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Friday, Oct. 6 10:30pm ET
Young's two goals lead Blues | |||||
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BOX SCORE
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) -- A burgeoning NHL rivalry received another injection of bad feelings as the St. Louis Blues got a bit of empty revenge on the San Jose Sharks. Scott Young scored twice and backup goalie Brent Johnson stopped 18 shots as the Blues beat San Jose 4-1 Friday night in the Sharks' season opener. Lubos Bartecko and Marty Reasoner also scored for the Blues, who won the Presidents' Trophy last season with a league-best 114 points but were upset in the first round of the playoffs by San Jose. No regular-season victory will make up for a postseason loss, but the Blues' defense -- which allowed a league-low 165 goals last year -- handcuffed and bullied the Sharks forwards all night. San Jose coach Darryl Sutter was angry about what he said was a dirty high-stick thrown by Blues captain Chris Pronger. Sutter said the league MVP deliberately cut Jeff Friesen above his right eye in the third period, but received no penalty in a game that featured 17 minors. "If they're going to call the five-and-dime stuff, then they have to call the ones that draw blood," Sutter said. "I kept asking them. I even asked them in English. I know Pronger did it, and he's going to say it was an accident -- but he's the best player in the league, and they don't do anything accidental." Meanwhile, Young -- who has three goals in two games this season -- scored St. Louis' first and last goals of the night in a convincing win. Pierre Turgeon had two assists for the Blues, who open their season with four road games and lost 4-1 at Phoenix on Thursday night. "I don't know what was more motivating, our poor performance last night or getting beat by those guys last year," St. Louis coach Joel Quenneville said. Johnson, making his first start since the 1998-99 season, got his fourth career NHL victory with several outstanding saves in the first two periods. "Getting those early goals made it that much easier," Johnson said. "We outpowered them, outgunned them, and I didn't have much work." San Jose went 0-for-8 on the power play and had just five shots in the third period. Stephane Matteau's rebound goal early in the third was the Sharks' only score. The Sharks began the season without captain Owen Nolan, who remains unsigned and likely unfit to play after offseason hernia surgery. Without their leading scorer, the Sharks' offensive attack was as lost and disconnected as the one that scored just one goal in each of San Jose's final four exhibition games. "We miss him," defenseman Brad Stuart said of Nolan. "He's a great player, but what can we do about that? We can't sit back and say, 'Too bad for us.' We need to be positive." Young got his first goal 32.7 seconds before intermission, and Bartecko got an unassisted goal 1:41 into the second period when he threw a backhand in front of the Sharks' net that deflected off Scott Thornton's skate. "He just walked around the far side of the net. It was a fluke," Thornton said. "Our lines were out of sync all night, and it filtered all the way down the ice." Reasoner scored a rebound goal midway through the second period, and Young stretched the Blues' lead to 4-0 when he delicately deflected Al MacInnis' powerful slap shot behind Steve Shields. "I'm not trying to do anything crazy," Young said. "I'm just playing my role, and the puck's been on my stick so far this year." Shields stopped 25 shots for the Sharks, but he foolishly strayed from the net twice to attempt to play rebounds, and St. Louis capitalized with goals by Reasoner and Young. Game notesEven before Pronger's incident with Friesen, the Shark Tank crowd booed the Norris Trophy-winner every time he touched the puck. San Jose fans first took a dislike to Pronger during last season's playoffs. ... Rookies Mark Smith and Matt Bradley made their NHL debuts for San Jose. The forwards made the Sharks' roster in training camp, beating out 17-year veteran Ron Sutter. ... Michal Handzus, the third part of the Blues' high-scoring Slovakian line of last season, has missed both of St. Louis' games with an abdominal strain. | ALSO SEE NHL Scoreboard St. Louis Clubhouse San Jose Clubhouse RECAPS New Jersey 8 Montreal 4
St. Louis 4
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