• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Kariya, Blues get off to quick start, beat Blackhawks

Oct 18, 2007 - 4:15 AM CHICAGO (Ticker) -- The St. Louis Blues, once again, benefited from a quick start by their top line.

Paul Kariya scored his first goal in a Blues uniform en route to the team's fourth straight victory, a 3-1 triumph over the Chicago Blackhawks in a battle of Central Division rivals Wednesday.

The Blues capitalized on a power play to take an early 1-0 lead at 2:14 of the first period. After Keith Tkachuk was knocked down with the puck in the slot, Brad Boyes picked it up and sent a cross-ice pass to the wide-open Kariya, who fired a wrist shot past goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin.

"We move the puck around well on the power play," Kariya said. "You can't win in this league if you don't have a good power play. We've got off to a good start, and that's important. It's easier to play with a lead. We had our chances and should have put the game away earlier."

It was Kariya's first goal since signing a three-year contract with St. Louis in the offseason. The line of Boyes, Tkachuk and Kariya has scored on its first shift in three consecutive games.

"We are well-prepared every game," Tkachuk said. "It's just a matter of getting a good jump, and we feel like we can do it to a lot of teams."

Defenseman Bryce Salvador scored his first goal of the season at 6:31 of the first, when he took a nice cross-ice feed from Martin Rucinsky and fired a wrist shot over the right shoulder of Khabibulin, giving the Blues a 2-0 advantage.

The Blackhawks turned the momentum and halved the deficit in unusual fashion.

Jason Williams took a shot from the high slot, which caromed off the side of the net and the end boards before bouncing onto the top of the goal. The puck trickled down and was scooped by netminder Manny Legace and cleared out of the zone.

Nearly two minutes of game time ticked away before replay officials decided to take a closer look at the play. The puck was briefly trapped between Legace's helmet and the goalpost before sliding down his back and appearing to cross the goal line.

The controversy seemed to center around whether or not rookie Jonathan Toews touched the puck as his stick was clearly over the crossbar when he waved at it. After nearly 15 minutes of review, they ruled it a goal and credited it to Williams at 13:40 of the opening session, drawing Chicago within 2-1.

"I knew it was in the goal," Chicago's Patrick Sharp said. "It was sitting on the back of (Legace's) neck and he was deep in the crease. I swung at it, but I never touched it."

In his last three games, Legace has surrendered only that controversial goal and two others, which both were knocked in by a teammate. Legace turned aside 28 of the 29 shots he faced in this contest.

"When (coach Andy Murray) got here and put in a system, the guys followed it to a tee," Legace said. "We have great direction and the guys have responded well. We have great leadership all around the dressing room."

St. Louis got back on track in the second period at 5:17, capitalizing on poor penalty-killing by Chicago.

With the Blackhawks' defense chasing the puck, Boyes found Tkachuk open in front of the net. The veteran deflected it between the pads of Khabibulin to extend the Blues' lead to 3-1. It was Tkachuk's third tally of the season.

"It was a big goal for us," Murray said. "It was a great pass from (Lee) Stempniak and Boyes."

Khabibulin made 23 saves as the Blackhawks failed to win a third consecutive game.

On Chicago's only goal, the 19-year-old Toews registered an assist, giving him a point in each of his first four NHL games.