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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
ST. LOUIS (AP) -- St. Louis Blues goalie Brent Johnson hopes he
won back the hometown fans with his performance.
Johnson made 16 saves to lead the St. Louis Blues to a 2-0
victory in their home opener Friday night over the expansion
Minnesota Wild.
|  | | St. Louis' Pierre Turgeon, left, avoids Curtis Leschyshyn to keep the puck in play in the offensive zone. |
In Johnson's last start at the Savvis Center -- formerly the Kiel
Center -- two seasons ago, he allowed three goals against Montreal
in less than a period.
He had not been back in the NHL until this season.
"The last time I played here I got booed off the ice," Johnson
said. "It was nice to come back here and get a little bit of
revenge and feel good about myself."
Johnson, appearing in his eighth career game and second this
season, earned his first career shutout.
"I envisioned it after the second period," Johnson said. "A
lot of the admiration should go to the guys in front of me."
Blues forward Pavol Demitra took a pass from Dallas Drake at the
right goal post and slipped the puck past goalie Jamie McLennan at
15:50 of the second period. The power-play goal was Demitra's
second of the season.
"Anytime you've got dangerous players out there, anything can
happen and Pavol's a dangerous player," McLennan said. "We played
solid for 60 minutes and we showed we can compete against the big
guns of the league."
St. Louis defenseman and last season's league MVP Chris Pronger
served a one-game suspension that was imposed by the NHL earlier
Friday for leaving the bench Wednesday to fight Los Angeles
defenseman Kelly Buchberger.
Johnson, playing in place of Roman Turek, got his second win in
as many games. Last Friday, Johnson beat San Jose 4-1. He made his
toughest save in the second period by stopping Sergei Krivokrasov
from point-blank range on a power play.
"He made the key saves when he needed to and he looked really
solid in net for us," Blues coach Joel Quenneville said.
The Blues outshot the Wild in all three periods and held a 22-16
overall advantage. St. Louis held Minnesota to three shots in the
third period.
"Anytime you can limit a team to one goal (and an empty-netter)
in their building in their home opener it's a real steppingstone,"
McLennan said.
Alexander Khavanov added an empty-net goal with 18 seconds
remaining to make it 2-0.
Minnesota had a pair of two-man advantages in the second period
but couldn't capitalize.
With the victory, Quenneville passed Brian Sutter as the
winningest coach in St. Louis history. Quenneville has won 154
games in his five years with the Blues.
St. Louis ran its unbeaten streak to four games, while Minnesota
(0-3-1) continues to search for its first win in franchise
history.
Game notes
Pronger's suspension cost him $14,505.35 in lost salary.
... St. Louis forward Lubos Bartecko sustained cuts to his face in
the second period and did not return. ... Blues forward Scott Young
had his four-game goal-scoring streak snapped. ... Wild center Jim
Dowd had a three-game point-scoring streak broken. ... Reed Low
made his NHL debut for St. Louis and got into a fight with
Minnesota's Matt Johnson on his first shift.
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ALSO SEE
NHL Scoreboard
Minnesota Clubhouse
St. Louis Clubhouse
Blues' Pronger sits one game after standing up for Demitra
RECAPS
Ottawa 3
New Jersey 1
Carolina 2
Florida 2
Pittsburgh 3
Tampa Bay 2
Nashville 3
Washington 1
St. Louis 2
Minnesota 0
Edmonton 3
Buffalo 2
Los Angeles 5
Boston 0
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Curtis Leschyshyn and Dallas Drake battle it out on the ice.
avi: 1413 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
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