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Blues blank Lightning

Nov 13, 2011 - 5:08 AM St. Louis, MO (Sports Network) - Brian Elliott stopped all 19 shots he faced to earn his second shutout of the season and 11th of his career, leading the St. Louis Blues to a 3-0 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning from Scottrade Center.

Kris Russell scored in his first game as a Blue after being acquired from Columbus in exchange for defenseman Nikita Nikitin, while Kevin Shattenkirk and T.J. Oshie netted the other goals for the Blues, who climbed to 8-7-1 on the season.

Mathieu Garon made 21 saves on 24 shots in defeat for the Lightning, who had their three-game winning streak halted.

"We managed the game properly, we didn't get frustrated when we didn't score and we did a lot of good things tonight," Blues head coach Ken Hitchcock said.

The Blues grabbed the lead with 1:09 remaining in the opening period when Russell wristed a shot from the left point that got through traffic in front and past a screened Garon to the glove side for a 1-0 lead.

St. Louis increased its lead to 2-0 with just six seconds remaining in the second period when Alex Steen picked up the puck in the defensive zone and raced up the ice into the offensive zone on the left wing and found a late- cutting Shattenkirk heading to the net. Shattenkirk took the pass from Steen and fired a quick snap shot from the right circle past Garon.

The Blues made it 3-0 at 6:26 of the third period while shorthanded with some good pressure in the offensive zone. David Backes chipped the puck behind the net from the left wing, forcing Garon to play it behind his net. Backes kept his legs moving and stripped Garon of the puck behind the net, wheeled around and found Oshie, who wristed it into an open net from the slot for the final margin.

Tampa Bay pulled Garon late in the game on the power play to make it a 6-on-4 with under a minute to go. They had opportunities to break the shutout but weren't able to get one past Elliot.

"We weren't as sharp as we needed to be tonight," Lightning defenseman Marc- Andre Bergeron said.

Game Notes

Saturday marked only the fourth time the Blues and Lightning have met in St. Louis since the 2003-04 season...The Blues went 0-for-3 on the power play, while Tampa Bay was unable to score on five power play chances...The Blues will welcome the Detroit Red Wings to Scottrade Center on Tuesday, while Tampa Bay will travel to Winnipeg to battle the Jets on Monday...St. Louis improved to 5-1-1 at home this season and 8-0-0 when scoring three goals or more.