This was the night when Sheffield United made a serious statement of intent in the Championship promotion race.
Billy Sharp scored twice in 13 second-half minutes to take his goal tally to four in three matches and seal a third successive victory for Chris Wilder's side.
It inflicted a first defeat in 26 home league matches for Blackburn, and more importantly, moved United within reach of the top of the table.
Wilder's team, after a shaky start, have won seven of their past nine league matches, and are starting to look like real contenders at the top end of the second tier.
This time, they hope to make the challenge stick. Last season, they led the league in November, but then lost midfielder Paul Coutts to a broken leg and they gradually slid out of the race.
On Wednesday night, Coutts made his return as a second-half substitute, after 11 months out. The 2,000 travelling supporters cheered his appearance almost as loudly as they did Sharp's goals.
United were thoroughly good value for the win. Indeed, Blackburn were grateful to their Spanish goalkeeper David Raya for keeping the first-half scoreline blank.
Raya was alert to beat Mark Duffy's spot on the spin round his near post, then reacted well to push away Jack O'Connell's header from an Oliver Norwood corner.
He made an even better stop in the closing minutes of the first half, leaping tip over David McGoldrick's dipping shot after the striker had cut in from the right on to a Duffy pass.
Blackburn struggled to create chances during the opening half, although Bradley Dack had a shot blocked by John Egan after meeting Elliott Bennett's low cross on the run, and Corry Evans' 25-year effort dipped just over the bar.
Rovers boss Tony Mowbray brought on Charlie Mulgrew as a third centre-back at the break and switched his formation to 3-4-2-1 to mirror the visitors' set-up.
They still found it tough going, though, as Blades midfielder John Fleck had a shot blocked from Chris Basham's cut-back, before O'Connell headed over from the resulting corner.
Rovers created half-chances, with left-back Amari'i Bell powering in to head over from Bennett's right-wing cross.
But once Sharp opened the scoring, the home side never really looked like mounting a recovery, and only Raya's block stopped substitute Conor Washington from giving the Blades an even bigger win.