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Blues continue sizzling offensive play in preseason finale

Oct 5, 2008 - 2:45 AM By Phil Foley PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

ATLANTA (Ticker) -- The trio of Andy McDonald, Brad Boyes and Lee Stempniak continue to pile up the preseason points for the St. Louis Blues.

McDonald notched his fourth goal of exhibition play and added an assist and Stempniak recorded three assists to lead St. Louis to a 4-1 victory over the listless Atlanta Thrashers on Saturday.

Boyes notched an assist and goaltender Manny Legace set aside 13 shots in two periods for the Blues, who finished their preseason slate at 4-2-1.

McDonald, Boyes and Stempniak have been amongst the point leaders in the NHL in exhibition play. The 31-year-old McDonald has led the way, recording a league-best 11 points entering play on Saturday.

His teammates, Boyes and Stempniak, were not far behind, tied for second in the league by recording nine points apiece entering the Blues' last preseason contest against woeful Atlanta.

After Saturday night's contest, the trio may finish 1-2-3.

Boyes and Stempniak both notched their 10th point when they set up Roman Polak's goal from just inside the blue line 3:20 into the game. Stempniak also assisted McDonald for his fourth goal of the season on the power play just over two minutes later.

The 25-year old right wing from Buffalo found his teammate just above the left faceoff circle and McDonald whistled the puck past goaltender Kari Lehtonen's right blocker to give St. Louis a 2-0 lead.

Stempniak and McDonald also factored in St. Louis' third tally during a 5-on-3 advantage at 8:20 of the second as Paul Kariya banged in a loose puck from between the circles to give the Blues a 3-0 cushion.

Newly acquired defenseman Matheiu Schneider recorded an assist in his debut for Atlanta, setting up Brett Sterling to break up the shutout bid on the power play with 7:10 remaining in the contest.

Blues center Patrik Berglund capped the scoring on a tally with 2:03 left.

Lehtonen ended up with 34 saves for the struggling Thrashers, who finished their preseason schedule at 1-5-0.