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Blues tie NHL record for consecutive scorless first periods

Jan 5, 2007 - 7:04 AM ST. LOUIS (Ticker) -- After a dominant first period that tied an NHL record, goaltender Manny Legace made the rest of game look easy.

Legace made 28 saves for his second shutout of the season and Lee Stempniak and defenseman Dennis Wideman scored goals as the St. Louis Blues posted their sixth win in eight games, a 2-0 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks.

The 33-year-old Legace stopped 14 shots in the opening session, including a breakaway by Martin Havlat, to help the Blues match the league mark with their 12th consecutive scoreless opening period. The Los Angeles Kings set the record in 1974.

"Thank (goodness) Havlat hit me right in the (chest)," Legace said. "It was great. I was kind of worried when he was coming down all alone. And I just got lucky enough to get my pad on it."

"Early in the first period there, Havlat is in behind you, probably the most dangerous guy on their team," Blues coach Andy Murray said. "It shouldn't happen, but that's why you have a goalie. He made, obviously, a key save."

Legace went on to make five saves in the second session and nine in the third for his second blanking in three games for the Blues, who defeated the Blackhawks for the third time in seven meetings this season. St. Louis also raised its record to 6-3-3 since Murray replaced Mike Kitchen as coach.

"Manny played great tonight," St. Louis right wing Bill Guerin said. "Especially in the early on. I thought we came out a little flat-footed, and he made a couple of huge saves, not only in the beginning but throughout the game."

"He's been playing unbelievable," Stempniak added. "We have to start scoring more goals. You can't expect to win every game 2-0. We just have to start scoring and give him some run support."

Stempniak opened the scoring during a two-man power play with 8:46 left in the first period, when he drilled the rebound of Guerin's shot between goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin's pads for his third tally of the season.

"It was good to come out and score on that 5-on-3 after struggling a bit on Tuesday night against them," Stempniak said. "It gave us something to build off of early on in the game."

Guerin picked up his second assist of the game just 29 seconds into the third as his shot was knocked down by Khabibulin before Wideman - who also set up a goal - put the rebound inside the right goalpost.

Khabibulin stopped 17 shots for Chicago, which has lost three of four.

"Games are going to be close," Chicago coach Denis Savard said. "If you capitalize on your chances, you'll win. If you don't, the other team will win. We set it up. We just have to relax. Part of it is confidence. Right now, we're just not really a confident group. That's why we're not executing."

"We took a couple of penalties there in which we had momentum and then kind of took some momentum away from us," Blackhawks defenseman Duncan Keith said. "We played a lot better than we did the last game but just didn't get the win tonight."