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Brewer, Cajanek lift Blues to rout of Ducks

Jan 17, 2007 - 9:02 AM ANAHEIM, California (Ticker) -- The Anaheim Ducks played in the 1,000th game in their franchise history, but it is not one they will want to remember.

Defenseman Eric Brewer had a goal and two assists and Petr Cajanek scored a goal and added an assist as the St. Louis Blues pounded the Ducks, 6-2.

The win upped the Blues' record to 10-4-4 in their last 18 games since Andy Murray took over as coach, and improved St. Louis to 4-0-1 in its last five games.

"This league is all about timing and scheduling, and when you play teams, depending on what phase they're in," Murray said. "We were opportunistic tonight and caught them on not one of their better nights. We see what their roster looks like and so on."

"We were awfully flat," Anaheim coach Randy Carlyle said. "The thing is, I'll defend this group's work ethic. You can count on one hand how many times we've come out and laid an egg. Tonight was one of those nights."

Doug Weight, Keith Tkachuk, Jamal Mayers and Dallas Drake also scored for St. Louis, which built a 5-0 after two periods and held off a third-period Anaheim rally.

Brewer scored only his second goal in 46 games when he darted in from the point, took a pass in the slot from Cajanek and beat Bryzgalov to give the Blues a 1-0 lead.

"It (the goal) feels good because we won," Brewer said. "We need lots of wins. The goal came on a power play where we had a lot of puck movement. Petr (Cajanek) gave me the puck, and I put it up high, over the goalie's left side."

Cajanek gave St. Louis a 2-0 at 1:14 of the second period when he combined on a give-and-go with Radek Dvorak, took a return pass and beat Bryzgalov from the slot.

Corey Perry and Teemu Selanne scored in the final session for Anaheim to close the gap to 5-2, but Drake sealed the win with a shorthanded empty-net goal with 3:38 left in the third period for a 6-2 lead.

Selanne's goal, his 29th of the year, tied him with Tampa Bay's Martin St. Louis and Vincent Lacavalier for the league lead. He took a pass from defenseman Ric Jackman on the power play and beat netminder Curtis Sanford from the bottom of the left faceoff circle at 12:00.

Curtis Sanford finished with 30 saves, while Anaheim starter Ilya Bryzgalov was pulled midway through the second period after surrendering four goals on only 13 shots.

"He (Sanford) made some incredible saves when it was still 1-0," Murray said. "For his first game back (since suffering a lower body injury December 1 at Chicago), he looked pretty sharp."

The Blues, who entered with the 28th-ranked power play in the NHL, went 1-for-4 on the power play while the Ducks, ranked third coming in, went 1-for-6 with the extra skater.

"When we get outfought like that, we won't beat anybody," Selanne said. "Your stats don't mean anything. You've got to do it on the ice.

"In the new NHL, there's not that much difference between the number one team and the number 30 team. Even the number 30 team can beat you in your own building."