ST. LOUIS (AP) -- The Phoenix Coyotes didn't miss holdout goalie Nikolai Khabibulin a bit in their opener.

Jyrki Lumme snapped a tie with a third-period power-play goal and backup goalie Mikhail Shtalenkov had a strong game with 23 saves in a 2-1 victory over the St. Louis Blues on Saturday night.

	St. Louis tough guy Kelly Chase, right, found time to mix it up with Kevin Sawyer on Saturday.

"It doesn't matter how many they score," Shtalenkov said. "I wanted our team to score one more goal than St. Louis. It feels great."

The Coyotes won without much offense, just as they did in the preseason when they totaled 15 goals and went 2-4-2. Shtalenkov was 2-0-1 in the preseason with a 1.30 goals-against average and had been hoping to keep up the stingy work.

"That's what all those preseason games are for," Shtalenkov said. "You try to build your confidence and continue into the season."

The Coyotes withdrew a three-year, $9 million offer to Khabibulin last week. Khabibulin reportedly is seeking a multi-year deal worth $5 million a year.

Keith Carney also scored for the Coyotes, who blew a 3-1 series lead in the first round of the playoffs last spring to the Blues. St. Louis won Game 7 on the road in overtime.

"Obviously, the revenge factor was there a little bit," Dallas Drake said. "But we forgot about that in August. It took us a while, but we're a different team."

The game featured the successful NHL coaching debut of Bob Francis.

"The stage was set to make a statement," Francis said. "We knew the emotions were going to be high. We also knew the tighter we kept things, we could start taking control as the game went on."

The Coyotes also weathered some rowdy behavior. An out-of-control Blues fan drenched Drake with a cup of beer in the third period and was ejected.

"He threw it on me pretty good," Drake said. "The cup came later, the beer first. There were a few things flying around."

A Coyotes player retaliated by heaving a water bottle in the direction of the fan, but it hit a youngster instead.

"They wouldn't do it if we had the opportunity to go up there and beat the (daylights) out of them, I'll tell you that much," Coyotes captain Keith Tkachuk said.

Geoff Courtnall scored in the second period for the Blues. Courtnall had only five goals last season, missing all but 24 games with post-concussion syndrome.

The Coyotes spoiled the first game for new Blues owners Bill and Nancy Laurie, who also are buying the Vancouver Grizzlies of the NBA. Mark McGwire of the St. Louis Cardinals, who hit his 64th home run earlier in the day, also attended the game.

"We didn't come out with the type of effort that was needed for the home opener," defenseman Chris Pronger said. "We played sporadically."

Lumme was all alone on the left side after the Coyotes' Travis Green won a faceoff in the Blues' zone and beat Roman Turek at 2:49. Chris McAlpine had been penalized for pulling down the Coyotes' Cliff Ronning only four seconds earlier.

"I had quite a bit of time so I was able to tee it up," Lumme said. "I think it hit something on the way in, so it kind of dropped a little bit on the goalie."

Carney, who had only two goals last season, connected on a backhand rebound at 6:23 of the first period. Turek stopped Trevor Letowski's shot, but Letowski got the puck back in the crease and centered it to Carney.

Courtnall tied it at 13:47 of the second on a one-timer after working most of the shift to keep the puck deep in the Phoenix zone. He scored off a feed from Jeff Finley as Letowski rode him into the net.