ST. LOUIS -- It's pretty uncommon for lead changes not to happen somewhat frequently during the course of a hockey season, let alone when a team is 12 games in.

For the St. Louis Blues, that's surprisingly been the case.

After a 2-1 win on home ice to close out a four-game homestand 3-1-0 on Thursday against the Arizona Coyotes, it's quite simple for the Blues: score first, they are 6-0-0; allow the first goal, they are 0-5-1.

And yet it's crazy to think that there have been absolutely no lead changes in any of those games. There have been five games in which the team that scored first, the other team scored to tie the game but never gained a lead of their own. The other seven games, whoever scored first, would extend their lead and not allow it to be evened back up.

Thursday was the case for the Blues in which they scored first, then Arizona tied it, but the Blues (6-5-1) would forge back in front and for only the second time, they played a game down the stretch either protecting a one-goal lead or trying to chase the game.

The first was in Winnipeg against the Jets on Oct. 24 when they trailed 3-2 in the third period before falling 4-2. Last night, they protected the lead and played minutes where every shift, every sequence was important.

"That's another sign of this team coming, showing up and making sure we're doing the job," Blues defenseman Torey Krug said. "You've got to be comfortable playing in those games, obviously a team that's had our number for a while. They usually put up a lot of goals on us, so defensively to have the effort that we did, shut down their top guys for the most part, you've got to feel good. Like [Robert Thomas] said, you've got to park this one pretty soon here and get ready for another game on Saturday."

The Blues head back to Denver to face the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday (they lost 4-1 there Nov. 1), and to be in a pressure cooker like the one Thursday should build something for the team psyche, especially with the special teams (power play is 32nd in the league and penalty kill is 25th) lagging back.

"A lot of confidence," Thomas said after scoring in his fifth straight game. "We had a big PK kill in the third period there early (1:03 in after a Colton Parayko hooking minor) and were able to not kind of play passive. We stayed aggressive, we made them defend and made it hard to get chances. A lot of guys made some really smart plays and really committed to that game and that's why we were able to hold onto the win."

Four of the six wins this season, the Blues allowed their opposition to tie the score 1-1 but found a way to regain the lead again and play with it to prevail in victory each time. It's something that defenseman Justin Faulk said makes the team execute better when they it does play with the lead.

"It's great. I'l take the one-goal lead at any point in the game," Faulk said. "They're tough. You've got to bear down. There's ways to play and it's not sitting back, it's still being aggressive and making sure you kind of take it to them a little bit. Obviously when they get 6-on-5, (anything) can happen, but I think overall, I like our game when we're up a goal. This year, I think we've held it down pretty good for the most part with limited chances. They're going to get good shots, but the quality is what matters."

With the power play going 0-for-7, a season-high in attempts for a game, the Blues were able to limit Arizona to 20 shots for the game, but when the game was 5-on-5, the Blues outscored the Coyotes 2-0 and outshot them 24-19.

"I thought our team stood in there and getting the momentum back even after that goal we gave up on the PK," Blues coach Craig Berube said.

For the season, St. Louis is minus-2 at even strength scoring, while power-play goals-for and power-play goals-against, they've been outscored 9-1. 

They've played in just one one-goal game this season, except for the two shootout results in the opening two games of the season.