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  Tuesday, Oct. 17 7:30pm ET
Legace remains unbeaten for Wings
 
  RECAP | BOX SCORE

DETROIT (AP) -- The Detroit Red Wings' veteran defensemen, who have looked old and slow at times this season, have played just fine in front of goalie Manny Legace.

Manny Legace
Red Wings goalie Manny Legace stopped 30 shots Tuesday night, falling one goal shy of his second straight shutout.

Legace lost a bid for his second straight shutout late in the game and settled for a win as the Red Wings beat the St. Louis Blues 2-1 in an early season matchup of traditional Western Conference powers Tuesday night.

The Blues kept Legace busy, outshooting the Red Wings 31-23. But Legace credited his defense for limiting St. Louis' quality chances.

"The defensive corps we have is so steady and we rely on it so much," said Legace. "It makes my job much easier. It's very comfortable to trust guys like that."

Legace, 4-0 last year, blanked Chicago 4-0 in his first start of this season last week. He was 2:21 away from making it two shutouts in a row when the Blues' Jochen Hecht scored on a short-handed wraparound.

"He should've had a shutout," Detroit coach Scotty Bowman said. "He deserved it. He played well. He played last year and got four wins and he's much more experienced."

St. Louis lifted goaltender Roman Turek for an extra attacker in the final seconds but couldn't get another shot against Legace.

"It was a lot of body checking and physical play," said Turek. "People are talking that they have an old team, but it's still a very strong team with good players."

Second-period goals 1:21 apart by Sergei Fedorov and Martin Lapointe gave Detroit its first home win in three tries.

The Red Wings were also playing for the first time since captain Steve Yzerman underwent arthroscopic surgery on his right knee Monday. The team says Yzerman is out indefinitely.

"It's one big guy you can't replace, but if everyone pulls together we can make up for it," defenseman Chris Chelios said.

Chelios twisted his knee in the third period and was examined at a hospital after the game. The extent of his injury was not know.

"He went for a puck and he just turned on his leg," Bowman said.

Fedorov, whose point-blank deflection was stopped by Turek a few minutes before, was unguarded in the right slot when he easily converted a pass from Pat Verbeek to break a scoreless tie 16:01 into the second period.

Lapointe got open between the circles and slipped a shot into the lower left corner of the net to give the Red Wings a 2-0 lead at 17:22.

"We had the puck on the second goal, and on the first we had three guys going for the same guy," Blues coach Joel Quenneville said.

Before then, Legace was at his best while Fedorov was serving a double minor for high sticking Chris Pronger. Legace was screened when he gloved a hard shot from the right point from Pavol Demitra.

"At the last second I saw him wind up and shoot it," Legace said. "I did see it."

The Red Wings, who surrendered three power-play goals in a 4-2 loss Sunday to Calgary, stopped four Blues power plays.

"We had a lot of opportunities, but our power play has been pretty lackluster for the first six games," Pronger said. "In order for us to be successful, especially the way they're calling penalties, we have to get our power play going."

Game notes
This was the 200th regular-season meeting between the Blues and Red Wings and the 100th in Detroit. The Blues lead the all-time series, 94-72-34. ... Red Wings defenseman Maxim Kuznetsov made his NHL debut. It was Kuznetsov that Yzerman tripped over during a preseason game, causing the knee injury that led to Monday's surgery. ... The Blues have outshot all six of their opponents this season. ... The Blues' Pierre Turgeon was scoreless after earning six assists in his previous four games.

 


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RECAPS
Ottawa 6
Philadelphia 1

Colorado 4
Washington 3

New Jersey 3
Atlanta 3

Detroit 2
St. Louis 1

Montreal 4
Buffalo 3

Anaheim 4
NY Islanders 3

Los Angeles 1
Nashville 1

Edmonton 6
Boston 1

AUDIO/VIDEO
video
 Slava Kozlov feeds Sergei Fedorov for the Detroit goal.
avi: 552 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1

 Brent Gilchrist finds Martin Lapointe, who beats Roman Turek for the Detroit score.
avi: 725 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1