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Mason benefits from second-period surge as Blues win

Feb 8, 2009 - 6:12 AM ST. LOUIS (Ticker) -- The effort of Chris Mason made the opener of the Colorado Avalanche's tough road stretch an unsuccessful one.

Mason continued his stellar play by making 23 saves and Brad Boyes scored a goal and set up another to highlight a second-period surge Saturday, leading the St. Louis Blues to a 4-1 victory over the Avalanche.

Rookie T.J.Oshie and All-Star Keith Tkachuk also scored in the middle session while David Perron tallied in the third and added an assist for the Blues, who improved to 6-1-3 in their last 10 contests.

"We're playing great hockey right now," Mason said. "I don't think (in) the first period, we came out quite how we wanted to, but we addressed that after the first period. In the second and third periods, the guys just took over the game. They just played awesome. We definitely buried our chances."

Chris Stewart netted the lone goal for the Avalanche, who began a stretch that has them playing 11 of 14 games on the road.

Mason, who improved to 8-14-3 on the season, has held opponents to two or fewer goals in each of his last seven appearances.

Colorado, which will not play consecutive home games until March 10-12, punctuated a 3-5-0 homestand with two consecutive victories earlier this week. But it fell to 9-14-1 on the road with a dreary effort in this one.

"We had a really good first period, but then we made a couple of mistakes early in the second and they were in our net, and it gave them all sorts of momentum," Avalanche coach Tony Granato said. "And they didn't stop. They came at us hard and played physical."

Stewart opened the scoring, lifting a backhander over the shoulder of Mason with 8:04 remaining in the first period for his eighth goal of the season.

However, Mason was impenetrable the rest of the way, and St. Louis' offense gave him all the support he needed in the following period.

"If we needed a script tonight as to how not to play and then how to play, it would be the difference between the first and second period," Blues coach Andy Murray said. "In the second and third periods, we played the kind of game that we're capable of playing.

"We were playing too much defense in the first period because we were turning it over. Our defenders were dragging because our forwards were just content in playing an easy game."

Oshie forged a tie 56 seconds into the middle session by tipping in defenseman Jeff Woywitka's shot while stationed in the low slot.

Tkachuk netted his 16th tally of the campaign at 4:20, unleashing a slap shot from the left faceoff circle that sailed by Budaj for a 2-1 edge. Boyes continued the early spurt by converting a backhander from the doorstep 31 seconds later.

Budaj's struggles continued as Perron beat him with a wrist shot from the slot 49 seconds into the third.

The 28-year-old Budaj, who has yielded four goals in four of his last six contests, stopped 19 shots.

"We came out strong and got a nice goal, but unfortunately, we shut her down," Budaj said. "It's very disappointing after a very good first period. It's unacceptable for me and everybody else. No offense to the St. Louis team, they have a good team, but we can play much better."