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Legace, Stempniak help Blues blank Hurricanes

Jan 6, 2008 - 6:48 AM ST. LOUIS (Ticker) -- With little room for error, Manny Legace continues to be flawless.

Legace made 27 saves to record his second shutout of the week and Lee Stempniak scored the game's lone goal as the St. Louis Blues defeated the Carolina Hurricanes, 1-0, on Saturday.

After stopping all 31 shots in a 2-0 victory over Detroit on Monday, Legace recorded his third shutout of the season and 21st career by stopping 10 shots in the first period, seven in the second and 10 in the third.

"When it's 5-0 and you're looking for a shutout, you just wish it would end. When it's 1-0, guys are still grinding it out," Legace said. "You still feel it. You still feel the intensity in your body."

Defenseman Jay McKee saw it differently. He simply credited Legace for his play.

"We had the great benefit of having depth on defense," McKee said. "But we're as good as Manny is. You can't be a successful team, especially in the playoffs, without the goaltender being your best player."

Rather than choose sides, St. Louis coach Andy Murray credited both his netminder and defense.

"Our goaltending was solid all night and our defense got better as the game went along," Murray said. "Our goaltender has had a pretty good goals-against average all year, and our defense competed well in front of him.

"When you get a shutout, it increases your chances of winning."

St. Louis, which entered the game with a Western Conference-low 96 goals, improved to 2-2-3 in its last seven contests. The Blues, however, have scored more than two tallies just once in that span.

"What we've done tonight, what we did against Detroit, we have to be ready to go next game," Murray said. "There is no such thing as momentum."

Stempniak netted the game's only goal 12:49 into the first period.

Stationed behind the net, McKee backhanded a pass to a streaking Stempniak, who beat goaltender Michael Leighton between the pads for his ninth of the season.

"Ryan (Johnson) got it across the goal line and, when the defender dropped down from the circle, I could tell Jay was going to get to the puck first," Stempniak said. "It was in tight quarters and was a great pass by Jay."

The 30-year-old defenseman was even more incredulous about the circumstances regarding his third assist of the season.

"Lee was probably wondering what I was doing down there," McKee said. "My intention was to get a direct pass, cross-ice, from Ryan Johnson. He sent in along the boards and I got to it first. It gave me half a second for a pass."

"Lee Stempniak, getting a pass from Jay McKee and Ryan Johnson, is not our normal goal-scoring combination," Murray said.

Leighton started his second consecutive game and made 18 saves for Carolina, which has not won two straight in regulation since November 10-12.

"He knocked it out front and, suddenly, it was between my legs," Leighton said of the goal.

The Hurricanes have lost four of their last five contests.

"We played hard. We held an edge, but that doesn't matter - the score matters," Carolina coach Peter Laviolette said. "They won the game, 1-0. It's disappointing,"

The Hurricanes have lost four of their last five contests.

Unfamiliar rivals, Carolina and St. Louis faced each other for just the third time in four years on Saturday. The teams did not meet last season, and the Hurricanes won the only matchup in both 2005-06 and 2003-04.

Carolina had not played the Blues in St. Louis since a 2-1 overtime loss on October 15, 2002.