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Kariya helps Blues down Canucks

Nov 24, 2007 - 5:29 AM ST. LOUIS (Ticker) -- Paul Kariya is starting to turn the St. Louis Blues into contenders again.

Kariya scored a goal and set up another and Hannu Toivonen made 25 saves to lead the Blues to a 3-1 victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Friday.

"Guys were playing great in front of me," Toivonen said. "It was awesome. It's nice to play in front of your own fans. That's the way to bounce back from t he effort we had in Detroit. It shows a lot of character from our team to step up like that and get a win."

Martin Rucinsky and rookie defenseman Erik Johnson also tallied for St. Louis, which has won five of its last six contests.

Kariya put the Blues on the scoreboard late in first period. After taking a pass from Brad Boyes, Kariya fired a wrist shot from the top of the right circle that went between the pads of Canucks goaltender Roberto Luongo with 2:14 remaining.

St. Louis doubled its advantage at 1:58 of the middle session when Weight delivered a cross-ice pass to Johnson, who launched a one-timer from the right circle past Luongo to take a 2-0 lead.

"I found the seam and Doug (Weight) made a great pass," Johnson said. "I'm pretty much out there to pass and shoot. I had a great stance and pounded it when I got the puck in my wheelhouse."

"I felt good from the start," Luongo said. "It was just one of those weird games where the puck (got by me with) a couple of seeing-eye shots. We didn't play a great game tonight, but we've been on a good stretch. It's just a matter of making sure we regroup for the next one."

Kariya, who was the Blues' prize offseason acquisition, has six goals and a team-leading 22 points this season. His play has helped St. Louis (12-8-0) climb into a seven-team tie for fifth place in the Western Conference.

Rucinsky notched his second goal of the season and supplied the Blues with some insurance at 4:26 of the third period.

"We played a team game tonight," Rucinsky said. "They were all over us in the third period, but we stuck together. We got it done and won the game. That's the important thing."

The Canucks responded just 45 seconds later when Ryan Kesler's one-timer from the slot cut the deficit to 3-1 at the 5:11 mark of the final session.

Toivonen blocked nine shots in the third to ensure the victory for the Blues.

It was Vancouver's first loss in regulation since November 1. The Canucks went 6-0-2 over that stretch.

"I thought our guys played hard," Canucks coach Alain Vigneault said. "It was just a tough start. We tried to battle back and we weren't able to."