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Perrin scores twice to lead Thrashers past Blues

Sep 17, 2007 - 1:31 AM ST. LOUIS (Ticker) -- Eric Perrin scored twice in the second period to lift the Atlanta Thrashers to a 3-1 victory over the St. Louis Blues Sunday night in the preseason opener for both teams.

Paul Kariya scored in first appearance for the Blues but it was not enough despite the fact that St. Louis killed off nine of 10 Atlanta power plays.

Kariya, who signed with the Blues this summer, opened the scoring at 6:25 of the first. Camped to the left of goaltender Ondrej Pavelec, he made a mid-air swat to redirect Keith Tkachuk's wayward deflection of a slap shot from the left point by Eric Brewer.

Colin Stuart tied the game with a power-play goal at 13:59. He blasted a one-timer past Manny Legace from the slot off Chris Thorburn's backhand feed from the end line below the left faceoff circle.

Atlanta failed to convert any of six power-plays in the second period but got two even-strength goals from Perrin. His first, a deflection of a shot from the point by Mark Popovic, put the Thrashers on top to stay at 11:41 of the second session.

Jusso Riksman took over for Legace and faced the last three Atlanta power-plays, compressed into a four-minute stretch and including two minutes of five-on-three play, without seeing a shot. The first shot against him came with 56.7 seconds left when Perrin wristed a 30-foot drive from right of the slot.

The Blues failed to mount a comeback despite outshooting the Thrashers 11-3 in the final period and using a sixth attacker over the final 2:49. Pavelec turned aside 24 of the 25 shots he faced on the evening.

Atlanta played without goaltender Fred Brathwaite, right wing Marian Hossa, defenseman Ken Klee, left wing Ilya Kovalchuk and centers Bryan Little, Brett Sterling and Todd White.

Goalies Jason Bacashihua and Marek Schwarz, defensemen Barret Jackman, Matt Walker and Jeff Woywitka and centers Doug Weight and Ryan Johnson did not suit up for the Blues.