After going from the hottest team in the NHL to one of the coldest in a span of five weeks, the St. Louis Blues had a lot of pent-up frustration.
Egged on by a crowd of 19,841 Saturday at the Savvis Center, they took it out on the beleaguered Blackhawks 5-1. “The first two goals were terrible,” Hawks coach Alpo Suhonen said. “The first shift–a pass from the back of the net to a guy in front of the net alone; second goal on a power play they have a shot and we have nobody in front to clear the rebound. Very bad start.”
The Blues scored their first goal with the game 76 seconds old, their second at 4:37 and their third at 19:54. Despite being outshot 18-10 in the opening period, the Hawks had many splendid scoring opportunities. But St. Louis goaltender Roman Turek turned them back.
In the second period, the Blues widened their lead to 5-0 in the first 5:50. The second of these goals prompted Suhonen to take out goaltender Jocelyn Thibault and send in Steve Passmore.
Passmore shut out the Blues for the duration, stopping 15 shots. Early in the third period Jean-Yves Leroux’s goal thwarted Turek’s shutout bid.
“The last couple goals Jocelyn was not really reading the play,” said Suhonen. “Passmore played excellent. With him we won 1-0.”
Five players–Scott Mellanby, Daniel Corso, Pierre Turgeon, Keith Tkachuk and Al MacInnis–scored for St. Louis. Three of the goals came on power plays.
Turgeon and MacInnis also had two assists apiece.
