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Blues aim to avoid first loss in Boston since 2001

Nov 6, 2010 - 2:42 PM (Sports Network) - The St. Louis Blues haven't won six straight games in almost seven years. It has been even longer since they last loss in Boston.

The Blues will try to extend those winning streaks this evening when they visit the Bruins at TD Garden.

Helped by a perfect 6-0 record at home, the Blues are off to the second-best 10-game start in franchise history, posting 16 points with a 7-1-2 record. That trails only the 2002-03 club's 17-point total in that span.

St. Louis has also won a franchise-record 12 straight home games dating back to last season, a stretch it increased with Thursday's 2-0 victory over the San Jose Sharks.

David Perron shook off a hit to the head from the Sharks' Joe Thornton to score a goal, Matt D'Agostini also lit the lamp and Alex Pietrangelo notched two assists. Jaroslav Halak posted his third shutout of the season and 12th of his career by making 25 saves.

"You'd like teams to have to earn things against you," said Blues head coach Davis Payne. "We gave them some pretty good opportunities and Jaro snuffed them. He was good."

Defenseman Barret Jackman suffered a sprained knee in the win and was placed on injured reserve Friday.

St. Louis has won five straight overall, including once on the road, since a 0-1-2 road trip from Oct. 14-18. The Blues are just 1-1-2 as the guest club this season and haven't won six straight overall since Dec. 6-18, 2003.

The Blues stand a good chance of getting on track away from St. Louis given that they haven't lost in Boston since Jan. 30, 2001, winning each of their last four trips there. St. Louis has won eight of its last 10 overall versus the Bruins, but did drop a home test to them last year.

Halak came over in an offseason trade with Boston's division rival, the Montreal Canadiens, and is 5-3-0 with a 1.99 goals-against average and two shutouts in his career versus the Bruins.

Boston carried a three-game winning streak and victories in seven of its last eight games into last night's battle with Washington, but was dealt a 5-3 loss.

Tim Thomas came into the game with a 7-0-0 record and 0.72 GAA, but was drilled for a season-high three goals on 25 shots before being pulled at the start of the third. Nathan Horton, Shawn Thornton and Michael Ryder then scored in the third frame to erase a 3-0 deficit, but Tuukka Rask earned the loss for allowing the game-winning goal on 13 shots.

"We battled back and that's always a positive when you do it against a team like that," said Boston head coach Claude Julien. "But when you play 20 minutes of a 60-minute game against that team you're not going to win."

The setback was Boston's first on the road after beginning the season with a club-record five straight victories as the guest.

Rask is expected to make his first start tonight since Oct. 23. He was in net for last year's victory over the Blues, his first ever start against the club, and made 29 saves.