five shots, and was replaced by Brian Elliott, who made 14 saves on 16 shots in his first appearance since Nov. 4 in Chicago.

"Those are our fault in front of him. I take credit for the first one, that's my guy going to the net," Blues center David Backes said. "Other guys will take credit for the other ones. ... He's been so great for us that we need to be better for him when we can."

Despite the early deficit, Blues coach Ken Hitchcock was pleased with his team's play.

"The best period we played all year on the road was the first period and we were down 3-0," he said. "We played great first period. I don't think I've coached a game on the road we've had this many scoring chances. But we made mistakes."

The Blues (11-4-1) fought back and pulled within 3-2 on goals by right wingers Dmitrij Jaskin and Vladimir Tarasenko, who scored the sixth of his eight goals away from Scottrade Center on a high wrist shot glove side.

After J.T. Miller's slap shot deflected in off Blues center Jori Lehtera, the Blues again made it a one-goal game on a power play tally by right winger Troy Brouwer, who tapped past Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist (31 saves) in front of the net at 14:21 of the second.

"I thought when it was 4-3 we were going to win for sure," Hitchcock said. "We've done it three or four times this year already. I thought for sure with the way we were playing, we were really dominating the offensive zone I thought we were going to win for sure."

But McDonagh put a slap shot through a screen set up by left winger Rick Nash for his second goal of the season to increase the Rangers lead to 5-3 at 2:44 of the third period. Defenseman Dan Girardi followed with an empty-netter to put the finishing touches on the Rangers seventh straight win.

NOTES: D Robert Bortuzzo and RW Ryan Reaves were healthy scratches for the Blues. C Steve Ott (upper body), C Patrik Berglund (shoulder), LW Paul Stastny (foot) and LW Jaden Schwartz (ankle) also were out. ... Rangers C Dominic Moore was a healthy scratch for a second straight game, the first time that has happened since rejoining the team. D Dylan McIllrath also was a healthy scratch for the Rangers. ... The Blues return home Saturday to face the Blackhawks. ... The Rangers head to Ottawa to take on the Senators on Saturday.