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Saturday, Jan. 29 8:00pm ET
Blues put defensive bite on Avs | |||||
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BOX SCORE
ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Jamie McLennan stopped everything the Colorado Avalanche threw at him and snapped a couple of droughts in the process. McLennan handled all 21 Avalanche shots to earn his first win in more than two months as the Blues beat Colorado 4-0 Saturday night.
"I hadn't gotten a win in a long time and to get a shutout and finally beat Colorado is sweet," said McLennan, who broke a personal four-game winless streak. "It's nice to beat them because if we go far in the playoffs we'll probably have to face them." It was the first time the Blues beat Colorado since April 4, 1998, a seven-game span. "It's nice to get that monkey off our back and it's a good mental block to overcome," St. Louis coach Joel Quenneville said. "We've had some huge problems with them and tonight we showed what we're capable of and gave a real gutsy effort." The win came at a serious cost for the Blues. St. Louis' leading scorer Pierre Turgeon left the game in the first period with an injury to his right wrist. Quenneville said that the injury is serious. "We'll find out Tuesday when the specialist looks at him but I think he'll be out at least a month," Quenneville said. Colorado ended its five-game road trip with a record of 1-3-1. Avalanche coach Bob Hartley knew the Blues would eventually get a win against his team. "Maybe they were a little bit overdue," Hartley said. "They really gave it back to us tonight." Hartley was impressed with McLennan's effort. "He was there when they needed him and that's the strength of a solid goalie," Hartley said. "McLennan came up with big saves when shots were tough to get." The shutout was St. Louis' seventh of the season. Craig Conroy scored two goals, one with St. Louis shorthanded, to supply the offense for St. Louis. Scott Pellerin added a short-handed goal. It was the second time this season St. Louis scored two short-handed goals in a game. Conroy scored his short-handed goal at 15:10 of the first to give St. Louis the lead. Conroy beat Patrick Roy for his ninth goal. "When they score a short-handed goal it takes the wind out of your sails and that's what happened tonight," Colorado defenseman Adam Foote said. St. Louis got second-period goals from Michal Handzus and Pellerin to make it 3-0. Conroy added his second goal of the game in the third period. Roy stopped 17 of 21 shots and lost for the first time in 10 games. Roy was replaced by Marc Denis with 9:38 remaining. Quenneville received a game-misconduct at 8:06 of the third for arguing a penalty. He watched the rest of the game from the locker room. Colorado played without five regulars on Saturday, including its third leading scorer Joe Sakic, who is out with a groin pull. The Avalanche ended a five-game road trip with a 1-3-1 record.
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