|
RECAP
|
BOX SCORE
ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Roman Turek knew it was an oversimplification
to say he didn't have any margin for error Saturday night.
| | Blues goalie Roman Turek puts the glove on a Tony Amonte shot in the third period. | "When you are in a 1-0 game, you have to stop everything,"
said the St. Louis Blues goalie, who did just that to the Chicago
Blackhawks for his 10th career shutout. "If you don't, it's 1-1."
Still, Turek didn't have to do much, making just 16 saves. Scott
Young provided the offense with his league-leading eighth goal.
Thanks to Turek, that goal stood up. His moment of truth came
when Chicago's Alexei Zhamnov corralled a loose puck all alone at
the top of the left circle with just over two minutes remaining.
But Turek stopped his wrist shot and cleared the rebound.
"It all happens so fast out there," Turek said. "You don't
have time to think about it. You just have to react."
Blues coach Joel Quenneville was happy that Turek, who had faced
only two shots in the period up to that point, was equal to the
task.
"That's what he's there for," Quenneville said with a grin.
"Sometimes when you go a long stretch between shots, the first one
you are going to get is going to be a quality opportunity."
Young entered the game tied for the league lead in goals with
Colorado's Peter Forsberg. He snapped the tie with three minutes
left in the second period when he broke in two-on-one with Pierre
Turgeon and snapped Turgeon's pass by goalie Robbie Tallas. Sean
Hill assisted on the goal.
The goal gave Young eight in eight games, and nine points
overall for the right wing, whose career high for a season is 30
goals with Quebec in 1992-93. He scored 24 goals last season, and
is enjoying playing with Turgeon and new teammate Dallas Drake.
"It's awesome playing with him (Turgeon), but the whole line
has kind of clicked," Young said.
Despite the loss, Chicago coach Alpo Suhonen felt good about his
team's performance.
"It was probably our best game since the start of the season,"
he said. "Of course, we didn't score, so that's not a good
thing."
Saturday's shutout was the second in four games for St. Louis,
which has allowed just three goals during that span. Turek's
backup, Brent Johnson, had the other shutout, blanking the
Minnesota Wild 2-0 on Oct. 13.
Tallas made 27 saves for the Blackhawks, who had won three of
the previous four games between the teams. The Blues lost the
season series 2-3-1 to Chicago last season, one of only three
series St. Louis lost en route to the President's Trophy.
"We got better as the game went on, and of course, so did St.
Louis," Tallas said. "They've got such a solid team."
Game notes Chicago's only two victories this season have come
against the expansion Columbus Blue Jackets. ... Saturday's game
was the 5,000th in franchise history for Chicago. The Blackhawks'
first game was a 4-1 win over Toronto on Nov. 17, 1926. ... The
Blackhawks played Friday night at home against Dallas while the
Blues rested at home. Despite that, Chicago looked like the fresher
team in the first period, taking five of the first six shots. ...
Chicago had a 6-5 advantage in shots after the first period, but
was outshot 23-10 the rest of the way.
| |
ALSO SEE
NHL Scoreboard
Chicago Clubhouse
St. Louis Clubhouse
RECAPS
Toronto 2 Calgary 1
Montreal 5 Carolina 2
Atlanta 6 Ottawa 6
Anaheim 4 Philadelphia 3
NY Islanders 4 Washington 4
Detroit 5 Buffalo 4
New Jersey 7 Tampa Bay 2
Pittsburgh 5 Columbus 2
Dallas 4 Los Angeles 3
San Jose 5 Nashville 3
St. Louis 1 Chicago 0
Phoenix 3 Vancouver 2
AUDIO/VIDEO
Scott Young scores the game's only goal.
avi: 398 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
|